Google, Facebook and YouTube are “reducing hate speech”, according to Latin American report
Antisemitic content in Spanish is being significantly reduced by Google, Facebook and YouTube, according to a Latin American antisemitism watchdog.
A report on online antisemitism in Spanish by the Buenos Aires-based Observatorio Web (Web Observatory) stated that since 2016, antisemitic content resulting from a Spanish-language search for “Judio” (Jew), had dropped from nearly one third to 3%.
Observatorio Web was set up as a joint initiative of the Latin American branch of the World Jewish Congress and Argentina’s Jewish community, to monitor online antisemitism in Spanish. In its report, released on 25th September, it stated that in 2016, 30% of Spanish-language search-results for “Judio” contained antisemitic content. That figure was now down to about 3%. Meanwhile, it stated, the level of antisemitic content in the top ten results of a Google search for Judio had dropped by 50% over the past year alone.
On Facebook, where Spanish is the second most popular language, the report found that around 30% of the Spanish-language content mentioning Jews involved antisemitism. Within the antisemitic content, a majority mentioned Zionism or Israel, noted the report.
“Israel and Zionism are the vehicles for antisemitism online,” the report states. “This is a consolidated trend.”
In the case of YouTube, Observatorio Web identified 500 videos in Spanish espousing Holocaust denial, which YouTube has now taken down.
“The companies are starting to work against hate speech, but there is still a lot to do,” said Ariel Siedler, Director of Observatorio Web.
Recently, Facebook announced that it would ban QAnon conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial on its platforms.
It comes as researchers in Sweden claimed that 30 percent of comments and posts about Jews on social media included antisemitic rhetoric and tropes.
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