Thread by @BBuchman_CNS

Opening remarks from Rep. Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee -
"Various statistics confirm what most of us observe, hate incidents are increasing in the U.S. Reporting is woefully incomplete, but what we do know, these stats have been on the rise...

"The increase has occurred during a rise of white nationalism across the country - the ideology of white supremacy has inspired terrorist attacks on the all Abrahamic religions." See: attacks on the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in NC, Tree of Life Synagogue..

in Pittsburgh and at Al Noor mosque in Christchurch. In each case, perpetrators believed each group was "plotting to undermine the white race"
The president's language "whether intentional or not" has emboldened white supremacist activity, Nadler says.

Ranking Republican Rep. Collins - "Nothing white supremacists say resonates with us here today." The practical problem of addressing hate, he says, is that "our hearts run quickly to hate."

People with political campaign experience understand "how quickly people's hearts become hate factories," Rep Collins says.
Says the true motivation of today's hearing is to suggest that the GOP promote hatred and white nationalism.

"I dont know why the majority finds it hard to condemn hateful language," Collins says, before expressing his concern that Congress is not acting strongly enough to condemn antisemitism.

First up: Eileen Hershenov, senior VP for policy at the Anti-Defamation League.

ADL's purpose has been to stop the persecution of the Jewish people since its formation and for decades it has tracked white supremacists. Since the mid 1980s, ADL has tracked online extremism, starting with white nationalists chatting on message boards.

The rise of the alt-right and polarizing rhetoric made by political candidates and leaders has enabled the spread of hate, she says. Supremacists are responsible for more than half of all extremist murders in the last 10 years.

In the last year, white supremacists were responsible for 78 percent of all extremist murders.

Fed govt must focus on domestic terrorism, encourage state and local law enforcement to collect and report hate crimes data to the FBI, strengthen laws against perpetrators of online hate, improve law enforcement training to combat hate online and off. - Hershenov

Dr. Mohammad Abu-Salha, father of Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, two Muslim women shot dead in Chapel Hill, North Carolina three years ago by Craig Stephen Hicks, now up.

"Trouble began when this man observed my daughters appearing in their hijabs." Hicks made it clear to his children, "they were not welcome in his neighborhood."
The murder report is "seared into his memory," he says.

Describing his daughter as gray and lifeless, her forehead bulging; describing Deah Shaddy Barakat, his tooth chipped after Hicks shot him in the mouth after shooting him multiple times. Hicks saw Deah was still breathing, Abu-Salha recalls, so he shot him again.

"I am afraid for our country. Just weeks ago, a young man in Indiana was shot in the back of the head by a man yelling anti-Muslim slurs." -Abu Salha
"I plead to you not to let another American family go through this because our government would not act to protect all Americans."

"I come in peace truly." -Eva Patterson, president of the Equal Justice Society, begins.
She underlines that white supremacy in the U.S. began with slavery and was reinforced over the years: lynching, Jim Crow, shortcomings by US govt re: Civil Rights Act, the Southern Strategy..

In present day, Trump's comments about "good people on both sides," Trump's comments referring to asylum seekers as "animals," - Chief Justice Roberts comments about race being eradicated - this is all part of a larger discussion that must be had, w/o rancor, Patterson urges

Neil Potts, public policy director for Facebook, now up.
FB is towing the line that is always towed by these orgs at these hearings - FB is about community and building up businesses, helping those in need.

"I would like to be clear, there is no place for terrorism or hate on Facebook. We remove content that bullies, harasses or threatens others. We have longstanding policies against hate. We've invested heavily in safety and security in the last few years." - Potts

30K people are employed by FB to combat hateful rhetoric or messaging re: terrorism, Potts says.

"Facebook rejects all hateful ideologies." Potts says. More than 200 white supremacist orgs have been banned so far and just last month, "all praise, support" of white nationalism and white separatism are being removed.

If you're still seeing white supremacist messaging on Facebook, and have a screenshot, DM me.

Correction to earlier tweet, Chief Justice Roberts comment was about "racism" not "race" being eradicated. Fingers moving fast, my apologies for the typo.

Alexandria Walden of Google is up. She, like Google reps have said before at similar hearings, "we understand tough policies must be coupled with tough enforcement." Google has used both humans and AI to remove hate speech.

If a video is similar to those that already violate policies, its sent to humans for review. If it is in violation, it is removed and given a digital fingerprint where it cant be uploaded again. Experts also review new trends in content which may deserve a flag;

and Google creates programs that counter hate speech. The "redirect" method uses targeted ads and videos to disrupt online hate speech.
More on this later.

Mort Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America now up.
"Jew hatred is the canary in the coal mine" Klein says of global hate. He holds up an ADL chart which he says depicts stat: Early half of Arabs harbor antisemitic views.

Says there is "institutional support" of imams around the world.
"I was horrified to see Speaker Pelosi defend Rep. Omar's remarks."
Nadler ends his testimony because his time ran out, Klein protests, saying "its not fair"

Candace Owen now up and says journalists are mistaken in their estimation of her because she "doesn't fit" what journalists want to see in black people

Owens has brought her grandfather as her guest, who, she notes, picked cottona and dealt with intimidation by KKK.
The narrative today seems to be "brown people should be scared" and it flairs up before every election, she adds.

There are more black babies aborted than born alive in New York- Candace Owens says.
"The hearing today isn't about white nationalism, its a preview of a Democrat 2020 election strategy, same as the 2016 election strategy" she adds.

Candace Owens, in her opening remarks, claims Democrats are manipulating data points on hate crimes to "widen" the definition and fit a narrative.
"White nationalism, words that once held real meaning, have become nothing more than election strategy." - Owens

"I want to talk about real issues in Black America and real concerns. The biggest scandal is that Democrats have been conning minorities into believing they're inferior." - Owens says, adding that soon, Democrats will "convince the tall to hate the poor. "

Kristen Clarke, pres. of the Natl Lawyers’ Comm. for Civil Rights Under Law: “We shut down websites that promote hate &violence. We advocated for FB to abandon its ill conceived policy which banned white supremacist activity but permitted white nat'l and separatist activity."

"We know these things are indistinguishable," Clarke says.

"It is not surprising we're seeing an increase in reported hate crimes. Corrosive white supremacist movements are tearing away at the fabric of our nation & without question, they're using online platforms to recruit new members, org rallies, stream murders and incite violence."

"Instead of hiding under hoods, they now organize behind computer screens. They rebrand themselves to make themselves more palatable, the alt right, neo nazis, Proud Boys, the KKK, they all pose the same threat today."

Using aggressive lawyering strategies is one way to stop facilitating white supremacy activities. Banks that support them, tech companies that provide platforms, web hosts that prop up these sites - they all feed hate and where they do, they must be dismantled, Clarke says.

Hershenov, senior VP for policy at the Anti-Defamation League, right away addresses Owens claims - the data is not manipulated, its provided by law enforcement agencies, like the FBI.

"There is no such thing as black identity extremism. This is a way to take the public and government's attention away from the real threat of white nationalism." - Clarke

Ranking Republican Rep Collins says that much hate activity online is driven by a person's desire for "15 minutes" of fame.

Collins asks Owens to describe her experience with hate crimes; in HS she received a "slew of messages" from former CT mayor Dannel Malloy's son referring to her as the "n" word, threatening to tar and feather her family.

Says she was used by the NAACP to "speak out against the crimes" but says now she believes that it was just a fundraising mechanism. "The NAACP never wants racism to go away," Owens says.

Rep Jackson Lee of Texas now up. "I abhor racism, the stereotypes of African Americans, anything that is anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ, anti-Asian or Latino, or any other hatred, racial or otherwise, that plagues this nation."

Hershenov defines the core ideology of white nationalists plainly. "It is also a euphemism for white supremacists & it is the belief in the imminent extinction of the white race because of a flood of non-white people or other people they feel are inferior."

Hershenov notes the belief also attaches itself to the concept that all of this is orchestrated by Jews.

Jackson Lee to Mohammad Abu-Salha, asks if he ever taught his daughter hatefulness? He says absolutely not. He sits on the board of his mosque which has provided care and food to those in need, a teaching of his own religion, he notes.

Jackson Lee asks Eva Paterson, president of the Equal Justice Society to repeat what Thomas Jefferson said when describing black people. He described them as "intellectually inferior, unattractive physically and with no tenderness in our love."

"And we know what Thomas Jefferson was doing on the side..." she adds.
Do you think those themes have carried on through the years? Rep Jackson Lee asks.
Paterson, "Oh, absolutely" Her org finds info weekly promoting the spread of hateful, racist messaging.

Jackson Lee then held up a photo of the black churches that were burned in Louisiana.
She ends her time, and ranking Republican Collins gives the floor to Owens for questioning; Owens then compares Jackson Lee's hoisting of the photo to a stunt.

Moving along: Mort Klein says Beto O'Rourke should be suspended from campaigning for president because O'Rourke called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a racist.

I must take a quick break and will resume live-tweeting shortly.

I'm back.

Rep McClintock speaks on free speech and its importance to combat hateful ideologies. Echoing arguments by former AG Sessions, Trump and admin: He says Facebook/Google "can't be a neutral platform and exercise editorial control over content."

McClintock asks: Are you a neutral forum or an editorial responsible for your content?

Potts: FB is a tech company, first and foremost. It doesn't edit content. It moderates content under its community standards.

"We air on the side of allowing more speech and we draw lines around calls to violence or child pornography ; by not having that on the platform, we give i to more people so they can have their voice. We try to strike the balance. It is a hard one." - Potts

YouTube is user provided content, Google rep Walden says. But Google/YouTube are entitled to remove hate or incitement-based language from the platform.

Rep Cedric Richmond says those who say the hearing today is fake or a front or "stupid" - he reminds them that those who were buried after the shooting at the church in Charleston were "very real"

Rep Cedric Richmond says the Trump administration is giving safe harbor to white nationalist rhetoric.

Richmond now asks about what happened with FB's sharing of the video depicting the shooting in Christchurch - Potts says FB notified law enforcement first, and then notified other social media platforms so they could minimize distribution.

Republican members on the committee are repeatedly condemning Rep. Ilhan Omar today, including Rep Reschenthaler who just asked Mort Klein what congress can do to combat rise of antisemitism in Congress.

Klein says there should be "consequences" for those members of congress who make "repeated" antisemitic remarks.
Again, Klein is calling on imams and says they must "make it clear that Islam must stop interpreting its Koran as a way to hate on Jews or other groups."

Dr. Mohammad Abu-Salha addressed this allegation about Islam earlier when he was asked pointedly: does Islam teach Muslims to hate Jewish people?

Abu-Salha said: "Absolutely not. Islam prohibits hating anyone of any faith or nationality. In the Koran, it says, killing any human being is akin to killing all of humanity."

"Muslims, Christians and Jews lived peacefully together for centuries in the Middle East and were only interrupted by politics and division. What you hear in the media is [the portrayal] of radical Muslims," Abu-Salha adds.

Rep Cicilline asks FB why Faith Goldy's videos, including those that urged viewers to "stop the white race from vanishing" were pulled down from the platform only... yesterday.

Potts repeats the theme today by FB and Google: "When we find them, we do remove them."

Owens calls Ciccilline "cowardly"; says Trump did condemn white nationalism and white supremacy "on multiple occasions" and "the best evidence of that is Trump's policy which continue to support black communities."

Mort Klein now speaking after a Rep Stuebe gave him time following Owens comments. Mohammad Abu-Salha's claims that the Koran does not teach antisemitic are false, he says. People are afraid to admit this because they are afraid of being labeled an "Islamophobe"

*DEVELOPING* story: Reports of hate crimes and online messaging promoting white nationalism are on the rise and executives from Facebook and Google faced tough questions Tuesday from lawmakers about efforts to stop the spread of hate on their platforms.
courthousenews.com/tech-giants-gr…

"The minority party gets to select their own witnesses," Rep Ted Lieu says. "Of all the people they pick, they pick Candace Owens." Lieu is playing the first 30 seconds of Owens statements re: Hitler. (I'm not going to repost those comments. They are in my thread.)

Ted Lieu: So when people try to legitimatize Hitler does that feed into white nationality?
ADL senior VP Hershenov: Yes it does. I know Ms Owens distanced herself from those comments later, but we had great concern over them.

Lieu asks Hershenov if the US govt should increase funding to its non profit security grant program at DHS. Hershenov says ADL is cautious of govt funding to any religious institution or related group but that being said:

It must be done very carefully, in light of potential improper entanglements. State/local govt provide protection to her synagogue, for example, but she wants to caution where the govt gets involved. Lieu clarifies the prog would also apply to mosques/synagogues....

not just churches.
Owens then accuses a lawmaker of saying that black people are stupid and won't pursue the full clip of her speaking on Hitler - which he did not - and then Chairman Nadler stops her from speaking disparagingly.

This comment from Owens was prompted by Rep. Reschenthaler asking Owens if she wants to comment on the video clip, btw.

Owens said the Dems are presenting her as someone who likes Hitler. "A nationalist would not kill their own people," is the point she said she was trying to make, then calling Hitler a homicidal maniac.

Then Owens, a guest on a congressional panel, reprimands Nadler for mischaracterizing her.

Rep Val Demings asks about audits of tech companies and their processes to remove supremacist content. Google has not received a specific request to conduct an audit, according to Walden. Demings asks if she would be willing to submit to one and she said Google would consider.

Kristen Clarke, president of the National Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law to lawmakers: Before the hearing ends, she wants to talk about the impact of hate on children. There's been a 25 percent increase of hate incidents in K-12...

an arena where DOJ "has resources at its disposal to make schools safe, regardless of race."
"We're also seeing hate play out in the workplace, and here the DOJ can play a role. We need a department that is willing to roll up its sleeves and bring every resource to bear, she says

"Law enforcement agencies on the ground are ill-equipped, under-resourced to confront hate. Thinking about hate and how its playing out in schools and workplaces." Data collection is key. Many hate crimes go under-reported, but a lot of agencies also fail to report data." -Clarke

"Finding ways to incentivize better data collection and reporting is crucial in the war against hate," Clarke says.

Folks, I must begin transitioning away from live-tweeting. This story is developing and I will repost when fully updated: courthousenews.com/tech-giants-gr…

If you want to continue listening or watching from home, you can access here: judiciary.house.gov/hearings-and-m…

Story now updated and available here:
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