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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?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?With gratitude, Your friends at the Southern Poverty Law Center
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