Social media giants zoning in on far-right extremism as Facebook bans Britain First

Facebook's decision to remove the accounts of far-right political group Britain First and its leaders is the latest instance of social media companies cracking down on hate speech after initially expressing a reluctance to engage in censorship. The company took action days after Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen were jailed for anti-Muslim hate crimes. Facebook stressed that it remains an "open platform for all ideas and political speech" but said: "There are times though when legitimate political speech crosses the line and becomes hate speech designed to stir up hatred against groups in our society." It added that content posted on the Britain First Facebook page and those of Golding and Fransen had "repeatedly broken our community standards. It said: "We recently gave the administrators of the pages a written final warning, and they have continued to post content that violates our community standards.