| | YouTube under fire for hosting neo-Nazi videos
 YouTube is coming under fire for hosting video clips which glorify Hitler and the Nazis. The videos, which have become a center of right-wing activity online, typically include footage of the Waffen SS and of Hitler addressing rallies, accompanied by either German military music or songs from contemporary hardcore right-wing groups.
According to the Telegraph, "The entries have a string of 'Sieg Heil' comments and praise for the fighting prowess of the Waffen SS, recruited for their dedication to Nazism. The videos, some from Nazi propaganda news reels, have provoked the anger of Jewish organisations which called for YouTube to remove the 'hugely offensive' postings, including one that features the headline 'Hitler Was Right'."
YouTube recently sought the aid of the Anti-Defamation League to address issues of hate speech by encouraging users to post alerts at YouTube's Abuse & Safety Center. However, it seems that hate speech online, like spam, is far easier to condemn than to eradicate.
YouTube first became a center of controvery in Germany in August 2007, when a television program reported that videos hosted by YouTube included clips from a 1940 anti-Semitic propaganda film, as well as materials from a neo-Nazi music promotion network and an extreme right-wing heavy metal band, both of which are outlawed in Germany, where distribution of Nazi material is illegal.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany announced at that time that it was considering pressing for criminal charges under Germany's racial hatred laws against Google, which is YouTube's parent company, and possibly also suing Google in the United States. YouTube install new filtering software in response, but the videos continued to be hosted, and last March, the Council filed a request for a cease-and-desist order against Google in Germany to force it to remove the offending videos.
Now similar videos are provoking a sense of outrage in Britain, as well. "Glorifying the Waffen SS or Hitler in any way is sickening," one member of parliament told the Telegraph. "YouTube must understand its responsibilities. They should be hunting this type of material down if they want to maintain any credibility."
The International Network Against CyberHate (INACH) warns, however, that the problem is not merely with YouTube and that MySpace and Facebook have also become vehicles for neo-Nazis and other hate groups.
INACH chair Christopher Wolf recently told the Global Summit on Internet Hate Speech, "In today's Web 2.0 world with user-generated content, social network sites like Facebook and MySpace, mobile computing and always-on connectivity, every aspect of the Internet is being used by extremists of every ilk to repackage old hatreds and to recruit new haters."
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