LAPD Chief Blames Kanye West, Social Media For Hate Crime Surge In LA

Los Angeles saw an increase in hate crime reports this year, and the city's police chief believes social media may have contributed to it.

Hate crime reports across the City of Angels are up 13% over last year's record-setting levels, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing data presented at Tuesday's Police Commission meeting.

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) considers any criminal act motivated by gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion or disability a hate crime.

L.A.'s total number of hate crimes this year is set to surpass last year's 615, the newly presented statistics suggested.

Black L.A. residents remained the most targeted group this year with 279 reported attacks — a 36% jump from last year.

Hate crimes against LGBTQ people rose as well from 19 to 30, while reports involving Jewish people numbered 88 compared to last year's 72.

L.A.'s Asian American and Pacific Islander subgroups were the only ones to see a decrease in the number of attacks or other crimes as they were victimized in 20% fewer incidents compared to last year.

"These are troubling numbers for L.A. as well as for the region," LAPD Chief Michel Moore said Tuesday during his presentation to the Police Commission.

The police head blamed the rise, in part, on the growth of racist and bigoted speech online.

"As I talked to law enforcement professionals and educators on this issue, they believe one of the largest drivers is the expansion of social media and the lack of checks and balances because expression of hate and the fact that it has given individuals who would otherwise have no voice a tremendous platform," Moore said.

The police official used as an example rapper Kanye West, or Ye, who was recently named "Antisemite of the Year" by a watchdog group after he praised German dictator Adolf Hitler and made statements that were considered antisemitic.

"We see Kanye West and others that have gone to Twitter and other social media platforms and we've seen other platforms such as Parler that have been created solely ... for people with extremist views to have a platform. And that, I think, is dangerous," Moore said.

Hate speech on Twitter increased following the platform's takeover by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, according to the Brookings Institution.

"Musk's acquisition of Twitter and his potential plans to loosen moderation guidelines will continue to increase the use of hate speech and likely inhibit the ways that marginalized groups have organized and mobilized on the platform to resist harmful language and discrimination in their everyday lives," the Washington, D.C.-based think tank wrote.