Facebook bans Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos, Louis Farrakhan over hate speech
Facebook banned Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos, Laura Loomer, Paul Joseph Watson, Paul Nehlen, Louis Farrakhan and InfoWars on Thursday over violations of its policies against "dangerous individuals and organizations." The ban includes the removal of Pages and Groups representing the users. It also extends to Facebook's other services and platforms, including Instagram.
"We've always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology," Facebook said in a statement. "The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led us to our decision to remove these accounts today."
This isn't the first time pages related to Jones have been removed from Facebook. Jones was placed under a 30-day ban last year for violating community standards. Four pages associated with the right-wing conspiracy theorist, who also runs InfoWars, were subsequently removed. InfoWars and Jones have faced bans on other social media platforms, including YouTube and Twitter.
InfoWars is a common thread tying together nearly all of the users banned Thursday. Watson got his start at InfoWars and has been associated with the site for more than 15 years.
InfoWars has championed Nehlen, who was previously banned by Twitter. Loomer, a far-right activist known for her Russia-related conspiracy theories, is frequently praised on InfoWars and has appeared as a guest, as has Yiannopoulos. The former Breitbart tech editor has also been banned from Twitter and Patreon.
Farrakhan, a frequent target of InfoWars, is the leader of the Nation of Islam, which the Southern Poverty Law Center considers a hate group, citing its "deeply racist, anti-Semitic and anti-LGBT rhetoric."
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April Siese is a social media producer for CBS News, specializing in breaking news.
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