Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has come down heavily against those propagating what has come to be termed as white terrorism, besides also issuing a strict warning to the alt-right group against using the social platform to spread their agenda of hate.
All of this is obviously a fallout of the gruesome incident that happened in Charlottesville, Virginia this weekend when a pro-white activist drove his truck right through a group of activists protesting against the ‘Unite the Right’ rally. This brazen display of hatred and racism led to the death of one Heather Heyer while injuring at least 19 others.
Facebook said several posts and groups have been removed from their platform who was trying to either glorify the agenda of the alt-right groups or trying to intimidate their opponents with threats of bodily harm. Zuckerberg assured they are ever vigilant on these issues and the site will never be used to promote terrorism.
Others who have been similarly unequivocal in their tirade against hatred and racism include Google, Airbnb, PayPal, Uber, Apple, GoDaddy and so on. All of the companies are doing their bit towards denying any space to the neo-Nazi supporters to thrive and grow. For instance, the pro-Nazi site, The daily Stormer has been shunned by both Google and GoDaddy.
In fact, it is the tech firms that were the first to openly protest the right groups’ activities, something that has now been pursued by the social sites as well. Facebook said they have already removed eight pages that were being used by the right group and are on the lookout for more.
Facebook though is also being criticized for allowing event page of the ‘Unite the Right’ of Charlottesville to remain on it platform on for a month. It was only this Friday that the page was eventually brought down.
Reddit too has said they would be equally critical of all posts that seeks to promote and racism, all of which would be promptly removed from the platform. Twitter, however, has been moderate in its response so far, claiming that while all hate posts would be removed, they aren’t explicitly banning the right or neo-Nazi groups from their platform.
