Twitter needs to curb digital hate on site, say critics

New York: Micro-blogging site Twitter has reportedly seen a 30 percent surge in digital hate messages, while critics believe that the company should responsibly curb the spread of online hate.

A report by the Simon Wiesenthal Center based in Los Angeles revealed that Twitter had about 20,000 hate-filled hashtags and handles in 2012, up from 15,000 seen in 2011. Anti-Semites, racists and terrorist groups have flooded the blogging website with shocking, hate-spewing hashtags and handles, New York Post reports. The hate tweets exposed include swastikas and rants that insult the Jewish community, the report added. The Center claimed that digital hate on Twitter is a form of homophobia, Islamphobia, and attacks on Christian minorities. It extended from mocking the legacy of Anne Frank, to getting young people to try to join in with a racist, extreme far-right group in the United States, to al-Shabab and al Qaeda, communicating to young Muslims around the world, the report added. However, Twitter said that the company does not mediate content or intervene in disputes between users under its policy.