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The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) reports weekly on the methods used by extremists to exploit the Internet and social media platforms to recruit followers and incite violence. Last week, three separate uploads of James Mason ’s neo-Nazi manifesto Siege were made available for purchase on the website Lulu, a print-on-demand, self-publishing, and distribution online marketplace that halted sales of the book from its site in April 2019. Additionally, CEP researchers located the website for a North American-based neo-Nazi group which features essays idolizing Adolf Hitler and national socialism, and encourage the spread of anti-Semitism and racism.

Technology giants like Facebook, Twitter, and Google/YouTube have long maintained that they are merely neutral platforms and cannot be held responsible for what users choose to post and share on their sites. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) has provided blanket liability protection to encourage tech firms to proactively remove hateful, abusive, violent, and other unwanted content from their sites. Instead of availing themselves of the freedom to properly enforce their Terms of Service under the protection afforded by Section 230, tech companies have done the bare minimum to rein in dangerous content, while using the liability shield to fend of lawsuits from victims of terrorism.