Facebook mulls axing British far-right group Britain First's account

LONDON, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- Facebook said it was reviewing the account of Britain-based far-right group Britain First to decide whether to suspend it.

"There are clearly issues with their page on Facebook," Facebook's Director of Public Policy Simon Milner said, adding that a number of posts had been taken down.

"We are obviously reviewing it, but we are very, very cautious about political speech," Milner told The Telegraph daily.

Together with representatives from Twitter and Google, Milner was called before the British Parliament's Home Affairs Committee on combating online hate speech on Tuesday.

Britain First is a right-wing group campaigning against multiculturalism in the United Kingdom. The group was deregistered by the Electoral Commission as a political party this November.

Twitter also suspended Britain First's account recently, as well as accounts of its leader Paul Golding and his deputy Jayda Fransen.

The suspension is part of Twitter's new move to reduce hateful and abusive content. The company announced it would start enforcing updated rules from Monday.

"Specific threats of violence or wishing for serious physical harm, death, or disease to an individual or group of people is in violation of our policies," Twitter said, specifying its hateful conduct policy and rules against abusive behavior.

Britain First has been posting unverified videos depicting alleged violence and crimes committed by immigrants or Muslims.

Several anti-Muslim videos published on social media by Fransen were under the spotlight recently after U.S. President Donald Trump reposted them, putting strain on U.S.-UK ties and sparking global controversy. Enditem