Two internet hosting companies removed a US white supremacist web forum after they were notified of its racist content by an anti-extremism group.
DreamHost and Hostinger suspended Fascist Forge after the Counter Extremism Project flagged the forum's history of calling for violence, inciting its followers to commit terrorist acts and encouraging the murder of people of colour, Jews, Muslims, LGBTQ people and others.
The forum also provided a platform for recruitment for the Atomwaffen Division, a violent neo-Nazi group that calls for a “white revolution”.
Fascist Forge also promoted propaganda featuring a member alleged to have murdered a Jewish man because he was gay.
Previously, one forum user called on more than 500 fellow users to commit “sexual terrorism” against women.
“Hostinger acted with haste – and very rightly so – in suspending Fascist Forge, an online forum that promotes neo-Nazi violence and radicalises recruits," said David Ibsen, the Counter Extremism Project's executive director.
"Fascist Forge came back online soon after being dropped by DreamHost, which was alerted to the nature of the content by CEP.
"Websites like these need to be prevented from so easily popping back up online once they are flagged for violations and removal elsewhere.
“The return of these extremist sites is not a new problem. The tech industry must put in place the necessary policies and resources to address these issues sufficiently and transparently and, importantly, standardise industry-wide databases and measures that will pre-empt extremist websites from reappearing.”
Fascist Forge was founded in April last year as a far-right networking site.
On March 15, the anti-racists told Hostinger chief executive Arnas Stuopelis that the company had become Fascist Forge’s web registrar less than a week earlier.
Fascist Forge migrated to Hostinger after DreamHost placed it on “hold” status.
In Hostinger’s case, the neo-Nazi forum was in breach of the company’s terms of service, which prohibit malicious or offensive material.
But after the CEP correspondence, only the propaganda section of the Fascist Forge website was removed.
The campaigners followed up with Mr Stuopelis on March 26, urging Hostinger to sever its relationship with Fascist Forge and remove the site completely. Hostinger responded by removing the forum that day.
