GoDaddy boots neo- Nazi website
Focus falls on social media services
A rise in domestic hate groups — whose vitriol spilled from online forums to the streets of Charlottesville during a violent weekend protest by white supremacists — is intensifying pressure on GoDaddy, Twitter, Google and others to put a lid on U. S. extremist sites.
Civil libertarians and religious leaders say the deadly Charlottesville protest on Saturday could be a tipping point for technology services to bow to consumer outrage and boot white nationalist and neo- Nazi sites that violate terms of service.
If this happens, it will be a change that’s slow in coming. Many Internet providers and platforms include policies that allow them to drop customers and users for a variety of reasons, including incitement of violence.
But they also have cast themselves as forums for the freewheeling debate that’s been a hallmark of the Internet, a role
that makes them loath to police the content their users share. The eviction of neo- Nazi website The Daily Stormer by GoDaddy and then Google from their domain servers comes after months of complaints to GoDaddy about the white supremacist site’s content.
In November, The Daily Stormer published a list of more than 50 Twitter users who had expressed fear about the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, urging its readers to “punish” them with a barrage of tweets that would drive them to suicide.
Late Sunday, GoDaddy said it was ditching the site after it published a story using sexist and obscene language to disparage Heather Heyer, the 32- yearold woman who was killed during a counter- protest after the Charlottesville rally.
“In our determination, especially given the tragic events in Charlottesville, Daily stormer. com crossed the line and encouraged and promoted violence,” GoDaddy spokeswoman Karen Tillman says.
“Given this latest ( Daily Stormer) article comes on the immediate heels of a violent act, we believe this type of article could incite additional violence,” Tillman says.
According to a Whois, which displays domain registration information, The Daily Stormer switched its domain host to Google Monday morning.
Two hours later, Google said it violated its terms of service and removed it. at 7: 51 a. m. PT.
By 11: 02 a. m., Google had determined the website violated its terms of service and removed it, according to Reuters.
“Content on hate sites is up significantly because they were energized by the presidential campaign — it took Charlottesville to bring the public’s attention to them,” says Keegan Hankes, an analyst at Southern Poverty Law Center.