Facebook has taken down a post poking fun at the Islamic State saying it had to remove it because it did not meet its community standards.
The post showed what was intended to be the Islamic State flag reproduced as toilet roll and was posted on the social media site by Britain First leader Paul Golding. It was captioned: "Soon to be stocked in the Britain First shop."
Islamic State have been blamed for the deaths of tens of thousands of people but they must be shown the same level of respect on Facebook as anyone else, the internet company has said
After being notified that the post had been taken down Golding wrote to Facebook's chat support asking why.
Facebook support worker Dora Zganjer replied: "Obviously it was not complying with Facebook community standards."
She continued: "I understand where you're coming from, but posts like this will be taken down without a doubt."
Facebook removed this post saying it breached its community standards but conceded its rules don't "make sense" when applied to the terrorist group
Golding again pressed her on the censorship, asking "why... so you're not allowed to poke for at Isis?"
Zganjer: But in regards to your post, I understand you want to express your opinion but please do understand that Facebook is trying to treat everyone the same."
Golding continued: "Even ISIL?"
Britain First leader Paul Golding asked Facebook support why the post was taken down
Zganjer: "I know it doesn't make sense when it comes to ISIL but those are the policy standards of the company."
Golding: "So just to reiterate, we are not allowed to poke fun at ISIL?"
The chat support worker reiterates that the same standards are applied to everyone.
Golding continues to ask why, but this time Zganjer appears to sympathise a little, saying: "I know it doesn't make sense when it comes to ISIL, but these are the policy standards of the company."
The exchange ends with the chat support worker telling Golding that he should try and "tone down the sarcasm" of his posts
Golding concludes, "so no more anti-ISIL posts?"
This time Zganjer offers some advice: "I believe you can share posts about ISIL, just try to tone down the sarcasm." She ends her message with a smiley face.
Writing on the Britain First website Golding on Tuesday expressed his disbelief over his post being removed.
"The question we have for Facebook: Is this some kind of wind-up? Or is your “Community Standards” department based in Raqqa?"
Golding points out that while Facebook was "busy protecting the good reputation of Islamic State", simple searches on the networking site can turn up significant amounts of offensive content.