“Reporting you all to the police” was posted by a concerned member of Facebook group Star Wars Sithposting: a Star Wars fan group which started with good intentions, but as of January 2017, has become a cesspool for racism, anti-Semitism, and child pornography jokes.
Is it true many easily accessible websites such as Facebook and IMDb have become platforms for paedophilia, racism, and anti-Semitism?
One member of Facebook group Star Wars Sithposting certainly thought so after deciding to defect and join another fan group explaining his reasoning.
He wrote to the admin of the new group: “That cesspit is now full of Ashoka child porn.”
Another member wrote about their concerns: “I’m seriously considering leaving to avoid ending up on a federal watch list.”
In 2012, one of the biggest stings of child pornography via social media came via WND when they published a report on sexual child exploitation being openly traded on Facebook.
Also involved was a fake Facebook profile under the name Kidsex Young, which had a high number of friend requests in an alarming short space of time.
The most shocking aspect of these sites is they are only a ‘like’ away.
A wide variety of offensive material has been ever-present on Facebook since the social media site’s early inception.
In 2010, a Facebook page was titled: ‘Killing Your Hookers So You Don’t Have to Pay For Her’.
The group’s opening page presented a disturbing image of a man choking a sex worker as she lay face down.
Facebook is even being used as a platform to promote the death of political figures.
During ex-President Barack Obama’s tenure in the White House, there were many Facebook groups targeting Obama’s death, one of which was only shut down recently and had over a million members.
Racism also seems to be a common theme on Facebook.
A page under the name ‘Your Daily Fix of Dark Humour’ hits its followers with a cover photo of the extremist group, the Ku Klux Klan. Upon viewing the page’s content, one photo promotes paedophilia.
As well as social media, racist material is being posted on popular websites too.
IMDb recently decided to shut down its long-running discussion board because some films received racially aggravated comments.
The movie database company posted on its website stating how IMDb’s message boards are “no longer providing a positive, useful experience.”
The decision gained traction after racist comments were made on the IMDb discussion page for Raoul Peck’s Oscar-nominated documentary, I Am Not Your Negro.
The film’s message board sparked an array of racially abusive comments from both white and black IMDb members, and Twitter users.
One titled discussion read: “Disturbed by the level of racism on here”, while another said: “It’s Official Blacks Ruin Everything.”
Although the above examples may be tame compared to what is known as “the dark underbelly of Facebook”, it presents a case for how easily accessible racist and paedophilic ideology can be.
YouTube sensation PewDiePie, real name Felix Kjellberg and with 53 million subscribers, was dropped by Disney for reportedly posting anti-Semitic videos.
The videos either had anti-Semitic jokes or imagery related to Nazis, including a banner that said “Death to all Jews.”
These pages and their comments could be considered a joke at first, but if left alone and not flagged, these examples gain traction: leading to something more sinister and potentially harming.
Image courtesy of Macclesfield Express, with thanks.
