Twitter, Yelp see disturbing increase of hate and racist posts

If Elon Musk didn't own Twitter, would anybody pay any attention to what the embattled world's richest man has to say about race?

Last Sunday, Musk tweeted that  “the media” and “elite colleges and high schools” of being “racist” against white and Asian people.

The CEO of Twitter, Tesla and Space X wrote, “The media is racist.” He then added, “For a *very* long time, US media was racist against non-white people, now they’re racist against whites & Asians. Same thing happened with elite colleges & high schools in America. Maybe they can try not being racist.” 

Musk provided no evidence to back up his view. His statement came in a screed defending Scott Adams, the creator of comic strip Dilbert, which has been dropped by a number US newspapers because of Adam's racist views, specifically against Blacks.

Brian Levin, a civil rights attorney and director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University said, in response to Musk’s tweets told CNBC:

“Systemic racism requires not only widespread bigotry to be held within a group but also a structural component that allows discrimination and oppression to be imposed on a minority because of an advantage of access and power. A white billionaire from South Africa who recently lost a high profile racial discrimination case may not be in the best position to offer counsel.”

Tesla is being sued by the California Civil Rights for alleged bias against Black workers and is being investigated by the EEOC, the federal agency responsible for enforcing civil rights laws against workplace discrimination.

Since Musk took over Twitter, besides restoring Donald Trump's account, who was banned by Twitter in 2021 for allegedly advocating violence and accused of spreading misinformation.

Trump's reinstatement got the headlines in the US, but overall, hate speech has soared on the social media platform and has reopened the platform to international terrorist groups to spread misinformation and to recruit, according to the New York Times. 

The increase in hate postings in such a short time is alarming, say researchers.

“Elon Musk sent up the Bat Signal to every kind of racist, misogynist and homophobe that Twitter was open for business,” said Imran Ahmed, the chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate. “They have reacted accordingly.”

YELP'S ANTI-ASIAN REVIEWS

Twitter is not the only social media platform seeing a rise in hate.

Last year, Yelp, known for its customer-written restaurant reviews, removed more than 2,000 racist business reviews before they went online — a nearly tenfold jump over 2021. 

More specifically, much of the hate appeared to target Asian-owned restaurants and businesses. In 2021, Yelp proactively removed only nine posts that included anti-Asian hate. In 2022, it removed 475.

The sharp increase in Yelp's hate reviews perhaps reflects improved efforts by the platform to combat racist content and shows how even a non-political site known primarily for reviews of restaurants and repair services can be twisted into a weapon to further inflame those prone to hate Asians and hurt the Asian and Asian American entrepreneurs.

Yelp began tracking the hate-inspired reviews in in 2020, just prior to the surge of anti-Asian attacks and harassment, which AANHPI community advocates attribute was inspired by the anti-Chinese rhetoric coming out of the Trump administration.

Therefore, the increase in racist restaurant reviews isn’t surprising, according to University of Michigan marketing professor Justin Huang, told  KTLA, a Los Angeles radio station. He recently authored a study that found Asian restaurants saw an 18% drop in customers compared with non-Asian restaurants in the same communities in 2020, equating to more than $7 billion in lost revenue.

In total, Yelp said, it removed 26,500 business reviews last year that violated its rules about hate speech, threats or lewdness, an overall increase of 1,300 over the year before.

Noorie Malik, Yelp’s vice president of user operations, that the company is “aggressive” when it comes to taking down “unreliable” reviews, including those that contain hate speech.

“The trust and safety of the Yelp community is a top priority,” Malik wrote in a statement emailed to the AP. “Which is why we continue to heavily invest in both technology and human moderation.”

SPREAD OF ONLINE HATE

Hate speech incites violence and intolerance. The devastating effect of hatred is sadly nothing new. However, its scale and impact are now amplified by online social media platforms. Hate speech – including online – has become one of the most common ways of spreading divisive rhetoric on a global scale, threatening peace around the world, according to a United Nations report on Hate Speech.

The explosion of hate speech, further exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, represents an unprecedented challenge for our societies, says the UN report. "Although hate speech has always existed, its ever-growing impact fueled by digital communication can be devastating not only for those targeted, but also for societies at large."

Yelp's actions against hate contrasts with the policies of Twitter's Musk, who fancies himself as a free speech champion.

The UN's High Commissioner Volker Türk who heads up Office of the High Scommissioner of Human Rights, had recently penned an open letter to Musk, emphasized that free speech did not mean “a free pass to spread harmful disinformation that results in real world harms."

Volker writes that human rights law is clear: "Freedom of expression stops at hatred that incites discrimination, hostility or violence. We see too often that the spread of hatred and hate speech against people of African descent, and other groups, not only undermines their rights but creates major fissures in societies. These are increasingly difficult to overcome and a source of various forms of destabilisation within countries.”

In a detailed statement, more than two dozen UN-appointed independent human rights experts - including representatives from three different working groups and multiple Special Rapporteurs - called out chief executives of social media companies  by name, saying that the companies they lead “must urgently address posts and activities that advocate hatred, and constitute incitement to discrimination, in line with international standards for freedom of expression.

READ the United Nations report on Hate Speech

The experts consulted by the UN say that allowing and tolerating incitement to hatred and expression, or advocacy of hatred against ... marginalized groups, “not only encourages the perpetrators, but also constitutes a continuous source of chronic race-based traumatic stress and trauma.”

The presence of racial hatred further undermines confidence on the part of those impacted, in using social media and seeking justice.

“It is especially alarming” considering that so many youngsters “live a significant part of their lives” online, they added.

In the letter addressed to Twitter's Musk, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, who heads Google’s parent company Alphabet, Apple’s Tim Cook, “and CEOs of other social media platforms”, should “centre human rights, racial justice, accountability, transparency, corporate social responsibility and ethics, in their business model.”

The letter continued, “We urge all CEOs and leaders of social media to fully assume their responsibility to respect human rights and address racial hatred.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

United Nations report on Hate Speech

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BTS -- Special envoys of the U.N. speak out for the youth of the world

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BTS at the United Nations Headquarters.

It was an unfamiliar stage for the K-pop super group BTS and nerves were evident.

“Every choice we make is the beginning of change, not the end,” said RM, the band's leader during a speech at the United Nations headquarters in New York City.

The 7-member group was in the General Assembly hall Monday to help promote U.N. goals for 2030 including ending extreme poverty, preserving the planet and achieving gender equality.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in introduced the pop stars as special presidential envoys and an “exceptionally outstanding group of young men who are connecting with the youth across the world.”

A U.N. video of the group's speech has been viewed more than 6 million times as of Monday afternoon.

“What is important are the choices we make when we are faced with change right? Some of you heard the news that we were coming to the UN and a lot of you were wondering whether we were vaccinated. And yes, all seven of us, of course, we received COVID-19 vaccination,” J Hope added.

Since its debut in 2013, BTS has garnered global recognition for its self-produced music and social activism, which also includes publicly calling out anti-Asian racism.

BTS helped kick off the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goal's Decade of Action  Monday.  

The U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals are a blueprint for fighting poverty and hunger, confronting the climate crisis, achieving gender equality and much more, within the next ten years. At a time of great uncertainty, the SDGs show the way forward to a strong recovery from COVID-19 and a better future for all on a safe and healthy planet.

The South Korean supergroup focused in how their generation felt lost last year during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic when graduations and other important events were cancelled. But they sent a message of encouragement to all people around the world.

"I hope we just don't consider the future as grim darkness. We have people concerned for the world and searching for answers. There are still many pages left in the story about us and I feel like we shouldn't talk like the ending has already been written", said Junkook.

They challenged the thought of their generation being “the covid lost generation” saying that it was “a stretch”.

"In these pictures, you can see there are kids that are trying to learn new things...They are not lost, they are finding new courage and taking on new challenges", said Jin.

"Instead of the lost generation, a more appropriate name would be the ‘welcome’ generation because instead of fearing change, this generation says "welcome" and keeps pushing ahead", explained Suga.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, observations, tips and references, follow me on Twitter @dioknoed.

Jason Momoa gives passionate speech at United Nations

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Jason Momoaa concluded his UN speech making a hand sign indicating his support for the protests against the Thirty Meter Telescopee planned for Hawaii's sacred mountain Mauna Kea. 

When Jason Momoa isn't portraying heroic figures in films, he is an environmental activist and advocate for the preservation of his Hawaiian heritage. 

He made no bones about his island roots in an impassioned speech he delivered to the United Nations last Friday.

“The oceans are in a state of emergency,” he warned. “Entire marine ecosystems are vanishing with the warming of the seas, and as the waste of our world empties into our waters, we face the devastating crisis of plastic pollution.

The star of Aquaman and the soon-to-be released dystopian See for Apple TV was addressing a meeting concerning Small Island Developing States (SIDS) – which include the Bahamas, Barbados, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Haiti – at UN headquarters in New York. 

“Island nations contribute the least to this disaster, but are made to suffer the weight of its consequences,” said the Game of Thrones star.

The meeting which Momoa addressed was held five years after the adoption of the Small Island Developing States Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA Pathway) by UN member states.

The agreement outlined that the countries would acknowledge the “need to support and invest in these nations so they can achieve sustainable development.”

“We, the island nations and all coastal communities, are the frontlines in this environmental crisis,” he said. “Entire islands are drowning into the sea due to the enormous volume of emissions generated by first world countries.”

After he delivered his speech, Momoa tweeted:

“That was a life changing moment, a true honor to represent island nations at the UN,” Momoa wrote on Instagram. “It takes an amazing team and support system to pull off something like this. I am deeply grateful to my wife and children, my mother @lonelywhale@duneives @realdealmada @paakai97@maluhiakinimaka @UnitedNations@UN_PGA #kukiaimauna
#SAMOAPathway #SIDSSummit. Aloha j #purpsonpurpslookgood#wegotsomethingtosay #nomorehalf-assing #3kanakasandaMADA.”

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Pacific Island teens petition UN to act quickly to combat climate change

CHILDREN VS. CLIMATE CRISIS

From left: Litokne Kabua,  David Ackley III, Carlos Manuel and Ranton Anjain

Four Pacific Island teenagers joined Swedish 16-year old  activist Greta Thunberg and 12 other youth who have filed a complaint on the climate crisis to the United Nations.

Their  unprecedented petition, to the U.N Committee on the Rights of the Child (C.R.C) is attempting to hold Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany and Turkey accountable for their climate crisis inaction.

It is the first time children have filed a formal complaint under the U.N.C.R.C. The petitioners are between ages eight and 18. The youngest is Ellen-Anne from Sweden.

Carlos Manuel from Palau, and Marshallese Litokne Kabua, David Ackley II and Ranton Anjain have joined children from ten other countries in this landmark case. Their two nations are among the countries already being impacted by climate change. Strong Pacific typhoons have caused some islands to be abandoned by its residents. Rising sea levels caused by melting polar caps are causing island beaches to disappear.

The other children named in the petition are Chiara Sacchi (Argentina); Catarina Lorenzo (Brazil); Iris Duquesne (France); Raina Ivanova (Germany); Ridhima Pandey (India); Deborah Adegbile (Nigeria); Ayakha Melithafa (South Africa); Greta Thunberg and Ellen-Anne (Sweden); Raslen Jbeili (Tunisia); and Carl Smith and Alexandria Villaseñor (USA).

The petition was part of a week-long series of global actions by young people to exert pressure on the world leaders to act against climate change, which the vast majority of the world's scientists have concluded is hastened and exacerbated by manmade pollutants. The week was launched with worldwide demonstrations attracting 4-million protesters in 150 countries.

CHILDREN VS. CLIMATE CHANGE

Carlos Manuel of Palau introduces himself at a press conference at the United Nations.

“I want bigger countries to know that our small island nations are the most vulnerable countries to be affected by climate change," said Manuel, who immigrated to Palau from the Philippines.

“Our homes are slowly being swallowed up by the ocean – the places where memories were made, where trust and respect are gained, the places where we used to have fun and enjoy, those places are slowly disappearing,” said the 17-year old.

Dramatically increasing temperatures in the Marshall Islands have brought frequent dengue fever outbreaks, and the government has declared a state of emergency twice in the last two years. 

Marshall Islander Kabua is 16, and his home ijust two minutes away from the ocean is under threat from sea level rise. 

“[Climate change] is the first thing you see when you go outside. It is happening a lot more, a lot more … you cannot ignore it," said the teenager.

“We are on the front lines of the climate crisis and I am here to stop that.”

The five countries named in the 101 page petition -- Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, and Turkey -- are accused of violating the children’s right to life, health, and the rights of indigenous children’s right to culture. 

They allege each of the accused countries is knowingly causing and perpetuating the climate crisis, and that they have known about it for decades. Every country except the United States has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Of those countries, 45 agreed to an additional protocol that allows children to petition the UN directly about treaty violations.

“Despite their decades-long knowledge, each respondent has breached its human rights duties by causing and perpetuating the climate crisis and undermining international cooperation,” the petition states.

The complaint goes to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The group is made up of 18 independent child rights experts. The Committee will determine if the complaint is admissible and, if so, will gather responses from the countries named in the complaint. The Committee will then make recommendations to those nations.

While the recommendations are not legally binding, these nations have committed to follow the recommendations. The obligations spelled out under the Convention on the Rights of the Child are binding.

Thunberg addressed the UN General Assembly last Monday (Sept. 23) in an emotional speech blasting the adults representing the UN's member countries.

"You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!" said Thurberg.

"You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you," she said.

“We are here as victims of the pollution that has been carelessly dumped into our lands, air and sea for generations, and as children whose rights are being violated. Today, we are fighting back.” said 14-year old Alexandria Villaseñor,  co-founder of U.S Youth Climate Strike and founder of Earth Uprising.

In just five years, 16-year-old Ackley III has seen his home town Uliga in Majuro change dramatically. He said he and his family talk about climate change all the time, and he worries about being forced to move away.

“I feel lost. I like to keep my mind off [it] because it scares me, but it still pops up a couple of times a day.”

Dramatically increasing temperatures in the Marshall Islands have brought frequent dengue fever outbreaks, and the government has declared a state of emergency twice in the last two years.

As a kid who grew up swimming and fishing in the ocean, 17-year-old Mr. Anjain said he is worried for the next generation of Marshallese, and what experiences they will have.

“I don’t want to be underwater,” said 17-year-old Anjain.

“I want future generations to experience what I experience, I want them to experience living on Ebeye. It still saddens me – I want them to experience the same things I did.”

Another round of protests is planned for Friday (Sept. 27).

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Nikki Haley resigning from her UN post

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Donald Trump announced Nikki Haley's resignation as the UN Ambassador.

NIKKI HALEY, perhaps the the best known Asian American in the Trump administration, has handed in her resignation letter. She plans to leave her position as Ambassador to the United Nations by the end of the year. 

Her resignation took most people by surprise and raised speculation about her future plans, which might include a campaign for president. 

Sitting next to Donald Trump in the Oval Office, Haley said she has no plans to run for president in 2020. In fact, she said, she would be campaigning for "this one," pointing at Trump.

"it has been an honor of a lifetime" serving as UN ambassador, but that it was time to depart the administration, reports said.

"There's no personal reason," she added. "It's very important for government officials to understand when it's time to step aside," the CNN report quoted her as saying.

"I want to make sure this administration, this president, has the strongest person to fight," she said.

The daughter of immigrants from India, Haley favored free markets and global trade and earned international attention for speaking out against the Confederate battle flag after nine black churchgoers were massacred in 2015 in Charleston.

Compared to other members of Trump's team, Haley nurutred the image of a moderate Republican. During the 2016 presidential campaign, she campaigned for Marco Rubio and was strongly critical of Trump.

Although she disagreed with the White House on some issues, she was also Trump's stanchest defenders to the global, sometimes embrassingly so. Most recently, when the UN envoys laughed at Trump during the UN General Assembly, Haley said the laughter was a sign of respect Trump.

The former governor of South Carolina often used the big stick, threatening that the U.S. was "taking names" of those countries opposed to U.S. interests, while at the same time using her southern charm to disarm other diplomats.

Haley was a strong critic of Russia despite Trump's apparent chumminess with Russia's leaders and also fiercely critical of what she believed was the diplomats' anti-Israel bias.

She also supported shutting off US funding for the UN's Palestinian refugee agency and revelled in defending the Trump administration's decision to move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in the face of an acid show of international criticism.

Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Human Rights Program, didn't mince word in his comments: “History books will remember Nikki Haley as a key player in the Trump administration’s campaign to undermine universal human rights and international bodies. During her tenure, the Trump administration withdrew from the U.N. Human Rights Council and UNESCO, pulled out of the negotiations leading up to the Global Compact on Migration, and attacked a U.N. independent human rights expert investigating poverty in the United States…”

"Now, the United States is respected," said Haley

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June 20 is World Refugee Day ... does the U.S. care?

WKYT graphic

BREAKING NEWS: June 20, 5:30 p.m. EDT -- Donald Trump signed an executive order this afternoon ending the policy of separating children from their parents. Come back to read a new post for updates and anallysis of what this 180-degree turn-around means.

TODAY (June 20) is World Refugee Day but does the current U.S. administration even care? People who came to this country and accepted as refugees in years past are now being deported, including those from Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed in a statement that “We will continue to help the world's most vulnerable refugees, reflecting the deeply held values of the American people.”

Pompeo also said, “commitment to the world’s most vulnerable individuals remains a critical component of America’s national security policy.” 

The statement does not mention Central American refugees, focusing on Syria—though Trump banned Syrians from entering the United States—as well as the Rohingya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Asylum seekers from Central America and Mexico are being detained in jail-like environments, their attempts to enter the U.S. legally to ask for asylum is being blocked and thwarted physically and their children are being ripped away from them and kept in cages where workers are not allowed to comfort them.

Yesterday, the U.S. also formally quit the United Nations Human Rights Council. The explanation was supposedly because of the council's continued criticism of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians but it also occurred the day after the human rights body criticized Donald Trump's zero-tolerance policy towards asylum seekers at the U.S. southern border crossings that includes the separation of children from their parents.

The number of refugees entering the United States each month has declined sharply so far in fiscal 2017, falling from 9,945 in October 2016 to 3,316 in April 2017, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. State Department data.

By executive order of Donald Trump, the number of refugees being accepted annually by the U.S. has been cut in more than half, from 110,000 to 50,000.

Despite Trump's zero-tolerance policy, asylum-seekers are still forming unusually long lines at the Mexican border, with parents and children sleeping on cardboard in the sweltering heat and waiting for days or even weeks to present themselves to U.S. inspectors, according to the Associated Press.

“You must come every day to see if it’s your turn. If you don’t come, you’ll lose your place in line,” said Teresa Ramirez from El Salvador. After waiting 20 days, Ramirez got her turn at the border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico.

Lawyers said asylum-seekers at the Nogales, Arizona, crossing are camping out for up for five days to make a claim.

At the Hidalgo, Texas, border crossing, parents and children sleep on cardboard on a bridge separating the two countries, waiting for U.S. authorities to signal their time has come, according to volunteers bringing them food and water.

So, is Pompeo's proclamation about America's "commitment to the world's most vulnerable," a cruel joke?

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