Overview

The Facebook White Nationalism Ban refers to a community policy for the social media website Facebook. The policy change came after a series of investigations into white nationalism and white separatism, which was also included in the ban, and their connection to white supremacy, a banned topic on the platform.

Background

In 2017, following the Unite the Right white supremacist demonstration that ended in the murder of a female protester, Facebook banned white supremacy from its platform.^[1] However, after the ban, several civil rights groups and historians argued that there was no "meaningful distinction" between white supremacy and white nationalism and white separatism.

On March 27th, 2019, Facebook updated its policies to ban white nationalism and white separatism. Those who attempt to post about white nationalism and white separatism will be redirected to the website for the organization Life After Hate,^[4] "nonprofit founded by ex-white supremacists that is dedicated to getting people to leave hate groups." They said in a statement to Motherboard:^[2]

We’ve had conversations with more than 20 members of civil society, academics, in some cases these were civil rights organizations, experts in race relations from around the world. We decided that the overlap between white nationalism, [white] separatism, and white supremacy is so extensive we really can’t make a meaningful distinction between them. And that’s because the language and the rhetoric that is used and the ideology that it represents overlaps to a degree that it is not a meaningful distinction."

Developments

Online Reaction

That day, Redditor ^[3] maxwellhill posted about the ban on the /r/worldnews subreddit. The post received more than 53,000 points (80% upvoted) and 14,000 comments in 24 hours.

Throughout the day, people expressed their opinion on the ban. Twitter ^[5] user and liberal activist Brian Krassenstein tweeted, "BREAKING: Facebook and Instagram have just announced that they will ban ALL "praise, support and representation" of White Nationalism on their platforms. Thank you Facebook! This move is way too late, but better late than never!" The tweet received more than 4,500 retweets and 21,000 likes in 24 hours (shown below, left).

Far-right blogger and conspiracy theorist Stefan Molyneux tweeted,^[6] "Why only white nationalism? The Nation of Islam is a black nationalist group. Are there no Jewish or Hispanic or East Asian nationalists? What kind of racism is this?" Within 24 hours, the post received more tahn 1,700 retweets and 4,200 likes in 24 hours (shown below, center).

That day, civil rights group Sleeping Giants tweeted,^[7] "You’re up, @jack." The tweet romes amid accusations that the social media platform Twitter, which is owned by Jack Dorsey, does not properly moderate white supremacy and hate speech on the platform (shown below, right).

That day, a week after Christchurch Mosque shootings in New Zealand, in which a white supremacist terrorist killed 50 people in a mosque, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern praised for Facebook's ban (video below).

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern welcomes Facebook's white nationalism ban https://t.co/adELtAGBBb pic.twitter.com/LT3jEAE1VI

— TIME (@TIME) March 28, 2019

Media Coverage

Several media outlets covered the ban, including CNN,^[8] The New York Times,^[9] Vox,^[10] The Daily Dot, ^[11] Gizmodo^[12] and more.

Search Interest

External References