Facebook Bans Hundreds Of Extremist Accounts

Facebook has come under intense fire this month from advertisers who want the company to take a stronger stance against hate speech. And this week, Facebook took a small step toward addressing the issue by removing over 200 accounts linked to the white supremacist “boogaloo” movement.

However, while this is a promising move, Facebook drew a clear distinction between violent and nonviolent content. The social media giant said it will only ban boogaloo-related posts that promote real-world violence, leaving the door wide open for the overall philosophy behind the movement to continue to spread.

“We will continue to study new trends, including the language and symbols this network shares online so we can take the necessary steps to keep those who proclaim a violent mission off our platform,” Facebook wrote in a blog post announcing the ban. “We know that our efforts will never completely eliminate the risk from this network, or other dangerous organizations, but we will continue to remove content and accounts that break our rules so we can keep people safe.”

There’s no doubt that removing this content was the right move for Facebook. However, the company needs to go much further if it wants to truly make a dent in hate speech on its platform.




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