The social network has acted to remove the page about Elliot Rodger, a day after refusing to do so

Facebook has taken down a page describing Elliot Rodger, the Isla Vista killer, as an "American hero", after refusing to for more than a day.

The page, which described the murderer as making "the ultimate sacrifice in the struggle against feminazi ideology", had been the subject of numerous complaints from Facebook users.

All reported it for violating the site's community standards, accusing it of breaking rules against harassment, hate speech, and threats of violence. The site initially refused to take action, telling users including Ian Miles Cheong, Tim Simmons and Australian campaign group Destroy the Joint that the page didn't violate their standards.

But on Monday afternoon, after being contacted by the Guardian, it relented, saying that the page violated its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. While the company wouldn't comment specifically on the reasons the page had been removed, it pointed out that registering under a false identity, improperly collecting personal information, infringing intellectual property rights and violating community standards are all reasons content can be removed from the site.

The page itself may have been created specifically to provoke. Its header image featured a picture of the killer with a stereotypical fedora-wearing nerd photoshopped into the background, apparently mocking the association with him blaming his virginity for the murders; while much of the content is in the vernacular of sites such as 4chan, notorious for trolling victims of tragedies.