As technology continues to expand, so does the potential for its misuse. In the wake of heightened concerns surrounding the visibility of blatantly antisemitic events on eventbrite, top Republicans have voiced their concerns regarding the company’s policies.
Eventbrite, a well-known ticketing and discovery service, has recently been confronted about their lack of policy enforcement. Critics have raised questions about the visibility of events with anti-semitic rhetoric on their platform, despite their clearly defined user policy that deems “content that promotes hatred, violence, racial, sexual, or religious intolerance” as unacceptable and potentially grounds for removal.
Although the company removed some events after receiving backlash, there remains questions about their procedures of actively enforcing policy and monitoring users.
With the 2020 election cycle in full swing, members of the Republican party have become increasingly vocal about the issue. Topping the list of criticism is President Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., who asked Eventbrite on Twitter, “Why have so many anti-Semitic events been allowed to exist on your platform? How could this be allowed to go unchecked for so long?”
Although the company has responded that they removed events in violation of policy once they were made aware, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is leading the Republican fight for stricter regulations on the platform. McCarthy asked the company to provide assurance to the public “that Americans are no longer subjected to the vile and disgusting hatred that the events on their service propagate”, indicating that their existing measures did not provide the necessary level of security he deemed sufficient.
Clearly, this is an issue that is impacting many people from both political sides and it’s encouraging to see top Republicans voicing their concerns and advocating for change. What remains to be seen is if Eventbrite will take decisive action in order to prevent their platform from being exploited in this way.