On Thursday, Facebook announced the ban of Milo Yiannopoulos, Alex Jones and other prominent far-right personalities from their site. Also banned are Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who’s notorious for using anti-Semitic language, Paul Nehlen, an anti-Semite who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2016 and 2018, and media personalities Laura Loomer and Paul Joseph Watson.
The social media site giant cites their policy against “dangerous” individuals, and any pages that encourage “intimidation and exclusion” as cause for the ban.
Jones was kindasorta “banned” from Facebook back in August 2018, but maintained a presence on Instagram, which Facebook owns. Now, along with the other extremists, it would appear Jones is actually banned.
In a statement to CNN, Facebook said:
“We’ve always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement provided to CNN Business. “The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led us to our decision to remove these accounts today.”
Just a reminder: Jones, described by New York magazine as “America’s leading conspiracy theorist,” is aggressively opposed to even minimal gun control, he has loudly proclaimed that the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, which left 28 people including 20 young children dead, was fake and never actually happened. He also claims that the U.S. government was behind the Oklahoma City bombing, and the 9/11 terror attacks. Oh, and he says the 1969 Moon landing was staged. Of course.
Why did this take so long? Will this really lead to lasting change? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
h/t: CBS News