Facebook vows to block white nationalism and separatism on its platforms

Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Facebook has vowed to block support, praise and representation of white nationalism and separatism from appearing on its platforms.

The social media giant also pledged to improve its ability to identify and ban material distributed by terrorist groups after it was accused of failing to confront extremism.

Users of Facebook searching for offending terms will be directed to a charity which combats far-right extremism, the firm said as it set out its plans. The policy will be enforced next week, Facebook said in a blog.

The move was praised by the Prime Minister of New Zealand, where a massacre of 50 people in mosques was live streamed earlier this month.

Civil rights groups have said social media giants have failed to confront extremism and that was under the spotlight this month after a suspected white supremacist broadcast live footage of his attacks in Christchurch.

Facebook, Twitter Inc and Alphabet Inc's YouTube have been under pressure to remove white supremacist and neo-Nazi content from their platforms, along with fake news and other types of abusive posts.

In response, Facebook has beefed up its content monitoring teams and taken down event pages that were used to promote and organize rallies by white supremacist groups.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who has called for social media platforms to be accountable for what users post, said material covered by the measures should arguably have already been banned under Facebook's hate-speech rules.

"Having said that, I'm pleased to see that they are including it, and that they have taken that step, but I still think that there is a conversation to be had with the international community about whether or not enough has been done," she told a media conference in Christchurch on Thursday.

"There are lessons to be learnt here in Christchurch and we don't want anyone to have to learn those lesson over again."

Facebook has long banned white supremacy under its rules on "hateful" content, but did not previously consider white nationalist or separatist content to be explicitly racist.

Facebook said it would also start connecting people who search for terms associated with white supremacy to an organisation called Life After Hate, focused on helping people leave hate groups.

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