Fighting Anti-Semitism on the Internet.

Fighting Anti-Semitism on the Internet.(INN).By Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld.“The International Network against Cyber Hate (INACH) fights discrimination and other forms of cyber hate on an international level by educating, acting for the removal of discriminatory postings, as well as initiating legal action. The network has twenty member organizations from nineteen countries. The Simon Wiesenthal Center is also a member. “There are major problems with Facebook concerning hate-postings. The main problems involve postings about Holocaust denial. In a difficult conversation we had with the European Director of Facebook he said, ‘We remove most of the postings on Holocaust denial.’ We said, ‘You should remove all of them.’ He replied, ‘There is also Holocaust denial which is not considered hatred.’ We laughed in his face and said, ‘The essence of Holocaust denial is anti-Semitism.’ Finally he said, ‘I’m sorry, but these are my American boss Mr. Zuckerberg’s views.’” Ronald Eissens is General Director and Co-Founder of the Dutch NGO Magenta Foundation, which focuses on international human rights and anti-racism. Along with Suzette Bronkhurst, he founded in the Netherlands the world’s first complaint bureau for combating hatred on the internet. He is also a Co-Founder of INACH. Eissens remarks, “On YouTube and Twitter, discriminatory remarks are also being posted. YouTube is unwilling to remove videos with discriminatory remarks, or does so only after much pressure and complaints. YouTube is now part of Google and INACH is at present in discussions with the legal counsel of Google Europe, who has promised that our requests will be handled faster and better. “The relationship with Twitter will hopefully also improve, as they will be opening regional offices in the near future. Until now, Twitter refused to remove discriminatory remarks because they are based in the U.S. and thus only have to comply with the lenient American legislation. The number of anti-Semitic postings and those about Holocaust denial on Twitter are fairly high. Read the full story here.