Facebook Bans Milo, Farrakhan, Loomer for Violating Policy Against Promoting ‘Dangerous’ Ideas
Facebook announced on Thursday that it is banning a bunch of high-profile hatemongers from its platforms. The ban will extend to Instagram, which it owns.
The banned will include Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, white supremacist and failed politician Paul Nehlen, and Nazi-adjacent right-wing personality Milo Yiannopoulos.
Facebook also kicked off Lara Loomer, known mostly for her Islamophobia and stunts like handcuffing herself to Twitter’s headquarters to protest having been banned from that platform, and Paul Joseph Watson, who is one of InfoWars’ most visible personalities.
The social media giant said In a statement that this action is due to its decision that these people violate its policy against “promot[ing] or engag[ing] in violence and hate.”
InfoWars chief and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones had already been banned from Facebook last year, but he and InfoWars maintained a presence on Instagram, which is owned by Facebook. Those Instagram accounts are now being taken down.
Facebook’s actions will likely set off another round of debate about whether social media bans infringe on the free speech of the people banned. It will also no doubt set off another round of martyrdom on the right for some of these personalities, though with all these social media platforms no longer open to them, it is harder and harder for any of these people to monetize their infamy by spreading their noxious ideology.
Which is an added bonus.
