AppNexus bans Breitbart for ‘hate speech violation’
AppNexus has taken a stand against the controversial content on right-wing American website Breitbart by blacklisting it from its ad serving technology, citing a rule that websites must not include content that incite violence.
Breitbart black listed from Appnexus ad servers for inciting violence
According to Bloomberg, the adtech company carried out a ‘human audit’ on the website and found that it broke the rule repeatedly by using coded or covert language.
AppNexus said that the move was not in any way influenced by the editorial position of Breitbart or about recent calls for platforms to work against fake news but was about “hate speech violation.”
Breitbart has come under scrutiny through the recent American Presidential Elections for its dramatic take on right-wing politics. Following the elections, US President Donald Trump announced he would be hiring Breitbart News chief Stephen Bannon as chief strategist.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Breitbart News Network chief executive officer Larry Solov defended Breitbart and said that it "has always and continues to condemn racism and bigotry in any form."
It is not yet known if any other adtech businesses will follow suit in blacklisting such websites.
Recent dramatic political shifts in power and opinion across countries such as the US and the UK has left many questioning the roles of both the media and the platforms between, such as Facebook and Google, in influencing this. Around the US Election specifically, Facebook and Google have both announced that they will do more to try and curb the amount of fake news being spread across the internet.