Mainstream social media platforms took no action on 89 percent of posts spreading anti-Muslim

Social media platforms are failing to take action on 89 percent of posts spreading anti-Muslim and Islamophobic hate according to a report by Centre for Countering Digital Hate.

The 530 posts analyzed by CCDH with dehumanizing and bigoted content targeting Muslim people through conspiracy theories and racist caricatures, were viewed at least 25 million times on mainstream platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube.

Moreover, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter, allowed users to use hateful hashtags like #deathtoislam, #islamiscancer and #raghead, which received at least 1.3 million impressions.

The inaction by these platforms is leading to harm both online and offline:

“Anti-Muslim hate seeks to dehumanize and marginalize communities of people who have historically been the subject of violent threats, attacks, discrimination, and hostility. Enabling this content to be promoted and shared on platforms without effective interventions and consequences, further endangers these communities by driving social divisions, normalizing the abusive behavior, and encouraging offline attacks and abuse,” the authors of the reports write.

Big Tech continues to profit from the interactions and monetized content generated by clickbait hate – “for them, hate is good business” the authors write.

To counter this perpetuation of targeted hate and harassment, they suggest:

1. Transparency Around: algorithms that select what content is amplified; enforcing community standards; the economics of revenues behind social media platforms
2. Power at individual, community, and national levels, to hold platforms accountable for the content they monetize
3. Power to hold social media executives accountable