Internet companies under pressure to remove neo-nazi content

In the context of last weekend’s violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, the Internet domain registration of neo-nazi website Daily Stormer was removed by GoDaddy Inc, which manages Internet names and registrations, due to violations of its terms of service. Daily Stormer, which helped organise the Charlottesville rally, then turned to Google Domains, shortly after which Alphabet Inc announced that it would take down the website as well. Internet companies have long tried to avoid making decisions on what is acceptable speech; yet, with current pressure on such platforms to remove extremist content and hate speech, the ground is now shifting.