BBC Homepage
  • Skip to content
  • Accessibility Help
  • Your account
  • Notifications
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • More menu
More menu
Search BBC
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
Close menu
BBC News
Menu
  • Home
  • InDepth
  • Israel-Gaza war
  • War in Ukraine
  • Climate
  • UK
  • World
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Culture
More
  • Tech
  • Science
  • Health
  • Family & Education
  • In Pictures
  • Newsbeat
  • BBC Verify
  • Disability
  • BBC Trending

YouTube's neo-Nazi music problem

  • Published
    20 March 2018
Share page
About sharing
Media caption,

How neo-Nazis use YouTube to spread musical propaganda

ByBBC Trending
Going in-depth on social media

A BBC Trending investigation has found inconsistencies in how YouTube deals with neo-Nazi music tracks which advocate murder and violence. The company admits that it has "more to do" when it comes to hate music videos.

The songs glorify violence and frequently talk about the mass killing of Muslims, Jews and other groups in celebratory detail. And they can be found on the world's most popular video-sharing platform, YouTube.

On the site, neo-Nazi videos rack up hundreds of thousands or even millions of views, and attract hundreds of comments.

Among the tracks found by the BBC was one titled Fire up the Ovens by a band called the Bully Boys. It celebrates the Holocaust, references anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and includes the lyric "we love to kill." Other songs by other bands call for burning Turkish people and call Muslims "sub-humans" and include other, much more derogatory slurs.

In some countries, such material is illegal. And the Google-owned company's guidelines prohibit "content that promotes violence against or has the primary purpose of inciting hatred against individuals or groups based on certain attributes" including race, ethnic origin, religion and a host of other categories.

Follow BBC Trending on Facebook, external

YouTubeImage source, YouTube
Image caption,

Nazi imagery is common on hate-music videos which can be found on YouTube

Investigation

BBC Trending identified 99 videos and one channel which were potentially in violation of local laws and/or YouTube's own rules. Using the site's reporting system, we flagged all of these links and included the time codes of specific lyrics.

After our initial reports, seven of the videos were taken down, while another 47 were made unavailable in the UK and some other countries (for instance, Germany has laws against Nazi symbols and propaganda). In some cases there were clear discrepancies in the way material was handled.

Listen to Trending on the BBC World Service

For instance, our list included multiple copies of some tracks, as the same song is often uploaded by multiple YouTube users. We reported three copies of a song called We Fly the Swastika. Two were made unavailable in the UK, and on one, no action was taken.

In other instances, some versions of a song were taken down from YouTube, while other versions remained live.

After we identified ourselves as journalists and provided YouTube with the full list, all 100 links were eventually deleted from the site for violating the company's rules or made unavailable in the UK and some other countries.

line

You might also be interested in

  • YouTube rebuked over Neo-Nazi clip failure

  • Will Germany's new law kill free speech online?

  • Two neo-Nazi groups added to banned list

line

YouTube response

YouTube declined our interview request and instead sent a statement: "We do not allow videos that incite hatred on YouTube and work hard to remove infringing content quickly, through flagging and through advances in technology.

"We know there's more to do here and we're committed to getting better. We're making progress in our fight to prevent the abuse of our services, including hiring more people and investing in machine learning technology... we also support creators who promote tolerance on their YouTube channels."

YouTube says their reporting systems are working correctly. But the company admitted that it made mistakes in handling some of the reports.

YouTubeImage source, YouTube

Neo-Nazi music

Many of the white supremacist songs posted on YouTube are from punk and hardcore bands active in the 80s and 90s.

The scale of neo-Nazi music on various online platforms was highlighted by the website Digital Music News shortly after the "Unite the Right" march in Charlottesville, Virginia in September 2017. After bloody clashes and the death of a counter-protester, attention focused on extremist content on hosting services and social networks.

Two days after the events in Charlottesville, Digital Music News published a story with the headline "I Just Found 37 White Supremacist Hate Bands on Spotify, external".

"We found a surprisingly high amount of neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups [online]," says the site's founder and publisher, Paul Resnikoff. "Some was easy to identify, it was really easy to say that was a white power group."

Stop Fascism protest sign outside the White HouseImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Events in Charlottesville spurred a national conversation in the US about far-right groups, free speech and censorship

Soon after that article was published, Spotify began taking down neo-Nazi music, external. Other online music platforms followed suit, external.

But YouTube took little action, says Resnikoff, and other experts urged the company to do more to restrict hate music.

"People have expectations of our social media platforms, that are selling us advertising all day long, to create more a protective environments for their users," says Oren Segal, director of Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism. "And this is true for parents whose kids are spending many hours online and they don't want them to either intentionally or accidentally have access to this form of hate.

"People holding these companies accountable is an important element of the equation if these companies are ever going to change," Segal says.

Reporting by Natalia Zuo

Do you have a story? Contact us, external.

More from Trending: Mum's bullying campaign leads to 'honesty' app ban

Katrina CollinsImage source, Katrina Collins

A wildly popular anonymous messaging app has been removed from the Apple and Google stores after accusations that it has been facilitating bullying. READ NOW

You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, external, and find us on Facebook, external. All our stories are at bbc.com/trending.

Top stories

  • Live. 

    Israeli cabinet due to discuss Gaza plan that would bring ceasefire and hostage release

    • 12524 viewing13k viewing
  • Jeremy Bowen: There's now a realistic chance of ending the war - but it's not over yet

    • Published
      1 hour ago
  • What we know about the Gaza ceasefire deal

    • Published
      2 hours ago

More to explore

  • Stars, secrets and slip-ups: Celebrity Traitors is off to a cracking start

    Alan Carr on the Celebrity Traitors, sitting in an armchair and smiling
  • Young children taking knives to school, BBC finds

    Graphic: Knives in foreground, in background children sitting at school desks.
  • 'It was like a movie' - How immigration raid on Chicago apartments unfolded

    Image of law enforcement officer pointing a gun, with sparks in the background
  • Inside the room where Nobel Peace Prize is decided – but will Trump get his wish?

    Members of the Nobel Peace Prize committee and secretary sit around a table in the room where they make their decision
  • 'I missed a £100 council tax bill while in hospital – the debt ballooned to £6k'

    A young man, with long dark brown hair and a brown beard and moustache , sits next to a hospital bed. He has a bandage on his neck.
  • My eating disorder made me good at lying, says Victoria Beckham

    Victoria Beckham waves while wearing a white suit with other people in the background as she attends the Victoria Beckham premiere in London on Wednesday.
  • The battle for Scotland's flag: Why the right has adopted the saltire

    A man raises his fist while standing in front of a group of people waving flags, including saltires and a union flag.
  • Would leaving the ECHR really 'stop the boats'?

    Montage image showing Nigel Farage, Kemi Badenoch and Sir Keir Starmer
  • The Upbeat newsletter: Start your week on a high with uplifting stories delivered to your inbox

    A graphic of a wave in the colours of yellow, amber and orange against a pink sky
loading elsewhere stories

Most read

  1. 1

    Man who appealed Pelicot rape conviction handed longer jail term

  2. 2

    Former Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood charged with four counts of rape

  3. 3

    Tesla investigated over self-driving cars on wrong side of road

  4. 4

    Jeremy Bowen: There's now a realistic chance of ending the war - but it's not over yet

  5. 5

    Alleged McCann stalker 'sent creepy messages'

  6. 6

    'I missed a £100 council tax bill while in hospital – the debt ballooned to £6k'

  7. 7

    My eating disorder made me good at lying, says Victoria Beckham

  8. 8

    Met officers face fast-track hearings after Panorama investigation

  9. 9

    Water bills to rise further for millions after appeal

  10. 10

    Five ways abolishing stamp duty could change the housing market

BBC News Services

  • On your mobile
  • On smart speakers
  • Get news alerts
  • Contact BBC News

The Celebrity Traitors

  • An all-star cast enters the ultimate game of deceit

    • Attribution
      iPlayer

    Added to Watchlist
    The Celebrity Traitors has been added to your iPlayer Watchlist.
    The Celebrity Traitors
  • All the betrayal and drama unpacked

    • Attribution
      iPlayer

    Added to Watchlist
    The Celebrity Traitors: Uncloaked has been added to your iPlayer Watchlist.
    The Celebrity Traitors: Uncloaked
  • Meet the Celebrity Traitors as the mind games begin

    • Attribution
      iPlayer

    Added to Watchlist
    The Celebrity Traitors has been added to your iPlayer Watchlist.
    The Celebrity Traitors
  • A treacherously good version of a pop classic

    • Attribution
      iPlayer

    Added to Watchlist
    BBC Proms has been added to your iPlayer Watchlist.
    BBC Proms 2025: Britney Spears
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • Terms of Use
  • About the BBC
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
  • Accessibility Help
  • Parental Guidance
  • Contact the BBC
  • Make an editorial complaint
  • BBC emails for you

Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.