LONDON: One week ago, Twitter’s staff worldwide were awarded a day off in celebration of the social networking platform’s 15th anniversary. Indeed, the platform has arguably become a toxic breeding ground for hate speech it has become, especially in the Arab world. Accounts in the Arab world, such as those of exiled Egyptian cleric Yusuf Al-Qaradawi and terrorist-designated Qais Al-Khazali – both of whom have featured in Arab News’ Preachers of Hate series – remain active. In India, for example, social media platforms, including Facebook, have been continuously criticized for fostering space that allows users to spread hate speech. Regardless of Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms’ claims that they only act as content aggregators rather than content producers, the problem remains.

Source: The North Africa Journal March 27, 2021 07:41 UTC