Facebook announced that it will ban content which glorifies White Nationalism from appearing on its platform. This is the latest in a series of moves by social media platforms to crack down on the sort of hate speech which inspired the recent New Zealand mosque shooting. The company said in a statement that "It's clear that these concepts are deeply linked to organized hate groups and have no place on our services." This decision came after months of discussion with civil society groups and race relations experts.





It’s no secret that Youtube has its own network of influential users spreading hate under the banner of White Nationalism. The time has come for Youtube to join Facebook and other social media platforms in explicitly banning this sort of content. Those spreading hate on Youtube are often careful to not feature more blatantly racist content such as racial slurs in their videos, knowing this would get them removed. Instead they focus on promoting inherently hateful ideas such as White Nationalism through conversation, memes, and media.





Already, ads have been pulled from some Youtube videos which the company determined to contain hate speech, but if this is the case, why not just remove them from the platform all together? Hate speech is not protected under free speech law, and Youtube should not hesitate to remove content which promotes the most hateful and deadly of ideas. Banning White Nationalist content is an important first step Youtube must take in ensuring that its platform is a safe and inclusive space for all.