Brits Grill Google For Allowing David Duke Videos
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Nathan Guttman March 15, 2017
Sign up for Forwarding the News, our essential morning briefing with trusted, nonpartisan news and analysis, curated by senior writer Benyamin Cohen.
Google’s decision to keep anti-Semitic David Duke videos on YouTube is irking lawmakers across the pond.
Britain’s Commons Home Affairs committee summoned Tuesday executives from Google, Twitter and Facebook for a hearing in which the social media giants were slammed for their failure to block hate speech and anti-Semitic content from their platforms.
Chairwoman Yvette Cooper took issue with the refusal of YouTube, which is owned by Google, to remove a video in which former KKK leader Duke accused Jewish People of “organizing white genocide” and claimed Zionists have conducted ethnic cleansing.
“How on earth is that not a breach of your own guidelines?” Cooper asked Google’s vice president Peter Barron.
The Google executive remained unapologetic. Barron admitted the Duke video was “anti-Semitic, deeply offensive and shocking,” but insisted it does not “meet the test for removing under our guidelines.”
Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected]
