By Eric King-
Facebook has imposed a ban on a dozen far-right individuals and organisations that it says “spread hate”.
The ban has been imposed on the British National Party and Nick Griffin, the English Defence League and the National Front. The comprehensive also includes an original ban placed on Britain First, but is now extended to prohibit support for Britain First, or any of the other banned far right groups.
Facebook said it had taken the action because those involved had proclaimed a “violent or hateful mission”.”Individuals and organisations who spread hate, or attack or call for the exclusion of others on the basis of who they are, have no place on Facebook,” the social network added in a statement.
The ban was “long overdue” said MP Yvette Cooper, chair of the Home Affairs Select committee.
“For too long social media companies have been facilitating extremist and hateful content online and profiting from the poison,” she added.
“They have particularly failed on far-right extremism as they don’t even have the same co-ordination systems for platforms to work together as they do on Islamist extremism,” she added.
Ms Cooper said the measures were a “necessary first step” and should be strengthened by independent regulation and financial penalties for firms that were sluggish to remove material.
“We all know the appalling consequences there can be if hateful, violent and illegal content is allowed to proliferate,” she said. Knights Templar International and its promoter Jim Dowson
National Front and its leader Tony Martin
Jack Renshaw, a neo-Nazi who plotted to murder a Labour MP