Tommy Robinson has joined Alex Jones and Gavin McInnes on the list of firebrand pundits permanently banned by Facebook.
The founder of the English Defense League’s fierce criticism of Islam and the mainstream media has been cut off from his supporters on Facebook and Instagram. The tech giant said Tuesday that Mr. Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, violated its “organized hate” rule too many times.
“When ideas and opinions cross the line and amount to hate speech that may create an environment of intimidation and exclusion for certain groups in society — in some cases with potentially dangerous offline implications — we take action,” Facebook said in a blog post.
Supporters of Mr. Robinson are also in a tight predicament as protesting Facebook’s actions may run afoul of its terms of service.
“Our rules also make clear that individuals and organizations that are engaged in ‘organized hate’ are not allowed on the platform, and that praise or support for these figures and groups is also banned. This is true regardless of the ideology they espouse,” Facebook added.
Mr. Robinson told Breitbart London on Tuesday that claims of inciting violence are absurd.
“The reasons they’ve given are just complete lies,” he said. “They’re saying I incited violence and that I openly called for violence against Muslims, that’s just a lie. If that was the case then they could show evidence of messages where I’d said that but I never have.”
“This is continued censorship which we all knew was coming but it’s been done instantly because of my documentary [Panodrama], which exposed the establishment working with Hope not Hate, working with the BBC in order to destroy my name to the nation. When I exposed what they were doing they’ve put down the pressure to completely delete me from the internet. This has to show people the levels they’re gonna go to silence any opposition to mass migration and the Islamization of this nation.”
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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