Facebook has announced a ban on praise, support and representation of white nationalism and white separatism on Facebook and Instagram.
TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports the social media giants on Wednesday said the ban will start enforcing next week.
This is coming after a gunman killed 50 people and left dozens injured in mass shootings at two mosques in the city of Christchurch in New Zealand.
The mass shootings at the two New Zealand mosques was streamed live on Facebook, with a manifesto allegedly written by the suspect revealing white nationalist views.
“It’s clear that these concepts are deeply linked to organized hate groups and have no place on our services.
“Our policies have long prohibited hateful treatment of people based on characteristics such as race, ethnicity or religion — and that has always included white supremacy,” the social media giant said in a blog post.
It further stated, “We didn’t originally apply the same rationale to expressions of white nationalism and white 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”.
According to Facebook, searches for terms associated with white supremacy will surface a link to Life After Hate’s Page, where people can find support in the form of education, interventions, academic research and outreach.
“Going forward, while people will still be able to demonstrate pride in their ethnic heritage, we will not tolerate praise or support for white nationalism and white separatism,” Facebook said.