SAN FRANCISCO: White extremists are having doors to the Internet slammed on efforts to promote violent and bigoted agendas.
Internet titans that have contorted to balance free speech with odious content were standing firm this week against being used to glorify killing in the name of race or eliminating those who oppose that kind of ideology.
A consistent message from Silicon Valley firms contacted by AFP was that advocating violence and bigotry violated clearly-outlined terms of service, resulting in accounts being closed or content being removed.
Just a day after a woman protesting racism was killed at a white supremacist rally, major website hosting service GoDaddy canceled the domain name of Daily Stormer, which helped organize the event in Charlottesville to protest removal of a Confederate statue.
The ‘Unite the Right’ rally turned tragic when a suspected Nazi sympathizer, James Fields, plowed his car into a crowd of anti-racism protesters, leaving a woman dead and 19 others injured.
“We generally do not take action on complaints that would constitute censorship of content and that represents the exercise of freedom of speech and expression on the Internet,” GoDaddy digital crimes unit director Ben Butler said in an e-mail statement.
“In our determination, especially given the tragic events in Charlottesville, Dailystormer.com crossed the line and encouraged and promoted violence.”
Daily Stormer switched the website to Google Domains. The registration quickly canceled for “violating our terms of service,” a Google spokesperson told AFP.
The neo-Nazi website also apparently came under attack by hacker group Anonymous and retreated to a ‘dark’ portion of the Internet where websites lurk out of sight from online search engines.
Leading social network Facebook and famously free-wheeling online conversation forum Reddit have also taken action against accounts or content in the aftermath of the deadly Charlottesville rally.
Reddit banned a ‘Physical Removal’ community advocating that Democrats be “removed from society” in the real world. Posts at Physical Removal had mocked the woman killed at the rally.
“We strive to be a welcoming, open platform for all by trusting our users to maintain an environment that cultivates genuine conversation and adheres to our content policy,” a Reddit spokesperson told AFP.
“We have banned /r/Physical_Removal due to violations of the terms of our content policy.”
Facebook has a policy of removing material that attacks people based on race or that praises violent acts or hate groups.
Facebook removed shared posts of a Daily Stormer article denigrating the killed anti-racism demonstrator, unless they had captions condemning the content.
The social network applied the same rules used to remove content posted by terrorist groups.
A ‘Unite the Right’ event page was removed from Facebook over the weekend after it became clear that rather than simply promoting an event it was promoting real-world harm.
Other accounts or pages removed from Facebook or its photo-message service Instagram included Right Wing Death Squad; Genuine Donald Trump, and Radical Agenda: Common Sense Extremism.”
Facebook and Instagram personal profiles of vocal white supremacist Christopher Cantwell have also been removed.
A free Discord chat service popular with gamers this week shut down accounts evidently being used for violent white nationalist agendas instead of video game play.
Online chat rooms openly praised Adolph Hitler and Nazi genocide, and were used to help organize the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, according to a New York Times report.
Internet fund-raising and payment platforms have declined to be used by white-supremacists seeking to solicit funds for Fields, who is in jail facing charges including murder.
Online financial transactions service PayPal has a longstanding rule against being used for physical harm or racial intolerance.
“We work to ensure that our services are not used to accept payments or donations for activities that promote hate, violence or racial intolerance,” PayPal senior vice president of corporate affairs Franz Paasche said in a blog post.
“This includes organizations that advocate racist views, such as the KKK, white supremacist groups or Nazi groups. “
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump found himself in the eye of a political storm Wednesday after his stunning remarks on the unrest in Charlottesville.
His assessment that there was “blame on both sides” for the deadly melee sparked a rare comment on current affairs from his two Republican predecessors, George Bush and George W. Bush, who called on Americans to “reject racial bigotry... in all its forms.”
Trump’s defiant statements, delivered Tuesday in a caustic way at Trump Tower and immediately hailed by a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan for their “courage,” left many lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats alike, speechless.
Internet doors slammed on white nationalist extremism
Internet doors slammed on white nationalist extremism
Airspace closed, flights canceled as US-Iran conflict flares
- Major carriers from the Middle East, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the US announced widespread cancelations
- FlightAware said more than 19,000 flights had been delayed globally and more than 2,600 were canceled as of Sunday
PARIS: Thousands of flights have been delayed or canceled in the biggest disruption to global air transport since the Covid pandemic as airlines suspend services to the Middle East following the US and Israeli attacks on Iran.
Iran, Iraq, Israel, Syria, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates all announced at least partial closures of their skies after Saturday’s strikes and Iran launching missiles at capital cities around the wealthy Gulf region.
Major carriers from the Middle East, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the United States announced widespread cancelations, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.
Notable airlines that canceled services included Emirates, Etihad, Air France, British Airways, Air India, Turkish Airlines, and Lufthansa.
According to aviation analytics company Cirium, of around 4,218 flights scheduled to land in Middle Eastern countries on Saturday, 966 (22.9 percent) were canceled, with the figure rising above 1,800 if also including outbound flights.
For Sunday, 716 flights out of 4,329 scheduled to the Middle East have been canceled, Cirium said.
Flight tracking website FlightAware meanwhile said more than 19,000 flights had been delayed globally and more than 2,600 were canceled as of 0230 GMT Sunday.
Airspace closures
Iran swiftly closed its airspace as the strikes began “until further notice,” said the spokesman of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, quoted by the Tasnim news agency.
Israel also closed its airspace to civilian flights, Transport Minister Miri Regev announced.
Qatar’s civil aviation authority said it had temporarily closed the Gulf state’s airspace.
Iraq shut down airspace, state media said.
The United Arab Emirates said it was closing its skies “partially and temporarily.”
Syria closed part of its airspace in the south along the border with Israel for 12 hours, the Civil Aviation Authority said.
Jordan’s air force was conducting drills to “defend the kingdom’s skies,” its military said.
Kuwait closed its airspace.
Middle East and North Africa airlines
Gulf carriers Emirates and Etihad canceled 38 percent and 30 percent of their flights respectively, Cirium said.
Qatar Airways suspended all flights from Doha. It canceled 41 percent of total flights, according to Cirium.
Syria Air, the country’s national carrier, canceled all flights until further notice.
Egypt’s national airline, EgyptAir, announced the suspension of its flights to cities across the Middle East, including Dubai, Doha, Manama, Abu Dhabi, Beirut and Baghdad among others.
European airlines
Russia’s air transport authority Rosaviatsia said all commercial flights to Israel and Iran were canceled “until further notice.”
Turkish Airlines canceled flights to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Jordan until March 2.
Air France canceled its Dubai, Riyadh and Beirut flights for Saturday, and flights to Tel Aviv until Sunday.
British Airways said it was not flying to Tel Aviv and Bahrain until March 4, and canceled flights to the Jordanian capital Amman on Saturday.
Swiss International Air Lines suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv until March 7, and canceled flights from Zurich to Dubai scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
Germany’s Lufthansa, which comprises Swiss and ITA Airways, canceled its flights to and from Tel Aviv, Beirut, Amman, Irbil and Tehran until March 7.
The airline group and its subsidiaries suspended flights to and from Dubai and Abu Dhabi until Sunday.
North America airlines
Delta Air Lines suspended New York-Tel Aviv flights until Sunday.
American Airlines “temporarily suspended” Doha-Philadelphia flights.
United flights to Tel Aviv are canceled until Monday, and flights to Dubai until Sunday.
Air Canada said it canceled flights from Canada to Israel until March 8 and to Dubai until March 3.
Asia-Pacific airlines
India’s two largest private carriers IndiGo and Air India suspended flights to all destinations in the Middle East.
Pakistan International Airlines, the flag carrier of the country that borders Iran, said it had suspended flights to the UAE, Bahrain, Doha and Kuwait.
Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific suspended flights to Dubai and Riyadh.
Garuda Indonesia, Indonesia’s flag carrier, temporarily suspended flights to and from Doha “until further notice,” the company said in a statement Sunday.
Singapore Airlines and Singapore’s Scoot canceled six flight routes in the region until the end of Sunday, local media reported.
Philippine Airlines flights from Manila to Doha, Riyadh to Manila, and Dubai to Manila were canceled on Saturday, as well as one Doha-Manila flight on Sunday.
Other major airlines including Australia’s Qantas and Japan’s All Nippon Airways did not announce any flight cancelations.
Africa airlines
Ethiopian Airlines canceled its flights to Amman, Tel Aviv, Dammam, and Beirut.
Kenya Airways has suspended its flights to Dubai and Sharjah until further notice.
