After New Zealand mosque shootings and civil rights backlash, Facebook bans white nationalism, separatism

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Users searching for white nationalism and separatismwill be directed to resources that help people leavehate groups starting next week, the company said.

The decision to extend that ban to white nationalism and separatism addresses one of Facebook'smost controversial content moderation policies thatcontrol the speech of more than 2 billion users around the globe.

The social media company had previously defended the practice, saying it consulted researchers and academic experts in crafting a policy drawing aline between white supremacy and the belief that races should be separated.

Facebook's policy reversalmarks a major step toward reckoning withthe vast amount of white nationalist content that continues to fester on social media services.

With agrowing number of populist movements gaining hold around the globe, technology companies have been reluctant to ban white nationalist content, wary of charges of censorship.

Implicitor coded expressions of white nationalism and white separatism will not be banned right away as those are harder to detect, Facebook told Motherboard.

The House Judiciary Committee plans to hold a hearing in early April on the rise of white nationalism.Researchers say that rise in attacks by white supremacists and anti-government extremists is being fueled by growingpolitical polarization, anti-immigrant sentimentand the ease with which proponents can spread their beliefs over the internet.