SPLC-Designated Hate Group 'Proud Boys' Banned From Facebook and Instagram

SPLC-designated hate group Proud Boys has been banned from Facebook and Instagram. So too has founder Gavin McInnes, who left VICE Media in 2008.

"Our team continues to study trends in organized hate and hate speech and works with partners to better understand hate organizations as they evolve," a Facebook rep told the Daily Beast in a statement Tuesday. "We ban these organizations and individuals from our platforms and also remove all praise and support when we become aware of it."

A previous Beast report found that McInnes—who was barred from Twitter earlier this year—had used his social media presence to promote an Oct. 12 speech that ultimately resulted in nine Proud Boys members facing riot and assault charges. While the group bills itself as a collective of "western chauvinists," the SPLC notes that's nowhere near an all-encompassing enough term for them. The group is "known for anti-Muslim and misogynistic rhetoric" and has routinely made side-by-side public appearances with extremist groups at hate-backed events like the fatal Unite the Right rally. In fact, former Proud Boy Jason Kessler helped put the whole thing together.

Continued de-platforming efforts have seen recent success due in no small part to anti-fascist activists. As broken down in great detail in this Splinter article from earlier this month, starving fascism to death is "the best way" to cure it.

Also on Tuesday, the New York Police Department apparently decided to arrest 14 nonviolent Jewish protesters outside the same venue where McInnes gave his aforementioned speech earlier this month.