Facebook has announced that it is banning a number of hate merchants from their social media, including Instagram. It's a small beginning, because there are so many more of them out there to deal with. From a report by the Associated Press:
"After years of pressure to crack down on hate and bigotry, Facebook has banned Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones and other extremists, saying they violated its ban on 'dangerous individuals.'
The company also removed right-wing personalities Paul Nehlen, Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson and Laura Loomer, along with Jones’ site, Infowars, which often posts conspiracy theories. The latest bans apply to both Facebook’s main service and to Instagram and extend to fan pages and other related accounts. [snip]
Facebook said the newly banned accounts violated its policy against dangerous individuals and organizations. The company says it has always banned people or groups that proclaim a violent or hateful mission or are engaged in acts of hate or violence, regardless of political ideology."That action drew immediate objections from bigot-in-chief and demagogue Donald "Not Exonerated" Trump, who ranted that Facebook and other social media platforms were being censored for being "conservative," a telling interpretation of the works of far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones of InfoWars and the alt-right racial incitement of Milo Yiannopoulous, for example. Jones, in particular, is a dangerous loon who infects his listeners with vile conspiracy theories that undermine civil society and the rule of law. But that hasn't stopped Trump from offering praise for the crackpot. Trump thrives on hate speech that underpins his racist and un-American cult movement. When he's not dealing in it directly himself, he's happy to point to others' hatred as a reinforcement of his own beliefs.
