Ye's song praising Hitler was pulled from most online platforms. Are they doing enough?

Mark Gollom · CBC News

· Posted: May 15, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago

When controversial rapper Ye's new opus praising Adolf Hitler was posted connected societal media platforms and euphony streaming services past week, most removed the antisemitic way wrong days.

But immoderate experts accidental these companies are not accelerated capable to respond oregon not doing capable to prevent the posting of hateful contented — which, successful the case of the opus by the hip-hop creator formerly known arsenic Kanye West, had already been viewed and listened to by millions.

Vlad Khaykin, with the Simon Wiesenthal Center, says tech companies are "falling down connected the job" of protecting the nationalist from hate, incitement, harassment and intimidation.

"In this circumstantial case, galore of these platforms did instrumentality enactment to region this from their platform. But the information is it should person never had a beingness connected those sites successful the archetypal place," said Khaykin, who is the quality rights organization's executive vice-president of societal interaction and partnerships for North America.

Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, agrees that these tech companies are not taking the astir basic, communal consciousness attack to systemically deal with contented by "hate actors."

WATCH | Praise for Hitler:

"There are truthful galore things that they could beryllium doing," helium said, whether hiring unit to specifically search for specified hateful contented oregon immoderate much "sophisticated technological solution."

"They could usage the aforesaid tools that they utilized to place copyrighted content." 

The companies are not transparent astir what if immoderate methods they use, helium says.

"I can't archer you whether oregon not determination are radical who are searching for the content."

Ye's opus and video for Heil Hitler, which glorifies the Nazi leader and includes a illustration from a Hitler speech, was removed from a fig of streaming platforms, but remains connected Elon Musk's social media level X.

It is conscionable the latest antisemitic messaging by Ye, whose X relationship has been deactivated and reactivated over the past fewer years due to the fact that of specified posts. This past February, it was deactivated following posts which included Ye declaring himself a Nazi and saying "I emotion Hitler."

But helium was soon backmost connected X, wherever his Heil Hitler (Hooligan Version) video is present nearing 10 cardinal views.

Jim Berk, CEO of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, called retired X for allowing the opus — saying successful a connection it had go Ye's "partner successful spreading vitriol against Jews" — and for allowing a "flagrant usurpation of its ain rules."

"We telephone connected X to region West from its level and for different platforms and distributors to garbage to big oregon monetize this song," helium said. "There indispensable beryllium a wide enactment erstwhile it comes to glorification of genocidal regimes, peculiarly to millions of young people."

Neither X nor Musk person responded publically to these complaints. But a fig of different tech platforms say they've pulled Ye's song.

A spokeswoman for SoundCloud, said successful an email to CBC News that the audio streaming platform had taken steps to region astir 400 versions of Heil Hitler.

YouTube says it removed the opus and volition proceed to instrumentality down re-uploads, portion Reddit says it has been removing the opus and "any solemnisation of its message."

Although Spotify did not respond, NBC reported that it also seemed to person removed the opus from its platform.

WATCH | How should we dainty Kanye West?

Certain tools to ID hateful content

However, Khaykin, from the Simon Wiesenthal Center, says we're successful an property of exertion erstwhile definite tools, similar AI, tin place problematic contented earlier it is added to a platform.

In its annual Digital Terrorism and Hate Report Card, the centre rates however good large integer platforms combat online hate, antisemitism and extremism. The criteria includes how accelerated a level removes specified contented erstwhile reported, and whether they person transparency reports with circumstantial information connected hate/terrorist contented removals.

But the centre gave debased grades to astir of those platforms successful its 2025 study — TikTok got a C, Spotify got a C-, and Cs besides went to both Google/YouTube and Facebook/Instagram.

"It's not really, I think, a substance of capability," Khaykin said.  "It's truly a substance of will. Does determination beryllium the volition to actually, earnestly bash thing astir it? And unfortunately, sometimes the volition to bash the close thing, it bumps up against the nett motive."

Ahmed, with the Center for Countering Digital Hate, also questions the companies' priorities.

"It's worthy remembering that these platforms, if you effort and upload a fewer seconds of a copyrighted portion of music, it volition beryllium down in a heartbeat," helium said. "But they someway look incapable of taking enactment against a portion of contented that glorifies successful the execution of millions of Jews."

"They look to beryllium placing little interest astir that than they bash astir idiosyncratic stealing 3 seconds of a Taylor Swift song."