It said it had reconsidered that after "conversations with members of civil society and academics who are experts in race relations around the world" who said, according to Facebook, "that white nationalism and separatism cannot be meaningfully separated from white supremacy and organized hate groups."
Over the past three months, Facebook said, it had more than 20 conversations with civil rights groups and experts in race relations across the US, Europe, and Africa.
Among the groups Facebook consulted was the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
"It took a lot of hard work to get Facebook to where they are today. But the hard work lies ahead, we will be watching closely how they implement the policy," Kristen Clarke, the group's president and executive director, told CNN Business after Facebook's announcement on Wednesday.
Clarke said that Facebook's previous policy allowed white supremacists to abuse the platform and that her group had been talking to the company about a policy change for several months.
