Tech companies banishing extremists after Charlottesville

NEW YORK – It has taken bloodshed in Charlottesville to get tech companies to take a firmer stand against accounts used to promote hate and violence.

Major companies such as Google, Facebook and PayPal are banishing a growing cadre of extremist groups and individuals in the wake of the deadly clash at a white-nationalist rally last weekend in Virginia. The rally has shown how easily technology can be used to organize and finance such events, and how extreme views online can translate into violence offline.

Keegan Hankes, analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center’s intelligence project, says that even now, companies are taking action only in the most extreme cases.

PayPal says there’s a “fine line” when it comes to balancing freedom of expression with taking a stand against violent extremism.