Facebook to ban white nationalism from its platform

Facebook has vowed to ban praise, support, and representations of white nationalism and white separatism. The social media giant also pledged to improve its ability to identify and block material from terrorist groups.

Facebook users searching for offending terms will be directed to a charity which combats far-right extremism.

In a blog post called Standing Against Hate, Facebook said the ban would come into force next week and would also apply to Instagram.

The move comes almost two weeks after a white nationalist killed 50 people in two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch.

The terrorist, an Australian, live-streamed his attack on Facebook and the world's largest social media platform was among those criticized for being slow to take the footage down.

Facebook and other social media websites have also long been under pressure to do more about hate, fake news and abusive posts.

The company said it had deemed white nationalism an acceptable form of expression on a par with "things like American pride and Basque separatism, which are an important part of people's identity".

New Zealand's prime minister Jacinda Ardern responded by saying material similar to that which reportedly inspired the Christchurch terrorist should have been banned long ago.

She added: "Having said that, I'm pleased to see that they are including it and that they have taken that step, but I still think that there is a conversation to be had with the international community about whether or not enough has been done.

"There are lessons to be learnt here in Christchurch and we don't want anyone to have to learn those lesson over again."

Facebook has previously acknowledged that a video of the attack, which left 50 people dead, was viewed more than 4,000 times before being taken down.

The company said that, within 24 hours, it had blocked 1.2 million copies at the point of upload and deleted another 300,000.

A group representing French Muslims is suing Facebook and YouTube for allowing the footage to be posted on their platforms.