Prohibition of white extremism at Facebook in the midst of international pressure: NPR

The United States has long exported its culture abroad – for example, Coca-Cola, Hollywood and hip-hop. Facebook has already been commended for spreading the values ​​of freedom of expression. But the world is pushing back with different values, what Facebook imports in the United States with the ban on white extremist content.

The ban will come into effect worldwide this week. Experts and lawyers who have long lobbied Facebook for a potentially dangerous speech say the movement – which is rooted in the wars of American culture – is the result of international pressure forcing the hand of society.

A spokesman for Facebook said that under the new rules, users can not festive publish on their news feed or on Instagram: "I am a white nationalist!" But they can post: "I am a black nationalist!"

John Spier, a Facebook user in Central California, says it's "ridiculous". Spier, a libertarian who describes himself as such, says that everyone should have freedom of speech. "Even though they're idiots, there are a lot of idiots in the world who say a lot of nonsense, we do not need to protect people from that," he says.

What is racist and can be racist is an intensifying debate in the United States. According to Spier, while Facebook claims to be a neutral platform, the company is siding with the Liberals.

"I know that the current popular thinking is that only whites can be racist," he said. "But I do not agree with that, I grew up as a minority white man in a mostly Latin American community and, believe me, I know what racism looks like racism."

(Note: Facebook is one of NPR's financial sponsors.)

According to Facebook leaders and civil rights advocates, this issue is not about speech but about security. It's a well-documented fact: white extremists around the world radicalize men online, incite them to form organized hate groups and promote acts of terror perpetrated by lone wolves.

Heidi Beirich, director of the intelligence project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, has been tracking extremist groups online for years and tells Facebook: "White supremacists are as much a global movement and interconnected – in other words, they share ideas, share money, share tactics, share propaganda, visit … just as you see it with Islamist extremists. "

Dylann Roof, who murdered nine people in a church basement in Charleston, S.C., in 2015, has been radicalized through research on Google. The White Nationalist Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which killed three people and injured dozens in 2017, was organized on a Facebook page. The gunman accused of attacking two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 50 people, used Facebook Live, an incredibly powerful broadcast tool.

According to Beirich, Facebook's latest initiative is a reaction to the public relations disaster in New Zealand, as well as pressure from law enforcement, particularly European forces, who are worried about white extremists. .

"This awareness is emerging in intelligence communities around the world, and Facebook is hearing it," she says.

A spokesman told NPR that the tech company had made the unusual decision to add images of the Christchurch massacre to a database on terrorism focused on Islamic extremism. The spokesman said the company would continue to add white extremist content to the GIFCT database, which tech giants share to censor the most violent content.

Australia has just approved a strict law that threatens social media workers to be imprisoned if they do not "quickly" suppress violent content. The UK is about to unveil its legislation. Germany has enacted strict laws on hate speech, which carry heavy fines.

"The United States is behind the ball eight," Beirich said. "[President] Trump does not seem at all interested in these problems. And I think Facebook reacts well to that, I would say. "

About 90% of Facebook users are outside the United States and the largest market is India.

Last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg called on governments around the world to create a global standard for speech. This has never existed before. It's a long shot. But, as Zuckerberg sees it, that's what needs to be developed next.