Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Welcomes Facebook ban on White Nationalism.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Thursday that she welcomed Facebook Inc’s decision to ban praise, support and representation of white nationalism and white separatism on its social media platforms Facebook and Instagram from the next week.

“Arguably these categories should always fall within the community guidelines of hate speech, but nevertheless it’s positive the clarification has now been made in the wake of the attack in Christchurch,” she said at a press conference.

The social network has come under pressure after a man live streamed an attack on two mosques in New Zealand. Facebook had previously allowed some white nationalist content it did not view as racist – including permission for users to call for the creation of white ethno-states.

Facebook’s ban was a shift in policy after criticism by civil rights groups that it was failing to confront extremism.