Facebook has removed the pages of the far-right group Britain First and its leaders, Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen.
The social media platform issued a statement on Wednesday saying the group's page, which had more than two million likes, had repeatedly violated its community standards.
"We are an open platform for all ideas and political speech goes to the heart of free expression," Facebook said. "But political views can and should be expressed without hate. People can express robust and controversial opinions without needing to denigrate others on the basis of who they are."
The social network added: "We have Community Standards that clearly state this sort of speech is not acceptable on Facebook and, when we become aware of it, we remove it as quickly as we can. Political parties, like individuals and all other organisations on Facebook, must abide by these standards and where a Page or person repeatedly breaks our Community Standards we remove them."
During Prime Minister's Questions, Theresa May announced that she welcomed the move and hoped other social media companies would follow. Sadiq Khan has also issued a statement. "This is a vile and hate-fuelled group whose sole purpose is to sow division," the Mayor of London wrote on Twitter.
The BBC reports that the offending posts included a photo of Britain First's leaders with the caption "Islamophobic and Proud" along with multiple videos inciting hateful comments against Muslims.
Britain First recently hit headlines when US President Donald Trump retweeted anti-Islamic videos posted by Fransen in November. Last week, both Golding and the deputy leader were jailed after they were found guilty of religiously aggravated harassment.
