New Report Card Grades Social Media Sites On Combating Hate, Terror Talk
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Facebook has received high marks on a report card that grades social media organizations on how they monitor terror-related and hate postings.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center released its 2017 Digital Terrorism and Hate Report on Tuesday.
Associate Dean Rabbi Abraham Cooper gives Facebook an A-minus, saying it has been proactive in removing offensive and dangerous posts.
Twitter gets a B-minus, but Cooper said it is improving.
Social media co's should live up to corporate responsibilities & not traffic in terrorism. Wiesenthal Ctr says some need do more. @wcbs880 pic.twitter.com/9MYyAJNOYi
— Peter Haskell (@peterhaskell880) March 28, 2017
"They have removed hundreds and hundreds of thousands of separate terrorist accounts," Cooper said, adding that research shows terror groups post 200,000 tweets a day.
YouTube received a C-minus.
Cooper said London-based banks recently pulled ads off YouTube because "they find that their logo, their name, their brand, is randomly finding its way on the same page with some of these pro-terrorists and other extremist type of videos and materials."
Cooper said the report card checks on how these companies adhere to their own standards.
"We're not looking to kill free speech, looking for companies who are making a lot of money to live up to their corporate responsibilities," Cooper said. "Putting up a virtual library of how to be a domestic terrorist, how to make an IED, that's not speech, that's terrorism."
8Chan, Gab and the messaging app Surespot all received F's.