YouTube censors Portuguese extreme-right group over online hate

The Grupo 1143, which claims to be a Portuguese nationalist organisation, is led by Mario Machado, a neo-Nazi activist with anti-Islamic and anti-migrant beliefs.

YouTube shut down the far-right Portuguese ultranationalist Grupo 1143’s video channel after a news article highlighted its extremist content.
The online video-sharing platform said on Tuesday it blocked the account for violating its policy against hate speech after a New York Times piece took a closer look at social media posts assailing immigrants and cited examples in the UK, Portugal, and other countries where the “vitriolic language is now spilling onto the streets.”
Grupo 1143 is led by Mario Machado, a neo-Nazi activist whose anti-Islam and anti-migrant campaigns have been gaining attention and spreading across the southern European country.
The group was accused of peddling a “toxic brew of bigotry online” that fuelled real-world violence in countries across Europe, including Germany and Ireland, but also at home in Portugal.
YouTube’s hate speech policy prohibits videos or content that incites violence or hatred towards individuals or groups based on people’s nationality, religion, or immigration status, among other things.
Machado, who said his group was “the biggest Portuguese nationalist organisation” of the last half-decade, has rejected the platform’s decision.
The extreme-right group, known for brandishing torches and flashing Nazi German salutes, organised demonstrations against “the Islamisation of Europe” earlier this year: one in Lisbon that took place in February despite a ban by the local government and another in Porto in April.
Their gathering in the Portuguese capital also sparked counter-demonstrations by the local anti-racist movement.
Grupo 1143 is currently being monitored by the Portuguese Department of Criminal Investigation for spreading hate speech.
Two of its members are primary suspects in three attacks aimed at immigrants in the city of Porto in May this year. The group has denied responsibility for the attacks.