The leader of a British political party and a candidate in tomorrow’s European elections are both included on Facebook’s list of potential “Hate Agents,” Breitbart News can exclusively reveal.
Carl Benjamin, YouTube star and candidate for UKIP in tomorrow’s European elections and Anne-Marie Waters, founder of the For Britain party and director of Sharia Watch UK are both included.
The inclusion of electoral candidates is significant, given that Facebook has been under siege by the media for over two years for the facilitation of “election meddling.”
A Facebook insider tipped off Breitbart News to the existence of the “Hate Agents” list last week, revealing that Candace Owens was included on it. A Facebook spokeswoman later confirmed the existence of the list, while stressing that Owens had not yet been investigated.
Breitbart News has since obtained the full list as it existed in late April.
The list encourages Facebook employees to collect examples of “signals” – both on the platform and off it – to determine if individuals ought to be categorized as “hate agents” and potentially blacklisted from the platform.
The signals are divided into Level One, Level Two, and Level Three, ranked by time. A level one – the most serious – is a signal that occurred within the past year, whereas a level three is a signal that occurred within the past three years.
Under level two signals, Benjamin is charged with giving a “neutral representation of John Kinsman, member of Proud Boys” on October 21 last year. Facebook filed this entry under a column marked “praise or support for a designated Hate Entity.”
Notably, even though Facebook admits the representation was “neutral,” this is still categorized as a potential hate signal. When discussing Facebook-designated wrongpersons, it seems only outright condemnation is good enough for Mark Zuckerberg’s social network.
Under “Level Three” signals, the authors of the list note that the platform has removed several pieces of content from Benjamin’s Facebook and/or Instagram pages in the past three years. They list the following, some of which are tagged as “borderline” cases:
- delete, hate speech, intersex result of inbreeding/genetic deformity (borderline), July 21, 2017
- delete, supporting statement of inferiority against Germans, Tier 2, Sept 16, 2017
- delete, “kill whitey” (borderline zoom into ‘stop the hate’), Oct 2, 2017
- delete, use of slur (faggot), Jan 4, 2018
In a column marked “individual promotes the creation of an ethnostate,” an entry is inexplicably added in which Benjamin mocks the positions of the alt-right (who do want an ethnostate).
- representing ideology of an ethnostate, Jan 5 2018
However, under “notes,” a Facebook employee makes a critical concession:
“Most content is anti-communist/fascist/feminist/socialist. He’s not explicitly hateful and even criticizes the “alt right” for wanting to build an ethnostate.”
Although not categorized as “hate signals,” the “notes” field also contains more examples of apparently problematic content from Benjamin.
- delete, bullying, mocking physical harm, April 16, 2017
- borderline, cartoon violence against vulnerable people, May 25, 2017
- borderline, call for death in image but no condemnation, Aug 11, 2017
- delete, bullying, comparing Shaun King to a dog, Aug 22, 2017
- delete, representing hate figure’s (Hitler) ideology in a meme, Nov 8, 2017
- MAC, Poundland post with ‘teabagging’ elf on the shelf, Dec 25, 2017
Despite being tagged with “delete,” most of these links are still online – it’s unclear whether these posts are scheduled for deletion later, or whether Facebook has simply decided not to follow these internal recommendations.
Anne-Marie Waters, a prominent critic of Islam, former Labour party candidate and founder of the For Britain party is also on the list.
Under Level One signals, the list highlights:
- Sept 2017: Waters joined forces with Tommy Robinson to form a British version of the German anti-Muslim group Pegida (https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/uk/how-anne-marie-waters-went-from-stoneybatter-to-ukip-1.3237565)
- Nov 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IM4wtEr4No (31:55 timestamp) Evidence of organizing with Jack Diamond, Generation Identity UK
Both entries are added under a column marked “Individual has organized or sponsored events or appearances with a designated Hate Entity with the intention to promote and/or associate with the Hate Entity (except Hate Agents) and/or their cause.”
Notably both incidents did not occur on Facebook – an indication that, like Twitter, the platform punishes users for offsite behavior.
Under Level Three signals, the list highlights:
- Nov 2017: Called Muslim ‘fuckers’ and called for banning Muslim integration: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IM4wtEr4No)
- ‘Muslims are raping women in Rotherham’ (https://gab.com/AMDWaters/posts/a3o0ajNXUCtKckZ6L2pjcHdONjE3Zz09)
The entries are under a column marked “Individual has made public statements, or statements made in private and later made public, using Tier 1, 2, or 3 hate speech or slurs”
The column also explains how many instances are required for the “hate speech” to count as a “signal.”
- “. 3 instances in one statement or appearance = signal”
- “. 5 instances in multiple statements or appearances over one month = signal”
Breitbart News has reached out to Facebook for comment.
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter, Gab.ai and add him on Facebook. Email tips and suggestions to allumbokhari@protonmail.com.
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