Facebook bans Britain First pages

Facebook has banned the official page of far-right group Britain First, along with those of party leader Paul Golding and deputy leader Jayda Fransen.

Golding and Fransen were jailed earlier this month after being convicted of religiously-aggravated harassment in Kent last year.

Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen were convicted of religiously-aggravated harassment last month. Credit: PA

Facebook said it had taken the action after the pages had repeatedly broken their community rules on hate speech. The social network said the violating content included an image of the group’s leaders with the caption ‘Islamophobic and Proud’.

"We recently gave the administrators of the pages a written final warning, and they have continued to post content that violates our Community Standards.

"As a result, in accordance with our policies, we have now removed the official Britain First Facebook page and the pages of the two leaders with immediate effect.

"We do not do this lightly, but they have repeatedly posted content designed to incite animosity and hatred against minority groups, which disqualifies the Pages from our service."

Britain First were suspended from Twitter in December 2017. Credit: PA

Facebook also confirmed that the group will not be allowed to set up another page in the future.

The move from Facebook comes after the far-right group were also suspended from Twitter in December 2017.

Prime Minister Theresa May told the House of Commons that she welcomed the decision.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan also praised the move, calling on more “platforms to show a stronger duty of care, so that they can live up to their promise to be places that connect and unify, not divide or polarise.”