Op-Ed: Social media must stop hiding hate

How can we wield a tool so powerful that makes available all information at a tap of a finger and also destroys entire communities? Today marks the 20th Safer Internet Day, created to promote online safety and responsibility around the world. The internet can be a valuable tool bringing us closer together, but we have also experienced the chilling ways that it divides communities, and too often allows hate, disinformation and extremism to quickly spread.

Less than a year ago, a teenage white supremacist claimed the lives of 10 innocent people in Buffalo. The gunman streamed his attack in real time on the social media platform Twitch, a video service owned by Amazon.com, and published his racist manifesto on his social media accounts. In the hours after the horrific mass shooting, we learned that the attacker had been radicalized on social media and promoted antisemitic and racist conspiracy theories on his accounts, just as we saw from the shooters in Pittsburgh, Poway, El Paso, and Charleston.

This dangerous rhetoric existed before the internet, but the influence of social media has allowed it to spread and become normalized on a stunning scale. Unchecked social media companies make it easy for bad actors to promote false claims and dangerous conspiracies online.

Social media companies have a responsibility to ensure that their platforms do not advance disinformation and hate-fueled violence. Tech giants have been hiding the depths of the problem for too long. It is past time they were held accountable for their hate, disinformation, and extremism problem, which is too severe to allow inaction.

Recent studies have shown that Americans overwhelmingly support greater transparency from social media platforms. According to data from The Anti-Defamation League, 75% of parents feel it is important for tech companies to share accurate information about the hate speech and harassment taking place on their platforms. The majority of parents also agree that the government should require social media companies to publicly report on misinformation and hate speech.

Many tech companies have little to no external oversight, and it is clear that we cannot rely on them to consistently self-regulate. We have seen too many acts of violence and terrorism carried out because the perpetrators were radicalized online. Even when tech companies assure the public that they are working to moderate content and improve their practices, we continue to see gaps in enforcement.

ADL’s 2022 Online Hate and Harassment Survey reports that up to 40% of users have experienced online harassment, nearly two-thirds of which is hate-based harassment, meaning these users are being targeted because of an aspect of their identity. It’s no wonder then that ADL’s most recent Online Antisemitism Report Card, which measures how well platforms respond to reports of antisemitic content, showed that the majority of platforms earned a grade of C or below.

As Americans consume more news and information from social media, we have to ensure that hateful conspiracy theories and glorification of white supremacist violence do not move further into the mainstream. Social media companies have an obligation to ensure that their platforms are no longer strongholds for disinformation, antisemitism, racism, and the promotion of hate-motivated violence.

We have a responsibility to ensure everyone can safely navigate the internet. One of us is a New York State senator who has introduced legislation, the Social Media Transparency Act (S895), which would provide clear requirements to ensure that large social media companies are transparent and accountable to their users, the state, and the public, for their policies, moderation practices, and how they stop hate online.

We need better insights into what steps social media platforms are taking to address hate speech, disinformation and conspiracy theories, harassment, foreign interference, and incitement to violence, and we need those companies to shut down hate now. With greater transparency and the data that comes with it, we will all be better equipped to understand how hateful and dangerous rhetoric spreads online, and how we can take action to prevent violence before it happens.

California has already demanded this transparency, and Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a similar bill, Assembly Bill 587, into law last year. New York now has the opportunity to be the next state to require that social media companies stop hiding hate.

Richman is the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League for New York/New Jersey. Hoylman-Sigal represents the West Side of Manhattan in the New York State Senate and is chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.