Andrew KimmelVerified account

“We’ve had conversations with more than 20 members of civil society/ academics/civil rights orgs/experts in race relations... we decided that the overlap btwn white nationalism, separatism, & supremacy is so extensive we really can’t make a meaningful distinction between them."

"And that’s because the language and the rhetoric that is used and the ideology that it represents overlaps to a degree that it is not a meaningful distinction.” - Brian Fishman, policy director of counterterrorism at Facebook

Facebook will now ban content that includes explicit praise, support, or representation of white nationalism or separatism. Phrases such as “I am a proud white nationalist” & “Immigration is tearing this country apart; white separatism is the only answer” will now be banned...

Implicit & coded white nationalism & white separatism will not be banned immediately, in part b/c the company said it’s harder to detect and remove...COO Sheryl Sandberg was involved in the formulation of the new policy, though roughly three dozen Facebook employees worked on it.

...users who search for or try to post white nationalism, white separatism, or white supremacist content will begin getting a popup...to the website for @lifeafterhate, a nonprofit founded by ex-white supremacists that is dedicated to getting people to leave hate groups.

Facebook will continue using some of the same tactics it uses to surface and remove content associated w/ ISIS, Al Qaeda, & other terrorist groups to remove white nationalist, separatist, & supremacist content.

...This includes content matching, which algorithmically detects & deletes images that have been previously identified to contain hate material, & will include machine learning & artificial intelligence...

...nationalism is a front for white supremacy, according to/Black history scholars/civil rights attorneys/multiple other experts on far-right ideologies. “What they’ve done is allowed white supremacists to rebrand themselves,” said Heidi Beirich of @splcenter Intelligence Project