Facebook blocks racist and terrorist content

Starting next week, Facebook will block all posts that praise, support, or represent white nationalism and separatism on Facebook and Instagram, the social media giant said.

Facebook said it had previously not banned expressions of white nationalism because it needed to consider the broader scope of the concept, such as separatism and pride.

However, after consulting with race relations experts, Facebook has decided to apply the same rules to white nationalist content as it does to white supremacy. It has also pledged to improve its ability to identify and block material posted by terrorist groups.

The social network is under pressure after the mass shooting at two mosques in New Zealand on March 15 was livestreamed by the attacker via his personal Facebook account for 17 minutes. Hours later, copies of the video were still being shared on other social networks.

The fact that this video was copied and reposted on many other platforms on the internet such as Reddit, Twitter or Youtube as well as spread in other "corners" of the Internet has caused Facebook and many technology companies to face strong criticism for not being able to control and prevent the timely dissemination of violent and hostile content.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern recently called on social media platforms to take responsibility for the content they post. According to Ms. Ardern, social media platforms are publishers, not simply content carriers.

Facebook itself previously acknowledged that the video of the attack had been viewed 4,000 times before being removed. 24 hours after the incident, Facebook blocked 1.2 million copies of the video and removed more than 300,000 other links related to this content./.