A/HRC/26/49 Christopher Wolf recently described the situation of how racism, xenophobia and hate manifest on the Internet: Today there are powerful new tools for spreading lies, fomenting hatred, and encouraging violence. […] The openness and wide availability of the internet that we celebrate has sadly allowed it to become a powerful and virulent platform not just for anti-Semitism but for many forms of hatred that are directly linked to growing online incivility, to the marginalization and targeting of minorities, to the spread of falsehoods that threaten to mislead a generation of young people, to political polarization, and to real-world violence. The authors accurately perceive the dangers and challenges posed by the Internet and social media: Instead of being under the central control of a political party or group, the power of the Internet lies in its viral nature. Everyone can be a publisher, even the most vicious anti-Semite, racist, bigot, homophobe, sexist, or purveyor of hatred. The ease and rapidity with which websites, social media pages, video and audio downloads, and instant messages can be created and disseminated on-line make Internet propaganda almost impossible to track, control, and combat. Links, viral e-mails, and “re-tweets” enable lies to self-propagate with appalling speed.2 18. The Special Rapporteur observes that there is an increasing use of electronic communication technologies, such as electronic mail and the Internet, to disseminate racist and xenophobic information and to incite racial hatred and violence. Right-wing extremist groups and racist organizations use the Internet in their transborder communications and exchange of racist materials. As technology evolves, extremist hate sites have similarly grown in both number and technological sophistication. 19. The Special Rapporteur notes with serious concern the use of the Internet and social media by extremist groups and individuals to disseminate racist ideas and to propagate racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. This concern has also been echoed by many States, non-governmental organizations and Internet providers and social media platforms. One major consequence of the dissemination of such information is that the more people see hateful information, the more they tend to accept it and believe that the ideas are normal and mainstream. 20. Another major concern is that extremist groups and movements, particularly farright movements, use the Internet and social media platforms not only as a means to disseminate hate speech and to incite racial violence and abuse against specific groups of individuals, but also as a recruitment platform for potential new members. The potential of the Internet is used to expand their networks of individuals, movements and groups, as it allows the rapid and more far-reaching dissemination of information about their aims and facilitates the sending of invitations to events and meetings. The web is also used by extremist movements and groups to distribute newsletters, video clips and other materials. It is worrying that calls for violence against individuals and groups advocating anti-racism activities are placed on websites and social media to intimidate, exert pressure or stop social or political actions or activities directed against extremist groups. 3 21. The situation of marginalized persons and groups who are discriminated against on the Internet and social media largely reflects the challenges they face in the real world. While Internet technology has helped to connect and empower minority groups and 2 3 6 Abraham H. Foxman and Christopher Wolf, Viral Hate: Containing its Spread on the Internet (New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). See A/HRC/26/50.