Extremist groups cut from social networks

NEW YORK: Tech companies’ efforts to banish extremist groups and individuals are continuing as a social network popular with extremists disappeared from Google’s Android app store.

Gab had already been unavailable in Apple’s store, though it remains accessible on the web.

The banishments come in the wake of the deadly clash at a white-nationalist rally last weekend in Virginia. Civil rights advocates welcomed the moves, but say more needs to be done.

Here is a look at some of the technology services that have banned hate groups or have otherwise come out against white supremacists and their supporters:

Ahead of the rally, the housing booking service Airbnb barred rentals to people it believed were travelling to participate.

Facebook removed several groups and individuals from its service and Instagram for what it called violations of terms banning hate speech. Groups included Vanguard America, Physical Removal and Genuine Donald Trump.

Twitter, meanwhile, appears to have suspended the account for neo-Nazi site Daily Stormer, though the company doesn’t comment on individual accounts.

Google had removed Gab, a social network that extremists flocked to, for “hate speech”, Gab tweeted.

Email marketing firm MailChimp said some groups had their accounts terminated after it changed its terms of service to exclude customers whose primary purpose was “inciting harm” or promoting “discriminatory, hateful, or harassing content”.

PayPal has been removing payment accounts linked to known hate groups in the months leading up to Charlottesville, according to the company and a civil rights organisation it was working with. For example, the account for the Daily Stormer was banned several months ago.

Apple is donating $2m to human rights groups as part of chief executive Tim Cook’s pledge to help lead the fight against the hate that fuelled the violence in Charlottesville. – AP