Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., slammed Facebook and Twitter on Thursday for not "taking seriously their role in fueling white nationalist hate and dangerous misinformation in this country."
Saying that "it has become clear" that the social media giants were not aware of their role, Omar, who is in her first term, said that white nationalism "is a threat to our safety — and our entire democracy."
"We need to create a culture that does not tolerate hate as a normal part of our political discourse," Omar said at a summit on hate crimes sponsored by Minnesota Democratic Attorney General Keith Ellison. "The amount of hate speech that's allowed to flourish online is at a crisis level."
Omar noted that a study of her own Twitter mentions released this week that found nearly 60% of them used explicit hate speech.
Most had come from "automated accounts," she said, meaning that they were fueled by a small group of people who are "acting as agitators."
"These attacks are designed to intimidate us," she said.
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