Mon May 12 11:30:00 UTC 2025: ## Kanye West’s “Heil Hitler” Song Sparks Online Furor, Exposes Platform Moderation Gaps

**NEW YORK, May 10, 2025** — A new song by Kanye West, titled “Heil Hitler,” praising Adolf Hitler and glorifying Nazism, has ignited a firestorm online, highlighting the inconsistent moderation policies of major tech platforms. While some platforms like Spotify and SoundCloud initially hosted the song before removing it, others, including X (formerly Twitter), have allowed it to amass millions of views.

West uploaded the song and accompanying video to X, where it garnered over 6.5 million views before this article was published. Despite X’s hate speech policies, the video remained available, shared by thousands of users and right-wing influencers. Similar reuploads appeared on Reddit, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok, despite these platforms also claiming to ban hate speech.

Reddit stated they are actively removing the song and related celebratory posts. YouTube confirmed the removal of the original and subsequent uploads. However, users have employed workarounds, including re-uploads, cover versions, and posting the song on podcast sections to circumvent removal.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) launched a petition urging Spotify to remove the song. While Spotify appears to have removed the original, “WW3,” another pro-Nazi song by West, remains on the platform. SoundCloud also faced similar issues, with numerous reuploads appearing after removing West’s initial links.

West promoted a new, smaller music streaming service, Scrybe, as a platform to host his music. Scrybe, which claims to prioritize artist earnings, lists West’s songs as trending.

The incident underscores the challenges faced by social media companies in moderating content, particularly from high-profile users, and the differing approaches taken by various platforms in enforcing their own hate speech policies. The inconsistent application of these policies has allowed the song to proliferate online, despite its explicit promotion of hate speech and Nazism.

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