Facebook, World’s biggest social media network led by Mark Zuckerberg, is undergoing a major policy shift as it bans white nationalism and separatism from both its platforms, Facebook and Instagram.
With over two billion people worldwide using its services, the tech giant strongly stands to diminish hate speech and racist remarks on its platform attracting praise from civil rights organizations. The new policy is a significant change from its earlier one that prohibited white supremacy but not white nationalism or separatism. Facebook in its own review of hate figures and organizations, revealed the overlap between white nationalism and separatism and the white supremacy, further to advices from experts in race relations around the world.
The drastic policy change comes in wake of the New Zealand mosque massacre, after a live-streamed video of the perpetrator, a self-identified white supremacist killing many, was uploaded and widely shared on Facebook. Telecom companies in New Zealand had to shut off access to these platforms while warning the Tech Giant of the consequences bequeathed.
Regular Facebook users, especially African-American women, civil rights groups and other organizations like the racial justice organization ‘Color of Change’ have been requesting the platform to address the proliferation of white supremacists and hate speech, since years.
“We look forward to continuing our work with Facebook to ensure that the platform’s content moderation guidelines and trainings properly support the updated policy and are informed by civil rights and racial justice organizations,” Rashad Robinson, Color of Change’s president, said in a statement.
All content praising or supporting white nationalism and separatism, will be banned according to the new policy to be officially implemented next week. Also, any Facebook user commenting or searching for terms associated with white supremacy will be redirected to a non-profit group aimed to help people leave hate-groups.
