YouTube confirmed Tuesday that it closed the live chat function on a livestream of a congressional hearing addressing “hate crimes and the rise of white nationalism” due to “the presence of hateful comments.” A Republican congressman said of the comments, which came up later during the hearing itself: “Could that be a hate hoax?”
Hate speech has no place on YouTube. We’ve invested heavily in teams and technology dedicated to removing hateful comments / videos. Due to the presence of hateful comments, we disabled comments on the livestream of today’s House Judiciary Committee hearing.
— YouTubeInsider (@YouTubeInsider) April 9, 2019
After committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) read from an Associated Press report on YouTube removing the chat function — Nadler quoted YouTube commenters as saying “These Jews want to destroy white nations” and “anti-hate is a code for anti-white” — Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX) opined that the comments could be disingenuous and meant to inflate the perceived presence of racists on YouTube.
“Could that be another hate hoax?” he asked. “Just keep an open mind.”
“All I know is what I just read,” Nadler replied.
