Tech companies in the crosshairs on white supremacy and free speech (updated)

Tucows

15/08/2017 01:48

(Recasts with shift in tech industry mindset on free speech) 
    By Jim Finkle and Salvador Rodriguez 
    TORONTO/SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 14 (Reuters) - The neo-Nazi 
website Daily Stormer had its internet domain registration 
revoked twice in less than 24 hours in the wake of the weekend 
violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, part of a broad move by 
the tech industry in recent months to take a stronger hand in 
policing online hate-speech and incitements to violence. 
    GoDaddy Inc  GDDY.N , which manages internet names and 
registrations, disclosed late on Sunday via Twitter that it had 
given Daily Stormer 24 hours to move its domain to another 
provider, saying it had violated GoDaddy's terms of service. 
    The white supremacist website helped organize the weekend 
rally in Charlottesville where a 32-year-old woman was killed 
and 19 people were injured when a man plowed a car into a crowd 
protesting the white nationalist rally. 
    After GoDaddy revoked Daily Stormer's registration, the 
website turned to Alphabet Inc's  GOOGL.O  Google Domains. The 
Daily Stormer domain was registered with Google shortly before 8 
a.m. Monday PDT (1500 GMT) and the company announced plans to 
revoke it at 10:56 a.m., according to a person familiar with the 
revocation. 
    As of late Monday the site was still running on a 
Google-registered domain. Google issued a statement but did not 
say when the site would be taken down. 
    Internet companies have increasingly found themselves in the 
crosshairs over hate speech and other volatile social issues, 
with politicians and others calling on them to do more to police 
their networks while civil libertarians worry about the firms 
suppressing free speech. 
    Twitter Inc  TWTR.N , Facebook Inc  FB.O , Google's YouTube 
and other platforms have ramped up efforts to combat the social 
media efforts of Islamic militant groups, largely in response to 
pressure from European governments. Now they are facing similar 
pressures in the United States over white supremacist and 
neo-Nazi content. 
    Facebook confirmed on Monday that it took down the event 
page that was used to promote and organize the "Unite the Right" 
rally in Charlottesville. 
    Facebook allows people to organize peaceful protests or 
rallies, but the social network said it would remove such pages 
when a threat of real-world harm and affiliation with hate 
organizations becomes clear.  
    "Facebook does not allow hate speech or praise of terrorist 
acts or hate crimes, and we are actively removing any posts that 
glorify the horrendous act committed in Charlottesville," the 
company said in a statement. 
    Several other companies also took action. Canadian internet 
company Tucows Inc  TC.TO  stopped hiding the domain 
registration information of Andrew Anglin, the founder of Daily 
Stormer. Tucows, which was previously providing the website with 
services masking Anglin's phone number and email address, said 
Daily Stormer had breached its terms of service.  
    "They are inciting violence," said Michael Goldstein, vice 
president for sales and marketing at Tucows, a Toronto-based 
company. "It's a dangerous site and people should know who it is 
coming from." 
    Anglin did not respond to a request for comment. 
    Discord, a 70-person San Francisco company that allows video 
gamers to communicate across the internet, did not mince words 
in its decision to shut down the server of Altright.com, an 
alt-right news website, and the accounts of other white 
nationalists. 
    "We will continue to take action against white supremacy, 
Nazi ideology, and all forms of hate," the company said in a 
tweet Monday. Altright.com did not respond to a request for 
comment.  
    Meanwhile, Twilio Inc  TWLO.N  Chief Executive Jeff Lawson 
tweeted Sunday that the company would update its use policy to 
prohibit hate speech. Twilio's services allow companies and 
organizations, such as political groups or campaigns, to send 
text messages to their communities. 
    Internet companies, which enjoy broad protections under U.S. 
law for the activities of people using their services, have 
mostly tried to avoid being arbiters of what is acceptable 
speech.  
    But the ground is now shifting, said one executive at a 
major Silicon Valley firm. Twitter, for one, has moved sharply 
against harassment and hate speech after enduring years of 
criticism for not doing enough. 
    Facebook is beefing up its content monitoring teams. Google 
is pushing hard on new technology to help it monitor and delete 
YouTube videos that celebrate violence. 
     All this comes as an influential bloc of senators, 
including Republican Senator Rob Portman and Democratic Senator 
Richard Blumenthal, is pushing legislation that would make it 
easier to penalize operators of websites that facilitate online 
sex trafficking of women and children. 
    That measure, despite the non-controversial nature of its 
espoused goal, was met with swift and coordinated opposition 
from tech firms and internet freedom groups, who fear that being 
legally liable for the postings of users would be a devastating 
blow to the internet industry. 
 
    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
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FACTBOX-When can free speech be restricted in the United States? 
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    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> 
 (Reporting by Jim Finkle in Toronto and Salvador Rodriguez in 
San Francisco; Additional reporting by David Ingram and Dustin 
Volz in San Francisco, and Chris Michaud in New York and 
Alastair Sharp in Toronto; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Lisa 
Shumaker) 
 ((salvador.rodriguez@thomsonreuters.com; 
jim.finkle@thomsonreuters.com; +1 416 687-7362; Reuters 
Messaging: jim.finkle.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.us)) 
 
Keywords: VIRGINIA PROTESTS/GODADDY