During the deadly New Zealand Mosque shooting, the assailant called out the name of the popular Youtuber PewDiePie. While this Youtube celebrity has publicly disavowed the massacre, this incident says a lot about the online space the attacker occupied prior to the deadly shooting. In the modern era, violent political radicalization happens primarily online. It is the responsibility of social media platforms to prevent hate groups from taking root on them.





Youtube has long been home to a powerful network of hate groups which use the platform to radicalize normal viewers. Due to Youtube’s suggested videos algorithm, you can sometimes go from completely innocent content to disturbingly racist videos in just a few clicks. Even more disturbing are recent trends which show children are likely being exposed to this sort of content on the platform with great frequency.





Social media platforms like Youtube must ensure their content does not promote violent ideologies and hate. Recently social networks such as Facebook have made great strides in removing such content from their platforms, it’s time for Youtube to do the same. Already the platform has rules against hate speech, it’s time for it to prioritize enforcing them.