Facebook and Instagram ban UK far-right figure Tommy Robinson

Facebook and Instagram have banned Tommy Robinson, former leader and founder of the far-right, anti-Muslim group English Defence League (EDL). 

Facebook said in a blogpost that they have removed Robinson’s pages on Facebook and Instagram, which is owned by Facebook. The profiles have been taken down for “repeatedly” violating the community guidelines by “posting material that uses dehumanizing language and calls for violence targeted at Muslims.”

“Our rules also make clear that individuals and organizations that are engaged in ‘organized hate’ are not allowed on the platform,” Facebook added. “This is true regardless of the ideology they espouse.”

Robinson had over one million followers on Facebook before his account was taken down, per The Independant, and 163,000 Instagram followers according to the Evening Standard. 

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has already been permanently banned from Twitter for violating its hateful conduct policies, and was also banned from using payment service PayPal last year. 

Robinson has a history of anti-Muslim rhetoric and and hate speech, and was jailed last year for live-streaming from outside a trial involving Muslim defendants. Per the BBC, Facebook has previously warned Robinson that several of his posts on its platforms violated community guidelines, including posts urging his followers to “make war” on Muslims, and calling them “filthy scum bags.”

“Individuals and organizations that attack others on the basis of who they are have no place on Facebook or Instagram,” Facebook wrote in the blogpost. 

Robinson’s YouTube channel with over 290,000 subscribers remains active, but YouTube suspended ads on Robinson’s channel earlier this year, preventing him from making money from it, BuzzFeed News reported. 

UK shadow Culture Secretary Tom Watson said on Twitter that he welcomed Facebook’s decision to de-platform Robinson, but says the company should have acted sooner.

“For far too long this violent thug’s hate-spewing, anti-Islamist tirades were given a platform by Facebook,” Watson wrote. “Today’s decision comes far too late.”