August 31, 2020 Under the guise of anti-censorship and free speech, video-hosting service BitChute has become a hotbed for violent, conspiratorial and hate-filled video propaganda, and a recruiting ground for extremists. BitChute founder Ray Vahey’s concept for the platform came from, in his words, “seeing the increased levels of censorship by the large social media platforms in the last couple of years. Bannings, demonetization, and tweaking algorithms to send…

by: Scotland Nash August 26, 2020 Now more than ever, we need to build the capacity for empathy and compassion with our students and school communities.   The health crisis of COVID-19 highlighted again the racial disparities across the country. The racial violence embodied in the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade and George Floyd re-ignited our understanding of the systemic racism that plagues our nation.  We can’t deny the staggering statistics that…

August 20, 2020 By David Andrew Weinberg Israel and the United Arab Emirates announced a historic agreement on August 13th to move toward full normalization of relations, the first such accord between the State of Israel and an Arab state since 1994.  However, peace always has its opponents, and this agreement is no exception. Whenever Israel and Arab governments take important steps to engage and reconcile with each other, extremists throughout the region routinely demonize both…

August 14, 2020 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 Israel struck an agreement with the United Arab Emirates to establish “full normalization of relations” even as it forgoes for now plans to annex occupied West Bank territory in order to focus on improving its ties with the rest of the Arab world. Facebook will start banning posts that contain blackface or that promote antisemitic conspiracy theories that Jewish people are running the world. A Georgia congressional candidate, who has a…

August 13, 2020 As Facebook continues to grapple with hate speech and violent extremism across the platform, QAnon conspiracy theorists are using public and private Facebook pages and groups to spread disinformation, racism, and thinly veiled incitement to violence. QAnon, the wide-reaching conspiracy theory popular among a range of right-wing extremists and supporters of President Trump, follows an anonymous personality “Q.” Followers of Q believe a pedophiliac global elite…

August 13, 2020 Extremists are constantly adapting and finding creative ways to reach new audiences – and new ways to evade content moderators. Their latest efforts are evident on TikTok, the Chinese social media app that allows users to create and share short videos.  In less than four years, TikTok has racked up more than 800 million users, and its popularity is fast approaching that of social media giants like Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram Each TikTok video has the…

August 03, 2020 Facebook Groups play a key role on the Facebook platform. Groups are essentially discussion forums organized around an endless number of possible subjects, allowing individuals to pursue their interests and communicate around shared interests. Groups can be public (posts are visible to all Facebook users) or private (individuals must be approved by the group administrator to join and see the posts). Despite public announcements of efforts to curb hateful speech and…

July 24, 2020 THE WEEK’S BIG 3 The civil rights groups behind the month-long advertising ad pause of Facebook turned up public pressure with the release of an animated “Dear Mark” video. Almost three years after a conspiracy theory known as QAnon began spreading on dark corners of the internet, Twitter announced that it had removed thousands of accounts linked to the movement. And celebrating the life and legacy of civil rights leader and congressman John Lewis. Read…

July 23, 2020 Roy Den Hollander, the primary suspect in a July 19, 2020 fatal shooting at a federal judge’s New Jersey home, made no secret of the fact that he hated powerful women. The self-described “anti-feminist lawyer,” who died by apparent suicide hours after the attack which left Judge Esther Salas’ son dead and her husband in critical condition, built much of his career around objectifying and demeaning women, and holding up white men as the ultimate victims…

July 15, 2020 Antisemitism has stained the speeches and statements of Nation of Islam (NOI) leader Louis Farrakhan for decades. This past July 4 was no different, as Farrakhan delivered an address replete with antisemitic lies and stereotypes, and calls for his listeners to speak out against Jews. His speech reverberated in the ensuing days among celebrities and garnered over a million views on social media. Louis Farrakhan may be the most popular antisemite in America, as his messages…

July 13, 2020 What do extremists do when a major social media site starts to deplatform them?  While some migrate to less restrictive platforms, others adopt camouflage techniques so they can continue to operate on their platform of choice, hiding in plain sight through name changes and coded phrases.  The new anti-government extremist "boogaloo" movement took the latter approach when, on June 30, Facebook announced it had banned hundreds of groups and pages associated with…