07-01-2021
Social media companies face a reckoning over their role in inciting the violent mob that descended on Capitol Hill yesterday.
For years, experts have warned that allowing President Trump’s violent rhetoric and conspiracy theories to spread on social media could facilitate physical violence. Yesterday’s insurrection validated those fears. And more broadly, it highlighted the terrifying offline consequences of years of inaction against hateful speech festering in tweets, Facebook feeds, YouTube channels and other online forums.
By Cat Zakrzewski. Photo: The Washington Post
