London: In yet another attempt to control misuse of social media for spreading hatred, Facebook on Wednesday barred the far-right group Britain First as well as its leaders from posting to other users. Britain First has about two million likes on the popular social media platform.
Accusing Britain First leaders of inciting hatred against minorities, Facebook said that on several occasions it warned the right-wing group that they had violated the terms of its community standards guidelines on hate speech.
But, despite warnings, Britain First "repeatedly posted content designed to incite animosity and hatred against minority groups, which disqualifies the pages from our service", Facebook said in a statement.
The group is also banned from setting up a replacement page. It has been reported that Facebook judged the videos and photos to be designed to incite hatred against Muslims. The decision comes in the wake of jail sentences handed to both the group's leader, Paul Golding, and deputy leader, Jayda Fransen. Both were found guilty by a UK court earlier this month of religiously aggravated harassment.
"People come to Facebook to express themselves freely. People can express robust and controversial opinions without needing to denigrate others on the basis of who they are," the statement said.
In a blogpost, Facebook said it was an open platform for all ideas and global connectivity but that views should be expressed without hate. "Many different groups including representatives from the Jewish, Muslim, and LGBT communities, have reached out to us in the past to help us understand the threatening nature of content. This requires us to make difficult decisions and balance concerns about free expression and community respect", it said.
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