Google removed a controversial app from its Chrome store last Thursday after it was found that the add-on violated the company's policy on incitement or the act that provokes unlawful behavior.
The add-on, called "Coincidence Detector," was created in connection to a notorious conspiracy theory alleging that Jews are secretly controlling various aspects of the world's biggets agencies, such as powerful governments and the media, reports Mic .
The extension detects names it believes to be Jewish. The names are then highlighted with the use of parenthesis. For example, when a user has accessed a webpage that contains a name that might be Jewish, the name appears in-between three layers of parentheses, as in (((Levy))), Ynetnews reported.
The app was basically designed to be a background app, so it automatically highlights the names once the user surfs through the internet browser. As a result, the add-on actually makes it easy for antisemitic people to identify or target certain individuals and attack them online through various social media pages.
According to the investigation on the Chrome extension, the plug-in may be connected to right-wing extremists in the U.S.. Interestingly enough, most of the online users of the app call themselves the "alt-right" people and they coincidentally support Trump, who has been very vocal about his beliefs.
One of the victims of this incitement was Jonathan Weisman, the deputy editor of Washington Post. He even wrote about being harassed online by a social media user named CyberTrump in late March.
Before it was shut down, the "Coincidence Detector" had 2,573 users, who mostly rated the add-on with five stars. The app received a lot of praise from its users, with one even pointing out in his review that he is sharing it with his kids. "I'm going to install this on my son's ipad and see whether he notices any more coincidences (connections between Jewish people)," the review of the user read, as quoted by the Independent.
Following the news about Google's decision to remove the extension, concerned citizens took to Twitter to protest against antisemitism. Joomla founder Brian Teeman was one of the people who called out for a mass protest. He wrote: "Join me and change your username to add parentheses to defeat the neo-Nazi hate."
