Fifteen US Democratic Senators have urged Facebook to fully address anti-Muslim bigotry on its platform, which has enabled offline violence against Muslims in the United States and around the world.

"Facebook is a groundbreaking company that has revolutionised the way we communicate. Unfortunately, the connectivity that can bring people together in many positive ways also has been used to dehumanise and stoke violence against Muslims, Black people, Latinos, immigrants, the Jewish community, Sikhs, Christians, women, and other communities here and across the world," the Senators wrote.

Reports indicate that the platform has also been used to support the internment of the Uyghurs in China and other human rights violations against this population, that Facebook and WhatsApp have been used to incite violence against Muslims, and that Facebook has been used to promote hate and violence in other areas around the world, the Senators wrote in the letter to Zuckerberg.

Advocacy groups similarly detailed the extent and persistence of anti-Muslim hate content on Facebook&nbsp;in multiple reports last year, concerns that have been amplified by recent allegations that some high-ranking employees at Facebook&nbsp;have enabled hate speech against Muslims and others by applying the platform's content moderation policies in a selective manner, wrote the Senators. 
 
In June 2019, Facebook responded to concerns about these practices by creating a "call to arms" policy that prohibits event pages that call for individuals to bring weapons to a location.

However, the senators note that Facebook has not taken adequate steps to enforce this policy, which should have barred an event page in Kenosha, Wisconsin earlier this year, as well as a 2019 event page used to plan an armed protest at the largest Muslim community convention in the country.

Meanwhile, Hate crimes in the US rose to the highest level in more than a decade as federal officials also recorded the highest number of hate-motivated killings since the FBI began collecting that data in the early 1990s, according to an FBI report released Monday.

There were 51 hate crime murders in 2019, which includes 22 people who were killed in a shooting that targeted Mexicans at a Walmart in the border city of El Paso, Texas, the report said.

(With inputs from agencies)

Fifteen US Democratic Senators have urged Facebook to fully address anti-Muslim bigotry on its platform, which has enabled offline violence against Muslims in the United States and around the world.

Fifteen US Democratic Senators have urged Facebook to fully address anti-Muslim bigotry on its platform, which has enabled offline violence against Muslims in the United States and around the world. "Facebook is a groundbreaking company that has revolutionised the way we communicate. Unfortunately, the connectivity that can bring people together in many positive ways also has been used to dehumanise and stoke violence against Muslims, Black people, Latinos, immigrants, the Jewish community, Sikhs, Christians, women, and other communities here and across the world," the Senators wrote. Reports indicate that the platform has also been used to support the internment of the Uyghurs in China and other human rights violations against this population, that Facebook and WhatsApp have been used to incite violence against Muslims, and that Facebook has been used to promote hate and violence in other areas around the world, the Senators wrote in the letter to Zuckerberg. Advocacy groups similarly detailed the extent and persistence of anti-Muslim hate content on Facebook in multiple reports last year, concerns that have been amplified by recent allegations that some high-ranking employees at Facebook have enabled hate speech against Muslims and others by applying the platform's content moderation policies in a selective manner, wrote the Senators. In June 2019, Facebook responded to concerns about these practices by creating a "call to arms" policy that prohibits event pages that call for individuals to bring weapons to a location. However, the senators note that Facebook has not taken adequate steps to enforce this policy, which should have barred an event page in Kenosha, Wisconsin earlier this year, as well as a 2019 event page used to plan an armed protest at the largest Muslim community convention in the country. Meanwhile, Hate crimes in the US rose to the highest level in more than a decade as federal officials also recorded the highest number of hate-motivated killings since the FBI began collecting that data in the early 1990s, according to an FBI report released Monday. There were 51 hate crime murders in 2019, which includes 22 people who were killed in a shooting that targeted Mexicans at a Walmart in the border city of El Paso, Texas, the report said. (With inputs from agencies)

'Take action to combat anti-Muslim bigotry': Democratic senators tell Facebook

A lasting rise in hate crimes has been observed across England, Wales and Northern Ireland has been reported in the second half of July, nearly a month after the EU referendum vote.&nbsp; 
 
Incidents of hate crimes in the United &nbsp;Kingdom remain significantly higher than they were a year ago, Guardian reported today. 
 
According to the National Police Chiefs&#39; Council report, there was an increase of 49 per cent in such incidents ( to 1,836) in the last week in July when compared with the previous year. The final week of July witnessed a record 58 per cent increase in recorded incidents to 1,787, the report says&nbsp; 
 
Racial abuse in Wales went up to 60 per cent over the EU referendum period, BBC Wales reported.&nbsp; 
 
The most recent data shows that there were over 1,384 incidents of hate crime in the third week of August.&nbsp; 
 
&ldquo;Many victims are still afraid to come forward and so the scale of attacks could be far higher than what is being reported. The UN said two weeks ago that the problem of underreporting hate crime persists in Britain and the government&rsquo;s own hate-crime strategy sets out to increase the reporting of hate crime, acknowledging one of the biggest challenges to the police in tackling it,&rdquo; Jack Dromey, a British Labour Party politician told the Guardian.&nbsp; 
 
Previously published figures reveal that while the increase in hate crime has continued, the level of increase has declined. There was a 46 per cent spike in hate crime immediately after the June 23 referendum.&nbsp; 
 
 
(WION)&nbsp;

'The final week of July witnessed a record 58 per cent increase in recorded incidents to 1,787'

A lasting rise in hate crimes has been observed across England, Wales and Northern Ireland has been reported in the second half of July, nearly a month after the EU referendum vote. Incidents of hate crimes in the United Kingdom remain significantly higher than they were a year ago, Guardian reported today. According to the National Police Chiefs' Council report, there was an increase of 49 per cent in such incidents ( to 1,836) in the last week in July when compared with the previous year. The final week of July witnessed a record 58 per cent increase in recorded incidents to 1,787, the report says Racial abuse in Wales went up to 60 per cent over the EU referendum period, BBC Wales reported. The most recent data shows that there were over 1,384 incidents of hate crime in the third week of August. “Many victims are still afraid to come forward and so the scale of attacks could be far higher than what is being reported. The UN said two weeks ago that the problem of underreporting hate crime persists in Britain and the government’s own hate-crime strategy sets out to increase the reporting of hate crime, acknowledging one of the biggest challenges to the police in tackling it,” Jack Dromey, a British Labour Party politician told the Guardian. Previously published figures reveal that while the increase in hate crime has continued, the level of increase has declined. There was a 46 per cent spike in hate crime immediately after the June 23 referendum. (WION)

Lasting rise in hate crimes in UK after Brexit

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