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A NAZI-HUNTING group has urged Twitter and other social media to step up efforts to remove online “hate speech,” citing a surge in incitement to attacks like the recent Boston bombings.
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre said Twitter has spawned nearly 20,000 hashtags and handles this year that are linked to terrorism and extremism, up 30 percent in the past year.
The centre’s associate dean Abraham Cooper said at a Capitol Hill briefing:
If we want to make it tougher for the terrorists to recruit, we need (actions by) Facebook, Google, Twitter and YouTube.
The proliferation of terrorism tutorials, and the abuse of social media and online forums by extremists, portend that future ‘lone wolf’ attacks here and abroad are inevitable.
Cooper said that Facebook has been far more active in “scrubbing” pages which appear to incite hate and violence, and has been open to feedback from his group, But he said Twitter has refused to even discuss the matter.
“We have been unsuccessful in even getting an answer from Twitter” about its efforts, Cooper said. “The bad guys know how to use Facebook and Twitter” to recruit and promote violence, he added.
The organisation gave Facebook a rating of A-minus for taking “tremendous steps to identify and eliminate digital prejudice and hate on their site.”
It gave YouTube a grade of C-minus, saying the Google-owned video site allows many tutorials used by attackers to remain online. Twitter was given a grade of F.
“You can post anything you want without being screened or removed,” the centre said about the micro-blogging centre.
Disputes
A Twitter spokesman said in a statement sent to AFP that the company does not “mediate content or intervene in disputes between users.”
However, targeted abuse or harassment may constitute a violation of the Twitter rules and terms of service.
The messaging platform’s terms of service state that Twitter is not responsible for content posted, but that users “may not publish or post direct, specific threats of violence against others.”
The centre, which was founded in 1977 by Nazi hunter and Holocaust survivor Wiesenthal, published the data in its 15th annual report on digital hate and terrorism.
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#over_reaction
@ Patrick, from what iv seen on this site, the majority of ppl on here do not have a problem with the British, myself included (English wife). They do have a problem with trolls and attention seeking fools, regardless of race, colour or creed.. So jog on!
In other words lets clamp down, censor & spy on people using social media sites..
Wonder when TheJournal is going to do a piece on the damning revelations at the Benghazi whistle-blower hearing held yesterday?
@ Otis don’ yon know you can’t criticise Obama or his administration in Ireland
To the Israeli government anyone speaking out for the Palestinians is a terrorist.
To the Syrian government anyone speaking out for the rebels is a terrorist.
To the Bahraini government anyone looking for a vote is a terrorist.
To the Saudi government anyone who thinks women should drive is a terrorist.
To the US government anyone opposing the Guantanamo torture camp is a terrorist.
Ditto for Chechans, Kurds, Tamils and many, many more.
And now this post will probably have me in some data-base as a terrorist.
More than twenty millions Kurds in Kurdistan Turkey are called Terrorist because they are fighting against Turkish Terrorist Regime!!?
I wonder how many #hate comments are actually #sarcasm comments.
“The proliferation of terrorism tutorials, and the abuse of social media and online forums by extremists, portend that future ‘lone wolf’ attacks here and abroad are inevitable.” Are they really inevitable? To make such a claim is to back it up with proof, and The Simon Wiesenthal Centre has not done that. People will commit acts of violence and terrorism regardless of what they can and cannot do on the internet.
And when it comes to “digital hate”, this is a childish reaction to the situation, yes there are people who are idiots on the internet (they are everywhere), but just because they post something that some people might find offensive is not a good enough reason to prevent them from expressing their opinion, because at the end of the day what is considered “offensive” is a matter of opinion.
What happened at Easter 1916 in this country would be called a terrorist act today.
So were the members of the 1916 Rising terrorists?
Terrorists only become “freedom fighters” if they win and write the books…………….then they become politicians and terrorize the public from that office with their polices for generations…………
Tom
I agree Dev’s constitution & his hold on power in Ireland after 1922, was and still is a problem for this country.
Terrorist exist every where within every nation but in different way!
#LOL
My god this is no laughing matter this needs to be stamped out NOW.
Anyone else find it ironic that Nazi hunters are engaging in censorship?
Abolish email, social media, mobile phones etc. Re-introduce carrier pigeons and smoke signals. Problem sorted. Simples.
@ Hugo.
Totally agree with you about the blatent trolls that post only to antagonise and insult.
There are a few right keyboard warriors that would be rightly at home under a sewer pipe and one or two I would love to meet face to face.
People just don’t post because of these morons but it seems that trolling and bullying behind false accounts is acceptable.
Has the Simon Wiesenthal Centre anything to do with the guy who got burned in the Falklands war
No censorship!!!
or you will become like communist and this is the biggest terrorist in the world.
people have brain and can be responsible for what they read and how they act.
I’m only after setting up twitter who’s good to follow on it??
have your say