The Charlottesville protest of white supremacists on 13 August in Virginia was met halfway by an anti-racist group. But the encounter ended up bloody, costing the lives of three innocent individuals. The hateful and violent agenda of white nationalism and white supremacy has taken a toll on people around the world.
In light of this unforgettable event, technology companies have moved in chorus to condemn hate and violence as an intolerable agenda of any group. Facebook, Spotify, Google, Apple and more companies have stood up to fight against spreading any white supremacist agenda.
Spotify
Spotify has taken down some of the so-called 'white power' music. Some remaining tracks in the platform flagged as such are still under review. "Illegal content or material that favours hatred or incites violence against race, religion, sexuality or the like is not tolerated by us", says a Spotify spokesperson in a statement.
Go Daddy
Go Daddy is the original web hosting service provider of the Daily Stormer, an American neo-Nazi site. Following the incident involving the group, Go Daddy took down the site since it pledged to prevent its service a means for hateful contents.
After Go Daddy removed the website, the Daily Stormer turned to Google to continue its registration. Google, however, removed on grounds of violating its terms of service.
The Daily Stormer resorted to Twitter for related announcements. Twitter either does not want any accounts associated with the Daily Stormer. Twitter policies do not allow vicious threats, harassment and hateful behaviour.
As the Daily Stormer continues to struggle to find its own space on the internet and keep away from the radar of hackers group Anonymous, it resorted to Reddit. Fortunately, the platform also refused to accept the Daily Stormer in view of its anti-hate campaign.
Squarespace
Another web hosting platform, Squarespace, has cut down its service for the website after thousands of signatures were collected aimed at removing it from the platform. Some of its white nationalists hosted websites under petition were already removed, including Identity Evropa and Radix Journal.
Professional social networking site LinkedIn has also put a Daily Stormer page on hold and another page affiliated to a certain Andrew Auernheimer.
YouTube
YouTube has terminated the account of Christopher Cantwell and other white supremacist accounts. Cantwell is a commentator who identifies himself as a white nationalist. He claimed that he was at the Charlottesville protest.
Cantwell's Facebook account has also been brought down. Facebook is particularly strict when it comes to neo-Nazism and hate speech.
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has warned on Thursday that the social media giant is chasing down "threats of physical harm".
Apple
Apple chief executive Tim Cook also condemns the violence that transpired in Charlottesville, stressing the importance of "human decency and morality".
"We must not witness or permit such hate and bigotry in our country, and we must be unequivocal about it", says Cook. "This is not about the left or the right, conservative or liberal. It is about human decency and morality".
As of now, it seems like the white nationalists and white supremacists only have US President Donald Trump as a supporter. Trump defended the far-right protesters when the violence broke out. But days after, the president announced that he condemns violence.
