How the tech sector can legally justify breaking ties to extremists

Enlarge / CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA-A woman leaves a note on the ground as people gather at a memorial for Heather Heyer after her funeral service on Wednesday. Heyer was killed after a car rammed into a group of people during a planned Unite the Right rally last Saturday. The Daily Stormer's celebration of the death sparked a tech-sector backlash against extremism. (credit: The Washington Post, Getty Images)

In the wake of recent violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, a swath of the tech sector has undergone a renaissance of sorts and announced that it was reducing or examining its ties to extremist groups.

CloudFlare CEO Matthew Prince said what a lot of executives were thinking when deciding to cancel service to the neo-Nazi site, the Daily Stormer. The site celebrated the death of a Charlottesville protester and sparked a tech-sector backlash against hate speech.

"My rationale for making this decision was simple: the people behind the Daily Stormer are assholes and I'd had enough," Prince said. "Let me be clear: this was an arbitrary decision."

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