#IStandWithHateSpeech because Torah does not recognize any such category as racism, bigotry, xenophobia, homophobia, Islamophobia.
Twitter:
* In 24 hours the EU bans all hate speech. Does not matter to them if facts and opinions are silenced, therefore ->
#IStandWithHateSpeech
* if you can’t rebutt opposing views without calling it hate speech then your argument probably wasn’t strong anyway.
EU LINKS UP WITH TWITTER, TECH FIRMS TO COMBAT HATE SPEECH
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union reached an agreement Tuesday with some of the world’s biggest social media firms, including Facebook and Twitter, on ways to combat the spread of hate speech online.
Under the terms of a code of conduct, the firms, which also include YouTube and Microsoft, have committed to “quickly and efficiently” tackle illegal hate speech directed against anyone over issues of race, color, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin. The sites have often been used by terrorist organizations to relay messages and entice hatred against certain individuals or groups.
Among the measures agreed with the EU’s executive arm, the firms have said they will establish internal procedures and staff training to guarantee that a majority of illegal content is assessed and, where necessary, removed within 24 hours. They have also agreed to strengthen their partnerships with civil society organizations who often flag content that promotes incitement to violence and hateful conduct. The European Commission and the firms have also agreed to support civil society organizations to deliver “anti-hate campaigns.”
“The internet is a place for free speech, not hate speech,” said Vera Jourova, the EU commissioner responsible for justice, consumers and gender equality. She added that the code of conduct, which will be regularly reviewed in terms of its scope and its impact, will ensure that public incitement to violence to hatred has “no place online.”
The firms themselves say there’s no conflict between their mission statements to promote the freedom of expression and clamping down on hate speech.
Twitter, which has been at the center of much of the hate speech that’s spread online over the past few years, says it will continue to tackle the issue “head-on” along with partners in industry and civil society.
“We remain committed to letting the Tweets flow,” said Twitter’s European head of public policy Karen White. “However, there is a clear distinction between freedom of expression and conduct that incites violence and hate.”
And Facebook’s head of global policy management Monika Bickert urged the company’s 1.6 million users to use the site’s in-built reporting tools in the event they find content they consider unacceptable.
“Our teams around the world review these reports around the clock and take swift action,” she said.
Great to see that the tech giants are following the directives of the ADL and the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
Wiesenthal Center Applauds Social Media Giants’ Commitment to Combat Online Hate in Europe
Hate is hate: much more still needs to be done to combat online hate in US, not only Europe
The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Digital Terrorism and Hate Project commends today’s announcement that social media giants, including Facebook, Twitter, Google/YouTube, and Microsoft have committed to the European Union to remove “illegal” hate postings from their services within the next 24 hours.
“We applaud today’s important announcement as a significant step in the long struggle to degrade the leveraging of social media platforms by terrorists, their supporters, neo-Nazis, anti-Semites, and other extremists in Europe,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Wiesenthal Center who has founded and heads the Human Rights NGO’s Digital Terrorism and Hate Project for the last two decades.
“However, much more needs to be done by these companies to deal with the unfettered access of extremists to their powerful platforms in the US,” he added. “This includes Twitter shutting down vicious hate hashtags. Twitter allows hate hash-tags that use the “n-word” and threaten Jews, Muslims and other minorities,” Cooper also said, adding, “It is vital that these companies take all necessary steps to strengthen their own Terms Of Use, make them transparent and create the mechanism to deal with the burgeoning problem of online hate in our country.”
Rabbi Cooper also expressed concern that the companies were, in effect deploying on double on dealing with hate, “It appears from today’s announcement that hate postings, for example about the “Big Lie” of the blood libel (that Jews use the blood of Christian children for ritual purposes) would be removed in Germany, but remain untouched if posted through a US server.” He added, “Hate is hate and if a Social media company would remove such postings from its online pages in Germany, it should do the same globally.”
For the last two decades, the Wiesenthal Center’s Digital Terrorism and Hate Project has been a trailblazer in exposing, monitoring and combating the abuse of online technologies by extremists of all kinds, in the US and overseas. The Center’s annual interactive report has been reviewed by the US Congress and helps train law enforcement, intelligence, and community activists globally. In 2012 the Center introduced a password-sensitive app for law enforcement that enables instant access to our expert researchers. While cyber hate is on the rise, only close to half of this country’s law enforcement agencies have a social media policy, according to a recent police survey. The Simon Wiesenthal Center regularly meets with the leading social media companies and releases an annual report card reflecting the commitment (or lack thereof) of companies to curb online terror and hate.
Hispanics in black face:
John Rivers: Why do billionaires like Carlos Slim, Mark Zuckerberg & Jeff Bezos use their Media Platforms to destroy their enemies? Because they can.
From my Twitter home page:
* Trump holds 2 pressers in 2 business days.
Sanders takes no Qs at event billed as presser.
Clinton hasn’t held a formal presser in 6 months.
* Clinton keeps asking us to imagine her losing. Ask yourself if Trump would make that mistake.
* Dishonest press viciously targets voters for fueling Trump’s rise, calls for recriminations.
