Google Plus has attracted white nationalist and neo-Nazi trolls after Facebook and Twitter cracked down on extremist content and many groups that espoused racist rhetoric and hate speech were banned from the social media sites after the Charlottesville protests in Virginia last year.
After the Unite the Right rally where a woman was killed by a car driven into protestors, those who share racist and anti-Semitic content were purged off Facebook and Twitter, but not from Google Plus and they have since established a number of communities.
These Google Plus communities have followings that range from the hundreds to the thousands, in a similar way to how Facebook groups work. While some appear to have been abandoned, they still have links that direct users to hate speech and nationalist content, with pro-ISIS groups also operating on this site.
Google Plus has attracted neo-Nazi trolls after Facebook and Twitter cracked down
According to The Hill, despite Google Plus’s policy stating that the content posted by hate groups is not welcome, the racist, anti-Semitic and sometimes homophobic posts remain on the site for months and even years. In addition to this, the groups are also quite easily accessible through searches and display hateful imagery, such as swastikas.
These hateful images include a meme of a black woman holding up a sign saying ‘They can’t kill us all #BlackLivesMatter’ alongside a Klansman with a shotgun and a sign that says, ‘Challenge accepted.’ Google responded to this by saying that they take ‘these issues incredibly seriously.’
‘We have clear policies against violent content as well as content from known terrorist organizations and when we find violations, we take swift action. We have a team dedicated to keeping violent content and hate speech off our platforms, including Google+. And while we recognize we have more to do, we’re committed to getting this right,’ a Google spokesperson said in a statement.
A vehicle drives into protesters demonstrating against white nationalist rally in Charlottesville
Despite Google Plus not being as popular as other social media websites, the content is still concerning and still violates the user policy, which forbids content that promotes or condones violence against individuals or groups based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, nationality, veteran status, or sexual orientation/gender identity, or whose primary purpose is inciting hatred on the basis of these core characteristics.
Alongside this, in 2014, Google revealed that the company had participated in a working group with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for two years with other organisations to exchange insights on the balance of ‘the need for responsible discourse with the principles of free expression’.
However, Director of the ADL’s Center on Extremism Oren Segal said that while Google Plus isn’t the most popular site for white nationalists, but the content is hateful. ‘The community and the recruitment happens there. Whether it’s Google Plus, Twitter or other platforms, it’s significant,” he said. “We’ve seen how online activity leads to real-world consequences,’ he said.
Members of the National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi groups in the US, burn a swastika
A problem is found in Google’s process where it relies on its own community to report posts that violate policies. The 2014 post said: ‘These reporting systems operate much like an online neighborhood watch. We ask your help in maintaining a community that provides a positive and respectful experience for everyone.’
If normal users are not on the platform to report hateful content, then it will not be reported and it will remain on the site.