(JTA) — YouTube has removed the video channel of the Nation of Islam, the organization led by Louis Farrakhan.
YouTube said it removed the channel on Oct. 2, citing its policies against hate speech, according to the Jewish Journal.
“We have strict policies prohibiting hate speech on YouTube, and terminate any channel that repeatedly or egregiously violates those policies,” said the statement, according to the Jewish Journal. YouTube said it has removed 25,000 channels for hate speech.
Some individual accounts of Nation of Islam members are still up, with tens of thousands of followers.
Farrakhan is a longtime, vehement anti-Semite who has railed against “wicked Jews,” praised Adolf Hitler, condemned the “synagogue of Satan,” likened Jews to termites and accused them of controlling the U.S. government. He also has a history of homophobia. This past summer, a string of celebrities defended or praised Farrakhan and echoed his anti-Semitic rhetoric.
A July 4 speech in which Farrakhan called Jews the “enemy of God” has been viewed more than a million times, according to the Anti-Defamation League. That month the ADL called Farrakhan the “most popular antisemite in America.”
YouTube has also removed white supremacists from its platform this year, including Richard Spencer and David Duke.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
