Facebook, Twitter & YouTube Should Ban Hate Speech, Not Allow it for Political Reasons

WASHINGTON, DC — The following is a statement from Madihha Ahussain, Muslim Advocates’ special counsel for anti-Muslim bigotry, on Thursday’s White House social media summit that will feature numerous purveyors of bigoted, white nationalist content: 

“President Trump’s social media summit is a ruse designed to intimidate technology companies like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube into allowing bigoted and white nationalist hate content on their platforms. Enforcing basic standards of decency on social media isn’t censoring conservative speech. After all, countless conservatives continue to use these platforms without spreading bigotry.

The president and many of the people attending the summit have been waging a successful campaign to prevent social media platforms from removing dangerous hate content by raising the specter of anti-conservative bias. In reality, death threats, hate speech, white nationalist organizing efforts and even livestreams of mass murder continue to find a home on social media. For the sake of public safety, social media companies must enforce their content policies and root out this content the same way they root out child pornography and ISIS.

Hate speech is hate speech, regardless of whether the person spewing it has met with the president. We urge social media platforms to ignore the circus at the White House and instead commit to enforcing their hate content policies objectively and forcefully. We also urge everyone to sign our petition urging Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to do the right thing and remove the hate on their platforms.”

Muslim Advocates is a national civil rights organization working in the courts, in the halls of power and in communities to halt bigotry in its tracks. We ensure that American Muslims have a seat at the table with expert representation so that all Americans may live free from hate and discrimination. 

###