The Malta Independent on Sunday
Tech companies continue efforts to banish extremist accounts
Tech companies’ efforts to banish extremist groups and individuals are continuing as a social network popular with extremists disappeared from Google’s Android app store.
Gab had already been unavailable in Apple’s store, though it remains accessible on the web.
The banishments come in the wake of the deadly clash at a white-nationalist rally last weekend in Virginia. Civil rights advocates welcomed the moves, but say more needs to be done – and more should have been done earlier.
The following are some of the technology services that have banned hate groups or have otherwise come out against white supremacists and their supporters:
Airbnb
Ahead of the rally, the housing booking service Airbnb barred rentals to people it believed were travelling to participate. The company said it used its existing background checks and “input from the community” to identify users who didn’t align with its standards.
Social media
Facebook removed several groups and individuals from its service and Instagram for what it calls violations of terms banning hate speech. Groups included Vanguard America, Physical Removal and Genuine Donald Trump. The company uses a combination of artificial intelligence and human moderators to weed out groups, posts and people that violate its policies. Spokeswoman Ruchika Budhraja acknowledges this is a difficult task, as determining what is hate speech is more difficult than something like a beheading video or child pornography.
Twitter, meanwhile, appears to have suspended the account of neo-Nazi site Daily Stormer, though the company doesn’t comment on individual accounts.
App stores
Google has removed Gab, a social network that extremists flocked to, for “hate speech”, Gab tweeted. Gab’s logo is a green cartoon frog, reminiscent of “Pepe the Frog”, the internet meme that’s become a symbol of the “alt-right”, a fringe movement that’s known for its racist, anti-Semitic and sexist views.
Service providers
The publisher of the Daily Stormer said he has been effectively “banned from the internet” after mocking the victim of a deadly car attack during the protests in Charlottesville. Andrew Anglin said by email he is “figuring out the next step” after four domain registration companies refused to service his site. GoDaddy and Google said earlier that the site violated their terms of service. After briefly reappearing under a Russian domain name, the site was again offline on Wednesday after the security company Cloudflare Inc. dropped him as a customer, leaving the site vulnerable to hacking attacks.
Email marketing firm MailChimp said some groups had their accounts terminated after it changed its terms of service on Monday to exclude customers whose primary purpose was “inciting harm” or promoting “discriminatory, hateful, or harassing content”. Squarespace, a website service company, said it banished some sites out of concern they “could be used to facilitate or promote behavior that gives rise to violence”. Identity Evropa, a northern California hate group that helped organize participants in Charlottesville, tweeted that it had lost service from MailChimp, Squarespace and PayPal.
Online payments
PayPal has been removing payment accounts linked to known hate groups in the months leading up to Charlottesville, according to the company and a civil rights organization it was working with. For example, the account for the Daily Stormer was banned several months ago. In a blog post, the company said it “strives to navigate the balance between freedom of expression and open dialogue – and the limiting and closing of sites that accept payments or raise funds to promote hate, violence and intolerance”.
Online fund-raising sites GoFundMe and Patreon also banned people and cancelled fund-raisers associated with right-wing hate groups. GoFundMe confirmed that it removed “multiple campaigns” for James Fields, the driver accused of driving his car into protesters and killing a woman.
Spotify
The music streaming service banned music it said “favours hatred or incites violence against race, religion, sexuality or the like” after it was alerted to white supremacist bands on its service by the music blog Digital Music News. The blog found bands identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as white power music streaming on Spotify.
Finding love
Dating site OKCupid tweeted that it had banned white national- ist Christopher Cantwell, saying “There is no room for hate in a place where you’re looking for love.”
Outside the tech world
Discover said Thursday that it is “in the process” of terminating the accounts of hate groups. The racial justice group Color of Change had called on the credit card company, along with American Express, Mastercard and Visa, to stop processing funds for hate groups.
Amex said most of the websites it was alerted to by activists already do not accept its credit cards. The company said it is “currently reviewing the other sites and will take the appropriate actions. We maintain the right to terminate any relationship that is harmful to our brand.”
Mastercard said in a statement that it reviewed the websites “provided by civic leaders and others” and shut down the use of cards on sites it saw as inciting violence. At the same time, the company said it generally doesn’t block cards “based on our disagreement with specific views espoused or promoted”.
Visa issued a similar statement, saying that while it bans illegal transactions, it does not restrict “lawful expression of views, even if we may find the organization or its positions to be offensive”.
Donations
Apple is donating $2 million to two human rights groups as part of CEO Tim Cook’s pledge to help lead the fight against the hate that fuelled the violence in Charlottesville. Apple is giving $1 million apiece to Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League. The iPhone maker will also match employee donations to those two groups and other human rights organizations on a two-for-one basis.
21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch told friends in a personal email that he and his wife, Kathryn, will donate $1 million to the Anti-Defamation League.
American Airlines said it will donate $150,000 to Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville.