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White supremacy, Nazi ideology still a big problem for Instagram
USA TODAY - December 8th, 2021
Despite taking significant steps to remove hateful content, hundreds of posts promoting dangerous white supremacist ideologies are still readily available on Instagram where they could radicalize unsuspecting users, new research shows.
The Anti Defamation League's (ADL) Center on Extremism searched for terms on Instagram related to white supremacist and neo-Nazi movements, quickly uncovering hundreds of accounts sharing extremist propaganda.
Starting with the keyword “Atomwaffen,” ADL researchers were able to find and view five Instagram posts containing content linked to Atomwaffen Division, a Neo-Nazi terrorist network created in 2016.
By searching for accounts that follow those five, researchers quickly discovered 50 more accounts sharing white supremacist content, including posts with neo-Nazi symbolism such as swastikas. Tracking followers of those accounts, they found more than 200 accounts, which promoted other white supremacist themes. Researchers say there are signs of coordination, with many of the accounts following or being followed by one another.
Among the posts are a video of individuals wearing skull face masks giving the Nazi salute, footage of a speech with audio from Joseph Goebbels, propaganda minister for the Nazi Party, and images of a gay pride flag being burned. An account with 10,000 followers links to a Twitter account and a merchandise site.
“Today, there is no distinction between our online and offline lives. We’ve seen over and over again the ways hateful content online leads to deadly violence in our communities,” Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of ADL, says. “Poway. El Paso. Pittsburgh. These targeted mass shootings were motivated by extremist conspiracy theories online.”
Instagram does not always block hashtags related to banned organizations because it limits counter speech or legitimate speech. But Instagram does block hashtags that are connected to a high percentage of content that violates its rules.
Marc-André Argentino, a researcher at the International Center for Counter Terrorism in Montreal, who studies how extremists leverage technology to spread their messages, wasn't surprised that posts like these still exist on Instagram.
The challenge for technology platforms is to implement rules that effectively filter out hateful content that violates their terms of service, without inadvertently banning other content that is acceptable, Argentino said.
But Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, was more skeptical. She said a massive company like Meta Platforms should be investing in large-scale human content moderation to stamp out harmful content like the posts ADL so easily found.
"If the ADL can send a couple researchers out to dig on Instagram and find a bunch of Nazi accounts, there's no excuse for Instagram," Beirich said. "When you make billions of dollars a year and you commit yourself to getting this stuff off your platform, but a researcher can find it with some searches, there's something wrong with your system."
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White supremacy, Nazi ideology still a big problem for Instagram
USA TODAY - December 8th, 2021
Despite taking significant steps to remove hateful content, hundreds of posts promoting dangerous white supremacist ideologies are still readily available on Instagram where they could radicalize unsuspecting users, new research shows.
The Anti Defamation (the action of damaging the good reputation of someone) League's Center on Extremism searched for terms on Instagram related to white supremacist and neo-Nazi movements and found hundreds of accounts sharing extremist propaganda (information that is used to promote or publicize a point of view or a cause.)
Starting with the keyword “Atomwaffen,” ADL researchers were able to find and view five Instagram posts containing content linked to Atomwaffen Division, an accelerationist group created in 2016. Members of the group were arrested in 2020 and sentenced for threatening activists and journalists. It disbanded (broke up) that same year. The Atomwaffen Division, now labeled as a terrorist organization, has been banned from Instagram since 2018, but Instagram remains vigilant because extremist groups are constantly looking for new ways to evade detection, the company said.
Researchers discovered 50 more accounts sharing white supremacist content, including posts with neo-Nazi symbolism such as swastikas or SS bolts. Tracking followers of those accounts, they found more than 200 accounts, which promoted other white supremacist themes.
Among the posts are a video of individuals wearing skull face masks giving the Nazi salute, footage of a speech with audio from Joseph Goebbels, propaganda minister for the Nazi Party, and images of a gay pride flag being burned.
Instagram does not always block hashtags related to banned organizations because it limits counter speech or legitimate speech. For example, the hashtag "atomwaffen," which means nuclear weapons in English, is used by people in Germany to advocate against nuclear weapons. But Instagram does block hashtags that are connected to a high percentage of content that violates its rules.
Marc-André Argentino, a researcher at the International Center for Counter-Terrorism in Montreal said that the challenge for technology platforms is to implement rules that effectively filter out hateful content that violates their terms of service, without inadvertently banning other content that is acceptable, Argentino said.
"There's not going to be a human that's going to look at every Atomwaffen account," Argentino said. "If you ban, say, the term 'AWD,' well, someone trying to sell an All Wheel Drive car is going to get dinged."
But Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism said a massive company like Meta Platforms should be investing in content moderation to stamp out harmful content like the posts ADL so easily found.
"If the ADL can send a couple researchers out to dig on Instagram and find a bunch of Nazi accounts, there's no excuse for Instagram," Beirich said. "When you make billions of dollars a year and you commit yourself to getting this stuff off your platform, but a researcher can find it with some searches, there's something wrong with your system."
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La supremacía blanca, la ideología nazi sigue siendo un gran problema para Instagram
La supremacía blanca, la ideología nazi sigue siendo un gran problema para Instagram
Jessica Guynn Will Carless
EE.UU. HOY - 8 de diciembre de 2021
A pesar de tomar medidas significativas para eliminar el contenido de odio, cientos de publicaciones que promueven ideologías supremacistas blancas peligrosas todavía están disponibles en Instagram, donde podrían radicalizar a los usuarios desprevenidos, según muestra una nueva investigación.
El Centro contra el Extremismo de League's Anti Difamation (la acción de dañar la buena reputación de alguien) buscó términos en Instagram relacionados con movimientos neonazis y supremacistas blancos y encontró cientos de cuentas que compartían propaganda extremista (información que se usa para promover o publicitar un punto de vista o una causa.)
Comenzando con la palabra clave "Atomwaffen", los investigadores de ADL pudieron encontrar y ver cinco publicaciones de Instagram que contenían contenido vinculado a Atomwaffen Division, un grupo acelerador creado en 2016. Los miembros del grupo fueron arrestados en 2020 y sentenciados por amenazar a activistas y periodistas. Se disolvió (se separó) ese mismo año. La División Atomwaffen, ahora etiquetada como una organización terrorista, ha sido prohibida en Instagram desde 2018, pero Instagram permanece alerta porque los grupos extremistas buscan constantemente nuevas formas de evadir la detección, dijo la compañía.
Los investigadores descubrieron 50 cuentas más que compartían contenido de supremacistas blancos, incluidas publicaciones con simbolismo neonazi, como esvásticas o pernos de las SS. Al rastrear a los seguidores de esas cuentas, encontraron más de 200 cuentas que promovían otros temas de supremacía blanca.
Entre las publicaciones hay un video de personas con máscaras de calaveras dando el saludo nazi, imágenes de un discurso con audio de Joseph Goebbels, ministro de propaganda del Partido Nazi, e imágenes de una bandera del orgullo gay que se quema.
Instagram no siempre bloquea los hashtags relacionados con organizaciones prohibidas porque limita el discurso contrario o legítimo. Por ejemplo, la gente en Alemania utiliza el hashtag "atomwaffen", que significa armas nucleares en inglés, para abogar contra las armas nucleares. Pero Instagram bloquea los hashtags que están conectados a un alto porcentaje de contenido que viola sus reglas.
Marc-André Argentino, investigador del Centro Internacional para la Lucha contra el Terrorismo en Montreal, dijo que el desafío para las plataformas tecnológicas es implementar reglas que filtren efectivamente el contenido odioso que viola sus términos de servicio, sin prohibir inadvertidamente otro contenido que sea aceptable. dijo argentino.
"No va a haber un ser humano que mire todas las cuentas de Atomwaffen", dijo Argentino. "Si prohíbes, digamos, el término 'AWD', bueno, alguien que intente vender un automóvil con tracción en todas las ruedas será atacado".
Pero Heidi Beirich, cofundadora de Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, dijo que una gran empresa como Meta Platforms debería invertir en la moderación de contenido para acabar con el contenido dañino como las publicaciones ADL que se encuentran tan fácilmente.
"Si la ADL puede enviar a un par de investigadores a buscar en Instagram y encontrar un montón de cuentas nazis, no hay excusa para Instagram", dijo Beirich. "Cuando ganas miles de millones de dólares al año y te comprometes a sacar estas cosas de tu plataforma, pero un investigador puede encontrarlas con algunas búsquedas, hay algo mal en tu sistema".
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