Hate Speech

In its sixth Community Standards Enforcement Report, Facebook has released data showing that the platform has removed seven million posts that contained false information about the Covid-19 pandemic, a cure or the virus itself.

In addition, 22,5 million posts have been removed on the grounds of hate speech and 8,7 million which are in connection to extremist organizations.

David Duke, white supremacist and former KKK grand wizard, has gotten his Twitter account permanently suspended on Thursday. Duke's account was banned "for repeated violations of the Twitter Rules on hateful conduct" and for sharing "harmful links," so a Twitter spokesperson.

Twitter's move comes just a month after YouTube banned Duke's channel in late June for violating its "strict policies prohibiting hate speech."

The lawyers and civil rights experts Laura Murphy and Megan Cacace have conducted and published a 100-page civil rights audit analyzing how Facebook treats hate speech and misinformation on the platform.

The report states that "it is important to acknowledge that the Civil Rights Audit was a substantive and voluntary process and that the company used the process to listen, plan and deliver on various consequential changes that will help advance the civil rights of its users".

Though the auditors state that Facebook failed "to grasp the urgency" of the problems which will have "direct and consequential implications" on the presidential elections of the United States in November adding that "Facebook has a long road ahead on its civil rights journey".

Over the past few weeks, hundreds of companies and brands have joined the Facebook ad boycott #StopHateForProfit. On Tuesday, civil rights groups met virtually with Facebook executives Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg to discuss the platform's handling of hate speech. Among the groups attending where the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Anti-Defamation League and Color of Change.

Leaders of the civil rights groups have stated that the meeting was "very disappointing," with the head of Color of Change, Rashad Robinson saying: "They showed up to the meeting expecting an A for attendance. Attending alone is not enough."

Facebook issued a statement, promising to take steps to "keep hate off of our platform" and that they were aware that they would be "judged by our actions not by our words and are grateful to these groups and many others for their continued engagement."

YouTube has banned six channels of known YouTubers including former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and Richard Spender over hate speech. According to YouTube the channels linked to off-platform hate content and made claims of inferiority about a protected group. In an official statement, the company said that they "have terminated over 25,000 channels for violating our hate speech policies" since updating their "guidelines to better address supremacist content".

Ford, Adidas and Clorox have joined a growing list of companies pausing social media advertising to take action against hate speech. Ford will not advertise on either Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or Twitter in the U.S. for the next 30 days. Clorox is pausing advertising globally on all Facebook-owned platforms until the end of the year, Adidas through July.

According to the independent eSports and gaming journalist Rod Breslau (alias "Slasher), Twitch has suspended the president of the United States providing him with the statement that "Hateful conduct is not allowed on Twitch. In line with our policies, President Trump’s channel has been issued a temporary suspension from Twitch for comments made on stream".

Reddit has deleted r/The_Donald, a popular and controversial subreddit devoted to Donald Trump with over 790,000 members. Reddit Co-Founder and CEO Steve Huffman said that r/The_Donald had consistently violated the community and content policies by harassing others with hate speech. The social networking platform is also banning another 2,000 communities from all different political spectrums, including the subreddit of the left-wing podcast "Chapo Trap House".

Reddit has further introduced new content policies and developed a new enforcement plan to tackle critical issues. The post stated that "no community should be used as a weapon," and that "communities and users that promote hate based on identity or vulnerability will be banned."

Starbucks has announced to halt advertising on "all social media platforms", though the company is not joining the #StopHateForProfit boycott campaign. The coffeehouse chain further stated it would hold "discussions internally and with media partners and civil rights organizations to stop the spread of hate speech" but would continue to post on social media platforms without paid promotion.

"We believe in bringing communities together, both in person and online, and we stand against hate speech," so the company in a statement on Sunday. "We believe more must be done to create welcoming and inclusive online communities, and we believe both business leaders and policy makers need to come together to affect real change."

Verizon has joined companies like Ben & Jerry's, North Face, Pangolia and others in boycotting Facebook and Instagram as a marketing platform. With more and more companies joining in "Stop the Hate for Profit", the campaign is gathering momentum. The companies have voiced concerns over Facebook's policies and inaction regarding the handling of posts with hateful language, namely posts from the United States President Donald Trump.