New York, NY, October 8, 2020 …ADL (Anti-Defamation League) today welcomed YouTube’s banning some extremist content, including white supremacists and the official channel of the stridently antisemitic Nation of Islam (NOI), led by Louis Farrakhan.
“For decades, Louis Farrakhan and many of his followers have been preaching vitriol and antisemitism, and in recent years they’ve found a wider audience on platforms like YouTube,” said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO and National Director. “It’s long overdue for Silicon Valley to start to take actionable steps to de-platform this hate once and for all. In addition to removing the official channels, YouTube must also remove videos featuring NOI’s hate on other channels.”
Despite this step by YouTube, multiple channels still carry a July 2020 message from the NOI leader: “Those of you that say that you're Jews -- I will not even give you the honor of calling you a Jew. You are not a Jew. You’re ‘so-called’ [Jews]. You’re Satan.” Farrakhan added that it is the responsibility of every Muslim to spread this antisemitic message. “We cast truth at falsehood till we knock out its brains. Every one of you that knows the truth, stand up and tell it from the mountaintop.”
Other examples of Farrakhan’s vicious public rhetoric abound. In recent months Farrakhan, who has long described Jews as termites and vermin, and celebrated Hitler as a “great man,” also described Jews as being powerful Satanic messengers sent to attack the messiah. He has claimed that no Black man can become great or wealthy in America without the help of the Jewish people. He has characterized homosexuality as being ‘created by Satan and his manipulation of biology and chemistry.’”
YouTube’s ban of the Nation of Islam comes nearly a year and a half after Facebook similarly removed Farrakhan’s official account. Despite these individual actions, numerous NOI-affiliated accounts continue to actively disseminate antisemitism, racism, and homophobia on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.