Officials from the Los Angeles based Simon Wiesenthal Center blasted online media giants Thursday, for not doing enough to stop online messages from terror and hate groups.
“It’s a tsunami of hate out there,” said the Center’s Rabbi Abraham Cooper. “The internet did not create hate. But what social media has become is a sounding board, an echo chamber for the bigots and the racists.”
The Wiesenthal Center issued their annual “Social Media Report Card”, giving especially low marks to YouTube, for what they say is the online giant’s failure to adequately purge videos promoting terrorism and hate speech.
“There’s a whole subculture of how to take, transform your household chemicals and be able to deploy…make them into weapons,” Cooper said. “On the internet you can say and do what you want, and pretty much anything goes.”
Governor Bruce Rauner suggested it’s more important than ever for right-thinking citizens, and especially parents, to step forward.
“We must act,” he said. “We have a rising tide of violence based upon hate, based upon bigotry and prejudice.”
Cooper especially singled out online messaging apps which utilize high-end encryption, saying they have become the communication method of choice for terrorists.
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“Right now they are cherry-picking the best of the technologies,” he said. “And when it comes to marketing, they are way ahead of the game.”
YouTube did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
The Wiesenthal Center’s online report can be viewed at http://digitalhate.net/index.php.
