'Extremists still find plenty of digital spaces'

A stock photo of a man in a hood using a laptop.

The 'approach to fighting online hate and extremism focuses too often on individual platforms'

(Image credit: Stock Photo via Getty Images)

published 7 March 2025

'Why the fight against online extremism keeps failing'

Tamar Mitts at Time

"Content moderation takedowns have soared on major sites," so "perhaps the question we should be asking isn't whether platforms are doing enough in isolation — it's whether we are addressing a problem that is bigger than any one site," says Tamar Mitts. The "approach to fighting online hate and extremism focuses too often on individual platforms" and "too little on the fragmentation of content moderation." Smaller "trust-and-safety teams mean more opportunity to radicalize a dedicated audience."

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Justin Klawans has worked as a staff writer at The Week since 2022. He began his career covering local news before joining Newsweek as a breaking news reporter, where he wrote about politics, national and global affairs, business, crime, sports, film, television and other news. Justin has also freelanced for outlets including Collider and United Press International.