While NRK and Minister of Digitalisation Karianne Tung sound the alarm about online hate in private comment sections such as Espen Teigen’s, death threats against Donald Trump have been allowed to stand unchallenged in editor-controlled media. Here are the questions they must now answer.

Yesterday, Document published my commentary on how Norwegian media have covered the conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination attempts against Trump.

The article also showed how hateful comments have appeared in the comment sections beneath Facebook posts from major Norwegian media outlets. This is unfortunately nothing new. But I also found death threats against Trump.

By a strange coincidence, NRK published the same day a major article sounding the alarm about hate speech online, based on a statement by Ken André Ottesen. It focused on comments about AUF leader Gaute Børstad Skjervø under Espen Teigen’s private Facebook page.

I found it astonishing that they made such a major issue out of the comment section of a private individual, while they have ignored hateful comments and death threats in their own media. Because of this, I decided to contact the parties involved.

Below is the e-mail I sent to NRK, Ken André Ottesen, VG’s editorial staff, Astrid Meland, Kristoffer Rønneberg, AUF leader Gaute Børstad Skjervø and Minister of Digitalisation Karianne Tung. I will follow up with any replies I receive.

Hello everyone,

I am the US correspondent for Document.no and am writing regarding NRK’s article “Sounding the alarm about online hate: – This is killing democracy” and Ken André Ottesen’s commentary “I am so tired!”.

I have some questions for you in the media and for Minister of Digitalisation Karianne Tung in connection with the topic of hate, threats and incitement to violence, especially death threats against President Trump in the comment sections of Norwegian media.

Coincidentally, yesterday I published a commentary in Document on a related topic: how Norwegian media (including NRK, VG and Aftenposten) have promoted narratives claiming that the assassination attempts against President Trump were staged, how this has led many Norwegians to believe these theories, and how death threats against Trump have been allowed to remain in the comment sections of several Norwegian media outlets.

NRK’s coverage concerns hateful comments directed at AUF leader Gaute Børstad Skjervø on my colleague Espen Teigen’s personal Facebook page. In light of this, I would like to ask you about your views on hateful comments and death threats against a democratically elected president in the United States that have remained in Norwegian comment sections.

In my commentary, I particularly highlighted the comment section in VG, since Astrid Meland had written a column claiming that the Butler assassination attempt was staged. VG closed the comment section on that article, but beneath an article about Trump’s 60 Minutes interview, the following comments appeared, among others.

I checked today, and they still had not been deleted. Here you can see one of them. I have taken screenshots of all of them, including from other media where similar comments have remained.

The following are my questions, which everyone is welcome to answer. One of the questions is also directed at Minister of Digitalisation Karianne Tung.

Ken André Ottesen writes in his column that “we cannot remain silent and watch the public discourse be hijacked by hate, threats and glorification of violence. We must speak out!” Espen Teigen has strongly distanced himself from the hateful comments beneath his private Facebook post and says it is impossible to moderate thousands of comments. My question is therefore:

Does the call to “speak out” also apply to hateful expressions and death threats in the comment sections of Norwegian media? And why has this not been an equally major issue previously, especially with regard to the extensive hatred and death threats directed at President Trump and his supporters in Norwegian comment sections over a long period of time?

You, as editor-controlled media, have far greater resources, staffing and tools than private individuals for monitoring and moderating comment sections.

Do you have a system for monitoring and removing hateful comments and death threats? And if you do, why have death threats and hatred against President Trump and others been allowed to remain unchanged in your comment sections over time, while you are now sounding a powerful alarm about hateful comments directed at politicians in Norway on a private Facebook page?

Questions for Minister of Digitalisation Karianne Tung:

You have read Ken André Ottesen’s column and stated that you are shocked by what has emerged. You place much of the blame on the tech giants, whom you believe have “abandoned the field” for too long, and say that they facilitate hate crime. You say that the government is working to introduce the Digital Services Act (DSA) in order to force tech giants to remove unlawful content more quickly.

I therefore ask: What is your view on hateful expressions and death threats against an American president that have remained in the comment sections of Norwegian editor-controlled media? Should the government also require these media outlets to remove unlawful content more quickly, or do sufficient mechanisms already exist for this today?

I believe that Norwegian media, through their coverage of Trump and America, also facilitate hate crime. What is your assessment of this?

Thank you in advance to all of you. I look forward to any replies and will use them in a follow-up article.

“But the guy is still alive” – NRK’s flippant reaction to Trump assassination attempts