Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), a 2020 Democratic hopeful, said on Sunday that her administration would hold social media sites “accountable” for hate speech.
As the Hill reports, Harris said at a Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner at the Detroit NAACP that if she won the presidency, she “will hold social media platforms accountable for the hate infiltrating their platforms, because they have a responsibility to help fight against this threat to our democracy.”
“2018 was the deadliest year on record for domestic terrorism since the Oklahoma City bombing more than 20 years ago, and I’m telling you, we can’t feed it, I’m telling you I won’t ignore it, I won’t tolerate it,” Harris said.
Harris pointed toward 2018 incidents such the synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, the arson committed on three Black churches in Louisiana, and the bombing of a mosque in Minnesota, the home state of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). Metrics show acts of violence committed by domestic terrorists and white supremacists were just as rampant in 2017.
Harris’ latest comment comes just a week after Facebook’s banning of several far-right media personalities, such as Milo Yiannopoulos, Laura Loomer, and InfoWars’ Alex Jones. The link between radical figures invoking hate online and actual acts of violence has become more and more clear to lawmakers and companies.
“If you profit off of hate, if you act as a megaphone for misinformation or cyber warfare, if you don’t police your platforms, we are going to hold you accountable,” Harris said.
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H/T the Hill
