Brits Grill Google For Allowing David Duke Videos

By Nathan Guttman March 15, 2017

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 guttman@forward.com

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO