United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk demanded that social media platforms "do far more to stop the circulation of hate speech and disinformation".
"Those that do not take action need to be held to account," he said, insisting "there is no excuse for purveying the voice of hatred".
Speaking at an event on anti-Semitism on the sidelines of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Turk deplored in particular "the current trolling campaign of one online platform against the anti-Defamation League, after it called for action to limit its volume of hate speech".
Turk did not mention names, but appeared to be referring to a barrage of abuse recently launched by X owner Elon Musk's against the US-based Jewish organisation.
Musk has accused the ADL of making unfounded accusations of anti-Semitism that have scared away advertisers and hurt his company's revenue, and has threatened to sue for billions of dollars.
Musk, who bought Twitter last year and rebranded it as X, has come under fire for liking posts on the platform with the hashtag "BanTheADL".
The hateful campaign started after the ADL participated in a civil rights march marking the 60th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech, according to the group.
The ADL has for years accused the social media site of amplifying anti-Semitic hate speech, and has charged that problematic and racist speech has risen sharply on X after Musk completed his $44 billion takeover in October.
The organisation recently met with X top executives to discuss the problem.
Turk decried Wednesday that "new technologies and online media mean that racist caricatures and conspiracy theories can circulate now at a much greater speed and without regard to distance, making them a grave threat to our social fabric.
"Social media platforms have played a terrible role in metastasising of hatred from limited backwaters into multi-current mainstream trends," he said.
Turk insisted that social media companies needed to "increase transparency about their hate speech policy".
"And they must much more effectively put these policies into practice, including by ensuring that people can report hate speech easily and that those reports will swiftly lead to appropriate action," he said.
The UN rights chief also urged all digital platforms "to vastly improve their efforts to combat hate speech in languages other than English, and pivot even greater attention to areas where early warning ... shows that there is a rise in hate".
Taiwan slams Musk over comments; as 68 Chinese warplanes, 10 vessels detected
Taipei (AFP) Sept 14, 2023 - Taiwan lashed out at the US tech billionaire Elon Musk on Thursday for "blindly flattering" Beijing after he called the self-ruled island "an integral part" of China.
Beijing claims Taiwan as its own territory awaiting "reunification" and has intensified pressure since independence-leaning Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016.
Musk drew Taipei's ire for comparing Taiwan to the US state of Hawaii in a podcast and calling the island "an integral part" of China.
Musk "blindly flatters China and if (his) comments are made out of commercial interests, such comments are not worthy of being taken seriously and the speaker does not deserve respect," Foreign Ministry spokesman Jeff Liu told reporters.
"We don't know if Musk's free will is for sale but Taiwan is not for sale, that's for sure," he said.
Taiwan's foreign minister Joseph Wu earlier criticised Musk in a post on X, the platform formerly branded Twitter which the tycoon owns, suggesting he ask China's ruling Communist Party to open it to people in China.
"Hope @elonmusk can also ask the #CCP to open @X to its people," Wu said. "Perhaps he thinks banning it is a good policy, like turning off @Starlink to thwart #Ukraine's counterstrike against #Russia".
Musk said last week he had blocked a Ukraine attack on Russian warships in the Black Sea last year by turning off internet access to Starlink, his satellite-based communications system.
Musk has sparked anger in Taiwan before, most recently in May for saying China will inevitably integrate Taiwan.
"The official policy of China is that Taiwan should be integrated... One does not need to read between the lines," he told CNBC in an interview.
"There is a certain inevitability to the situation," he said.
The outspoken Musk, who has extensive business interests in China, frequently wades into social and geopolitical issues in comments he posts on his social media platform.
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