Far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, leaves the Old Bailey on October 23, 2018, in London. (Getty Images)
British far-right activist Tommy Robinson has been permanently banned from Facebook and Instagram for repeatedly violating the tech giant's hate speech policies.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, broke rules that ban public calls for violence against protected classes of people, rules that ban appearing with or supporting hate groups, and policies against bullying.
"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 this week.
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The activist, who founded the English Defense League, was also banned from Twitter almost one year ago.
One of Robinson's posts called Muslims "filthy scum bags" and another called on people to terrorize and behead those who follow the Quran, Facebook confirmed to Fox News. Robinson has also organized and participated in events with the Proud Boys and Generation Identity, two organizations that the social network designates as hate groups.
"Tommy Robinson’s Facebook Page has repeatedly broken [our] standards, posting material that uses dehumanizing language and calls for violence targeted at Muslims. He has also behaved in ways that violate our policies around organized hate," the tech giant said.
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Proud Boys leader Gavin McInnes was previously been banned from Facebook too. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was not technically banned, but several of his pages were removed for repeated violations of Facebook's community standards.
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