The continued presence of a UK Far Right activist on YouTube’s platform has been raised by the deputy chief of the official opposition throughout ministerial questions within the House of Commons as we speak.
Labour’s Tom Watson put inquiries to the secretary of state for digital, Jeremy Wright, concerning Stephen Yaxley-Lennon’s use of social media for focused harassment of journalists.
This follows an incident on Monday night time when Yaxley-Lennon used social media instruments to livestream himself banging on the doorways and home windows of a journalist’s residence in the course of the night time.
“Every major social media platform other than YouTube has taken down Stephen Yaxley-Lennon’s profile because of his hateful conduct,” mentioned Watson, earlier than recounting how the co-founder of the Far Right English Defence League — who goes by the made-up identify ‘Tommy Robinson’ on social media — used social media livestreaming instruments to harass journalist Mike Stuchbery on Monday night time.
Stuchbery has since written concerning the incident for the Independent newspaper.
A journalist intimidated at residence at 5am, stay streamed. Women colleagues dealing with rape and demise threats putting in panic buttons. The torrent of on-line abuse undermines democracy and free speech. We should act to cease the net world turning right into a cesspit of hate. pic.twitter.com/6G4fSjEue7
— Tom Watson (@tom_watson) March 7, 2019
As we reported on Monday, Facebook eliminated the livestream for violating its insurance policies after it was reported however not earlier than Stuchbery had obtained a flood of abusive messages from different Facebook customers who had been watching the stream on-line.
Yaxley-Lennon seems to have been in a position to circumvent Facebook’s ban on his personal account to livestream his intimidation of Stuchbery through Facebook Live through the use of one other Facebook account with a faux identify (which the corporate seems to have since suspended).
Following the incident Stuchbery has reported receiving bodily hate mail to his residence deal with, which Yaxley-Lennon gave out throughout the livestream (an intimidation tactic that’s generally known as doxxing). He has additionally mentioned he’s obtained additional abuse on-line.
“Does the secretary of state think that it is right that YouTube, and the parent company Alphabet, continues to give this man a platform?” requested Watson, after highlighting one other vlog Yaxley-Lennon has since uploaded to YouTube by which he warns different journalists “to expect a knock at the door”.
Wright responded by saying that “all Internet companies, all platforms for this kind of speech need to take their responsibilities seriously”.
“I hope that YouTube will consider this very carefully,” he informed the House of Commons. “Consider what [Yaxley-Lennon] has said. What I have said, and reconsider their judgement.”
“We all believe in freedom of speech. But we all believe too that that freedom of speech has limits,” Wright added. “And we believe that those who seek to intimidate others, to potentially of course break the law… that is unacceptable. That is beyond the reach of the type of freedom of speech that we believe should be protected.”
We’ve reached out to YouTube for remark.
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon was banned by Facebook final month for repeat violations of its insurance policies on hate speech. While Twitter banned Yaxley-Lennon a full yr in the past.
But he stays lively on YouTube — the place his channel has greater than 350,000 subscribers.
The firm has resisted calls to shutter his account, claiming the content material Yaxley-Lennon posts to its platform is totally different to content material he has posted elsewhere and thus that he has not damaged any of its guidelines. (Though YouTube did demonetize movies on his channel in January saying they violated its advert insurance policies.)
In a comply with up query, Watson raised the problem of on-line harassment extra extensively — asking whether or not the federal government could be together with measures “to prevent hate figures, extremists and their followers from turning the online world into a cesspit of hate” in its forthcoming White Paper on social media and security, which it’s resulting from publish this winter — and thereby deal with a tradition of hate and harassment on-line that he mentioned is undermining democracy.
Wright mentioned he would “consider” Watson’s suggestion although he stress the federal government should shield the power for individuals to hold out strong debate on-line — and “to discuss issues that are sometimes uncomfortable and certainly controversial”.
But he went on to reiterate his earlier level that “no freedom of speech can survive in this country if we do not protect… people’s ability to feel free to say what they think, free of intimidation, free of the threat of violence”.
“Those who engage in intimidation or threats of violence should not find succour either online or anywhere else,” the minister added.
YouTube’s personal neighborhood tips prohibit “harassment and cyberbullying”. So its continued silence on Yaxley-Lennon’s misuse of its instruments does look inconsistent. (YouTube beforehand banned the InfoWars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones for violating its insurance policies, for instance, and there’s greater than a passing resemblance between the 2 ‘hate preachers’).
Moreover, as Watson famous in parliament, Yaxley-Lennon’s most up-to-date video accommodates a direct risk to doorstep and doxx journalists who coated his harassment of Stuchbery. The video additionally accommodates verbal abuse focused at Stuchbery. However YouTube informed us the video doesn’t violate its insurance policies.
In one of many livestreams recorded exterior Stuchbery’s residence Yaxley-Lennon will also be heard making allegations about Stuchbery’s sexual pursuits that the journalist has described as defamatory.
YouTube beforehand declined to make a press release about Yaxley-Lennon’s continued presence on its platform. It has not responded to our repeat requests for comply with up remark concerning the concern since Monday.
We’ll replace this publish if it does present a press release following the federal government’s name to rethink its place on giving Yaxley-Lennon a platform.
This publish was up to date with data from YouTube concerning Yaxley-Lennon’s newest video
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