Facebook moves to ban white nationalism after New Zealand attack

U.S. social media giant Facebook said Wednesday it would ban all "praise, support and representation of white nationalism and separatism" on Facebook and Instagram.

Facebook, which has already blocked white supremacy posts, said the ban on the content is expected to be implemented next week because "these concepts are deeply linked to organized hate groups and have no place on our services."

Facebook's new measure came two weeks after attacks on two mosques in New Zealand for which an Australian white supremacist has been charged with murder. The massacre, which claimed 50 lives, was briefly broadcast live on Facebook before the video clips were removed from the platform.

The world's largest social media network said while it had long prohibited hateful treatment of people based on characteristics such as race, it hadn't applied the same rationale to white nationalism, "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."

However, Facebook decides to expand the ban to white nationalism because it has drawn a conclusion after three months of consultation with civil rights groups and scholars worldwide that "white nationalism and separatism cannot be meaningfully separated from white supremacy and organized hate groups."

It said artificial intelligence technology such as machine learning will be adopted to help detect and remove content linked with hate speech or terrorist groups, as well as white supremacists.

Facebook will also help people who are looking for white supremacy stay away from hate groups by redirecting them to resources on anti-extremist groups, such as Life After Hate, an organization founded by former violent extremists that provides crisis intervention, education and outreach, it said.