The clip, posted in 2015, was highlighted by the home affairs select committee at the opening of the parliamentary inquiry into hate crime on social media. Executives from Facebook and Twitter also appeared before the committee and faced criticism.
The YouTube video features David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader, saying: “The Zionists have already ethnically cleansed the Palestinians, why not do the same thing to Europeans and Americans as well? No group on earth fights harder for its interests than do the Jews. By dividing a society they can weaken it and control it.”
Peter Barron, Google’s vice-president for communications, admitted that it was “antisemitic, deeply offensive and shocking” but insisted that it did not constitute hate speech, although he acknowledged that it was “right on the borderline”.
Yvette Cooper, chairwoman of the committee, said that this appeared to breach YouTube’s guidelines on hate speech, which state: “It is generally acceptable to criticise a nation state, but not acceptable to post malicious, hateful comments about a group of people solely based on their race.”
She said: “How on earth is that not a breach of your own guidelines? I think most people would be appalled by that video and think it goes against all standards of public decency in this country.”
Mr Barron said that YouTube generally only removed videos that incited or condoned violence. “Our teams are making highly principled decisions and debating with a lot of intensity these issues,” he said. “We’re not looking at these questions lightly.”
“Your answers feel like a bit of a joke,” Ms Cooper said. “It doesn’t feel you are even playing by your own rules.”
YouTube did remove two other videos highlighted by the committee, one of which was posted by the proscribed neo-Nazi group National Action, which celebrated the murder of Jo Cox.
The committee condemned Google for failing to search proactively for hate videos, relying instead on its users to report suspect content, despite profits of more than $30 billion last year.
An investigation by The Times revealed last month that adverts for hundreds of large organisations, including Mercedes-Benz, Waitrose and Marie Curie, appeared on YouTube videos created by supporters of terrorist groups including Islamic State.
Mr Barron confirmed that an advert appearing alongside a YouTube video earned whoever posted the video about $7.60 for every 1,000 views.
The Labour MP Chuka Umunna asked Mr Barron why “hate peddlers” had been allowed to make money out of advertising. Mr Barron did not dispute that “on occasion” ads would be placed next to extremist sites but said that Google worked hard to remove offensive material.
David Winnick, another committee member, said that Google was engaged in “commercial prostitution” and Mr Barron’s attempts to evade the questions were “rather pathetic”.
An executive at Twitter was asked why antisemitic tweets targeting public figures continued to appear on the site even after the problem had been raised at a previous hearing. He said that the company was improving its tools.
Facebook was criticised for failing to take down Holocaust denial pages flagged by the committee. An executive said that they did not incite violence and exposed deniers’ views to criticism.
A spokesman for the government said that it was determined to stamp out hate crime and Britain had some of the strongest laws in the world to tackle it.
/The Sunday Times/
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