Google has removed an extension from its Chrome store citing it breached rules against promoting hate speech and inciting violence.
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Google has pulled down an extension for its Chrome browser, which enabled people with racist attitude to track and classify Jewish people. When it found a match, it encased the name in three sets of parenthesis, an identification format that originated on a right-wing blog called The Right Stuff, according to Mic. Users could add new names to the app’s database by posting them on the app’s support tab.
After the initial Mic report, influential Jewish users on Twitter began putting parentheses around their own names as a way of reclaiming the echo, according to Motherboard.
The extension – which Google has now banned from the Chrome store – was developed by the members of a group under the name ‘altrightmedia.’ It had reportedly been downloaded over 2,400 times before it was taken offline on Thursday.
Coincidence Detector is the latest trapping of anti-Semitism that has come to light during the presidential campaign of 2016.
His name would appear as (((Michael Bloomberg))) on any webpage where his name appeared while the extension was installed.
Similarly, it is possible that the plug-in meant to work in favor of white supremacists, further building up on the notion where Jews are stereotyped as “anti-white”.
Image copyright Twitter Image caption Jonathan Weisman is now using the parentheses himself.
Some Jewish journalists are regularly the target of anti-Semitic on Twitter, though the Anti-Defamation League said that recently the behavior has targeted writers sharing negative information about Donald Trump.
Weisman asked one of his harassers, @CyberTrump, to explain the symbol.
In addition the list also included the anti-extremism organization Southern Poverty Law Center.
It compiled the list of names by asking people for suggestions, although it’s unclear how many names were in the database.
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Google removed the app late Thursday, which had almost 2,500 users and a five-star rating before it was shut down, for violating the company’s hate speech policy. “Belling the cat for my fellow goyim”.
