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Facebook to ban white nationalism and separatism

giri26

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Facebook has said it will block "praise, support and representation of white nationalism and separatism" on Facebook and Instagram from next week.

The social media giant also pledged to improve its ability to identify and block material from terrorist groups.

Facebook users searching for offending terms will be directed to a charity which combats far-right extremism.

The social network has come under pressure after a man livestreamed an attack on two mosques in New Zealand.

Facebook had previously allowed some white nationalist content it did not view as racist - including permission for users to call for the creation of white ethno-states.

The company said it had deemed white nationalism an acceptable form of expression on a par with "things like American pride and Basque separatism, which are an important part of people's identity".

But in a blog post on Wednesday it said that after three months of consultation with "members of civil society and academics" it found that white nationalism could not be "meaningfully separated" from white supremacy and organised hate groups.

'Not just the postman'
In the wake of shootings earlier this month in New Zealand, several world leaders called on social media companies to take more responsibility for the extremist material posted on their platforms.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said social networks were "the publisher not just the postman", in reference to their potential liability for the material shared on them.

Facebook has previously acknowledged that a video of the attack, which left 50 people dead, was viewed more than 4,000 times before being taken down.

The company said that, within 24 hours, it had blocked 1.2 million copies at the point of upload and deleted another 300,000.

A group representing French Muslims is suing Facebook and YouTube for allowing the footage to be posted on their platforms.

Other tech groups also took steps to clamp down on sharing of the video. Reddit banned an existing discussion forum on its site called "watchpeopledie" after clips of the attack were shared on the forum.

Valve, which runs the Steam gaming network, said it had removed more than 100 "tributes" by users that sought to memorialise the alleged shooter.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47728471
 
Stupid decision. Pretty sure there black nationalist type pages and so many other groups that are tribal in nature. Our BJP boys am sure have thousands of pages and groups where they spread hate. So targeting one demographic is a pathetic way to go about it and will only worsen things.
 
Stupid decision. Pretty sure there black nationalist type pages and so many other groups that are tribal in nature. Our BJP boys am sure have thousands of pages and groups where they spread hate. So targeting one demographic is a pathetic way to go about it and will only worsen things.

I said this back when we were seeing bans on religious literature and attire in places like France aimed at Muslims, that the inevitable conclusion would be a similar ban on extremists from the opposite camp. Free speech cuts both ways. If you are going to ban hate speech from one demographic, then it will look like hypocrisy if you don't apply it across the board.
 
Good. Intolerance should not be tolerated. See Popper’s Paradox.

I am glad Sir Nick Clegg is now a Facebook Veep. He can do more there to prevent hatred spreading than he could in politics.
 
What about the other extremists? Mainly religious extremists who promote hate and violence?
 
They also need to target Hindutva extremists, Black extremists, Muslim extremists, etc. They are all equally dangerous.
 
They will just go elsewhere taking the movement underground or something. You can't ban anything these days. It won't work.
 
Rather than banning these pages, better idea would be to monitor the activity of the users and contributors of such pages (including all kinds of extremists irrespective of race and religion). Then Facebook can report the worst offenders to the relevant security agencies.
 
Facebook has promised to explore restrictions on live-streaming, two weeks after it was used during gun attacks on two mosques in New Zealand.

Chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said the social media giant agreed with calls it "must do more".

Fifty people were killed in the Christchurch shootings, and the original video of the attack was viewed 4,000 times before it was removed.

Meanwhile, New Zealand is to review "inadequate" laws on hate speech.

Justice Minister Andrew Little said the current laws did not tackle "the evil and hateful things that we're seeing online", and that the government and the Human Rights Commission would work to bring forward proposals by the end of the year.

More than 20,000 people attended a memorial service in Christchurch on Friday to honour the 50 victims of the 15 March shooting.

Of the dozens injured, 21 people remain in hospital, three of them in intensive care.

What does Facebook say?
"All of us at Facebook stand with the victims, their families, the Muslim community, and all of New Zealand," Ms Sandberg wrote in her letter to the New Zealand Herald.

"Many of you have also rightly questioned how online platforms such as Facebook were used to circulate horrific videos of the attack... We have heard feedback that we must do more - and we agree."

Ms Sandberg said: "First, we are exploring restrictions on who can go Live depending on factors such as prior Community Standard violations."

Facebook said fewer than 200 people had watched the 17-minute video of the Christchurch shootings while it was live, and the first user report of the video came 12 minutes after it ended.


Social media sites struggled to contain the attack video, which was copied onto the alt-right file-sharing site 8chan and then spawned 1.5 million copies.

The chief operating officer did not announce any policy changes, but outlined how the social network would strengthen the rules for using Facebook Live and take greater steps to address hate on its platforms.

The company has said it will block "praise, support and representation of white nationalism and separatism" on Facebook and Instagram from next week.

Facebook has been heavily criticised within New Zealand in the wake of the attack over its lack of response to officials.

The country's privacy commissioner wrote "your silence is an insult to our grief" to Facebook executives last week, according to the Herald.

Facebook has said it is working with the New Zealand Police on its investigation.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47758455
 
Let's get real here. Perception is reality. By banning White nationalism/extremism/terrorism, what are we left with? That's right, non-white, non Christian, nationalism/extremism/terrorism, and in a few years the perception will be that whites are not guilty and are saints.

Got to hand it to FB, and that puppet, Nick Clegg.
 
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