Facebook's South Africa problem: Just what exactly is 'white nationalism'?

Facebook, under enormous pressure to be more conscious about the content on the platform, has recently announced that beginning immediately it will start taking down posts that support white nationalism and white separatism. But what exactly is 'white nationalism' and how would it apply in South Africa? Turns out, it's a work in progress.

By Tim Cohen

8 Apr 2019

Facebook's South Africa problem: Just what exactly is 'white nationalism'?

As part of a flurry of changes to alter public perception of Facebook, the organisation has decided it will start taking down posts that support white nationalism and white separatism, igniting a subterranean debate about whether this move and others constitute a genuine desire to change or a genuine desire to subvert criticism.

The change has happened in the wake of the terrorist attack, live-streamed on Facebook, on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand that killed 50 people. But in fact, the discussion started a few months earlier. The alleged perpetrator in the New Zealand killing, Brenton Tarrant, was reportedly a member of a white supremacist group.

It also comes in the wake of an editorial published in the Washington Post by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg calling for greater government regulation — a move that elicited a wide range of responses ranging from guarded support to outright cynicism.

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Source: Daily Maverick

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