Friend,
The SPLC has monitored hate on social media for years. We've
witnessed social media companies fail to uphold their own policies and
we've repeatedly alerted them that this failure enables the
expansion of the far right, along with the radicalization of young
people and far-right violence.
This week, we're sharing what we've learned with members
of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to
educate and urge the Senate to take swift action. But, we need your
support to continue this work. Will you make a special gift to
the SPLC today to help us keep up the fight against the amplification
of hate and violence on social media and beyond?
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In our statement to Congress we shared that we have alerted companies
like Twitter, YouTube and Facebook to how far-right extremists
organize on their platforms and that these companies have often
responded with half-measures, or in some cases, inaction, to what we
flagged. These powerful, highly trafficked platforms have the power to
reduce harm if they want to do it. To do so, they would have to choose
responsibility to democracy and the public good over private profit.
We also highlighted for senators that, in recent years, we have seen
the emergence of a disturbing new trend of voter suppression against
Black and Latinx people through the use of targeted disinformation
campaigns spread on social media platforms. These efforts have
involved outside groups posing as Black or Latinx community leaders
and influencers, building large followings, then spreading false
information about how, when and where to vote.
Confronting digital radicalization is also an important first step in
dismantling the conditions that led to the January 6 attack on our
Capitol. News outlets have focused acutely on Facebook in recent weeks
and the way its business model transports right-leaning people into
more extreme spaces, but the site hardly stands alone in its capacity
to feed consumers a diet of radical, far-right propaganda. In July,
the SPLC published an analysis demonstrating how Twitter enabled the
attack on the U.S. Capitol by "verifying" extremists with
no discernible credentials as public figures and allowing them to
amass huge platforms by spreading politically charged disinformation
and hate.
Extremists first started pushing the #StoptheSteal hashtag on Twitter
during the 2016 election, and for over five years, made it synonymous
with discrediting the votes of people who live in predominantly Black
neighborhoods in swing states. In the aftermath of the 2020 election,
Twitter allowed many of the same extremists who pushed the hashtag in
previous years to do so again.
To blunt the spread of hate, we're holding Silicon Valley
companies accountable to their own rarely enforced "Terms of
Service" and "Acceptable Use" policies, which
generally prohibit behavior that promotes hate. And, of equal
importance to de-platforming hate, we're limiting the ability of
hate groups and extremists to access digital fundraising services.
The opportunity to share our statement and our work with Congress is
invaluable - and so is your support for this work. Your help
makes it possible for us to track and expose those who fuel the hate
and misinformation that tears at the fabric of our society. Will
you make a special gift to the SPLC today to ensure we're able
to continue the fight for justice for decades to come?
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With gratitude,
Your friends at the Southern Poverty Law Center
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