The UN secretary-general warned of social media’s role in spreading violent extremism around the globe as he marked Holocaust Remembrance Day on Friday, urging policy makers to help stop online hate.

Speaking at a commemoration ceremony at the United Nations in New York on Friday, Antonio Guterres said parts of the internet were turning into “toxic waste dumps for hate and vicious lies” that were driving “extremism from the margins to the mainstream.”

He was issuing an urgent appeal to everyone with influence across the information ecosystem to stop the hate,  set up guardrails and enforce them.

Guterres accused social media platforms and advertisers of profiting off the spread of hateful content by using algorithms that amplify hate to keep users glued to their screens.

Source: VOV5