Facebook outlaws white nationalism in wake of New Zealand atrocity
Facebook has rewritten its content policy in the wake of the far-right terror attack in New Zealand which resulted in the deaths of 50 people being live-streamed by the platform. As a result, it has taken a hard line on all forms of white nationalism and separatism from its platform.
Facebook outlaws white nationalism in wake of New Zealand atrocity
Outlining its rationale in a blog post-Facebook wrote that it would ban all forms of ‘praise, support and representation of white nationalism and separatism’ from next week. The move would bring both areas into line with white supremacism, a topic which is already banned, alongside racist and hateful content based on a person’s race, ethnicity or religion.
As a result of the new tighter restrictions comments such as ‘immigration is tearing this country apart; white separatism is the only answer', would no longer be permitted.
Facebook wrote: “It’s clear that these concepts are deeply linked to organized hate groups and have no place on our services.
“We didn’t originally apply the same rationale to expressions of white nationalism and separatism because we were thinking about broader concepts of nationalism and separatism – things like American pride and Basque separatism, which are an important part of people’s identity.”
Further measures agreed by Facebook’s Content Standards Forum include redirecting individuals searching for racist content and phrases to the Life After Hate group which seeks to rehabilitate former white supremacists.
Twitter, YouTube and Amazon have also come under growing pressure to expunge extremist content.
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