Facebook Is Reviewing Its Policy on White Nationalism

Facebook has come under fire for years because of its seemingly arbitrary moderation policies—some of which allow hate speech and racism to proliferate. In an earlier piece, reporters at Motherboard asked Facebook why it bans mentions of white supremacy, but not white nationalism and separatism in groups. Facebook responded that banning all nationalist or separatists movements could negatively impact people around the world—pointing to black separatist groups and the Basque movement.

But after Motherboard’s reporting, a civil rights group decided to pen a letter to Facebook, asking it to reevaluate its policy on white nationalism, and calling for stronger moderation of hate speech. When Facebook didn’t act, the group made the letter public.

This week, Facebook told Motherboard it’s currently reviewing its policies after a series of meetings with civil rights leaders, the forceful public letter, and Motherboard’s own reporting. We talked to Motherboard editor Jason Koebler about the impact of the site’s reporting.

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