Facebook said it’s banning a number of controversial far-right figures, including Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos and Laura Loomer, for violating the social-media company’s policies on hate speech and promoting violence.
and conspiracy theorist Paul Joseph Watson. Those individuals and accounts that represent them are also banned from photo-sharing app Instagram, which Facebook owns.For years Jones had used his Facebook channel to spread the idea that the Sandy Hook shooting, in which 20 children died, was a hoax. Jones followers took it upon themselves to harass the parents of murdered children. He’s being sued for defamation by 10 of those families.
“They have rules, but enforcement is completely random,” said Roger McNamee, a high-profile Silicon Valley investor who has become a sharp critic of Facebook. “They don’t do anything about it until massive harm has been done and they can no longer find a dodge. Facebook is clearly feeling pressure.” "I think these are steps in the right direction that the company has been taking in terms of cleaning up the platform,” said Dan Ives, an equity analyst at Wedbush Securities.
Facebook and other social media sites have long portrayed themselves as neutral platforms that are not responsible for what their users post, said Anthony Nadler, a professor at Ursinus College in Pennsylvania who researches how social networks and ad platforms can assist radicalization and spread disinformation.
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