Tommy Robinson has been banned from Facebook and Instagram after posting material calling for violence against Muslims, according to the social media giant.

Facebook said the EDL founder had posted "material that uses dehumanising language" and "in ways that violate our policies around organised hate".

Robinson has now been banned on both of Facebook's platforms, as well as Twitter, although his channel on Google-owned YouTube is still available with advertising suspended.

Facebook stated that it prohibits hate speech and claimed that Robinson has "repeatedly" violated that rule.

The far-right activist, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, told Sky News last year that he does not care whether his message "incites fear" of Muslims as long as it "prevents children from getting raped".


Image: Robinson spoke to supporters outside the Old Bailey in September

Robinson - who is also banned on payment site PayPal - had more than a million followers on Facebook where he posted inflammatory material and appealed for donations.

A Facebook statement said: "This is not a decision we take lightly, but individuals and organisations that attack others on the basis of who they are have no place on Facebook or Instagram."

Following his Facebook ban, Robinson said: "I've breached no laws of Facebook, everyone is going to know that I've breached no rules.

"What I've done is shown people the truth and that is what they are removing, the truth. People will still find me."

Sky News' technology correspondent Rowland Manthorpe said the true size of Robinson's audience is "often underestimated".

He said: "He wasn't just big on Facebook, he was massive: a figure many times more popular than Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn, as the data we've gathered on his audience shows.

"Yet, if anything, those statistics underestimate his reach. It doesn't capture how many people watched his livestreamed videos, for instance, or for long - although, in recent times, that had become one of his most popular outlets. Remember him livestreaming his own arrest?

UKIP leader: Tommy Robinson 'not an unpleasant character'

"Even so, we never really knew whether Robinson's appeal was heartfelt, or if it was driven solely by Facebook's clickbait-driven algorithm.

"Now the master of the dark arts of social media has been banned from one of his biggest platforms, we will be that bit closer to finding out."

Robinson - who is an adviser to UKIP - was not previously banned on Facebook despite using the platform to live-stream his appearance outside Leeds Crown Court during the trial of a grooming gang.

The trial had strict reporting restrictions preventing details being published until the conclusion of that trial and another related case. That second trial had not yet started.

Robinson was found in contempt of court as a result of breaking these restrictions, which exist to ensure that the jury is not biased.

He is currently on bail having appealed the offence.