Facebook has announced a decision to ban all controversial far-right extremists groups from their platforms.
Facebook claims the ban is an attempt to contain misinformation and extremism that has increasingly spread across the platform and their subsidiary Instagram. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Among the far-right leaders and their groups, Facebook has listed as dangerous and incendiary are Alex Jones, Infowars, Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson, Laura Loomer, Paul Nehlen, and Minister Louis Farrakhan, classifying each under their policies against dangerous individuals and organizations.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
According to TheAtlantic, Infowars is subject to the strictest ban as any account that shares Infowars content will see the content removed, and if the user violates the terms multiple times, the user will be banned.
Facebook and Instagram will remove any content containing Infowars videos, articles, radio segments and will remove any groups or pages set up to share content from that site.
Minister Farrakhan and others listed, are personally banned, as are any accounts set up in their likenesses (such as fanpages). Users will still be allowed to praise those figures on their Instagram or share content related to them as that does not violate Facebook’s policies or terms of service.
“We’ve always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology. The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive, and it is what led us to our decision to remove these accounts today,” a Facebook spokesperson said via email.
Facebook is looking to completely rebrand themselves as a “safer space.” This week the company announced an entire redesign of the platform which focuses on groups in an effort to give users the ability to create more private spaces.
