YouTube shuts Portuguese extreme-right group’s channel after NYT queries

LISBON (Reuters) – Alphabet (NASDAQ:) Inc’s YouTube has shut down Portuguese ultranationalist group Grupo 1143’s video channel for violating its policy against hate speech after receiving queries about its activities from the New York Times, the company said on Tuesday.

The U.S. newspaper was writing an article on how hate speech on the internet encourages violence, such as this month’s riots in Britain, in real life and used Portugal as one example.

“Our policies strictly prohibit content that glorifies hateful supremacist propaganda, including hateful symbols, and we terminated a channel provided to us by the New York Times,” a YouTube spokesperson told Reuters, clarifying that the channel was that of Grupo 1143.

Grupo 1143, where the number represents the year Portugal was born as a sovereign nation, is led by neo-Nazi activist Mario Machado, 47, who has served time behind bars for assault, racial discrimination and other crimes.

“The global Left has teamed up to try to silence the biggest Portuguese nationalist organisation of the last 50 years,” Machado wrote on X, decrying what he said was “censorship” of the @Grupo1143 account by YouTube at the request of the NYT.

Grupo 1143’s X and Telegram accounts remained active.

The group organised anti-immigration and anti-Islam protests earlier this year, including one in the city of Porto in April, which was followed in May by two attacks on migrants, who were severely beaten or clubbed at their homes.

Authorities have said they are investigating the group, which denied responsibility, over the attacks.

YouTube says its hate speech policy bans content that promotes violence or hatred against individuals or groups based on attributes such as their immigration status, nationality, or religion.

In the first quarter of 2024, the company removed over 157,000 videos globally for violating its hate speech policies.