NEW YORK, March 22 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday warned that social media is being exploited as a platform for bigotry.

"Hate speech is spreading like wildfire. Social media is being exploited as a platform for bigotry, and public discourse is being coarsened," the UN chief said at an event held at the Islamic Cultural Center of New York.

"Many political movements are either openly admitting their neo-Nazi affiliation, or lip syncing their words, and cutting and pasting the symbols and images," the UN chief said, adding "that cancer is spreading. It is our duty to find the cure."

The secretary-general noted that the media has an important role to play.

He cited a recent study by researchers at Georgia State University and the University of Alabama as finding that over roughly the last decade, attacks in the United States by those claiming to be Muslim received 357 percent more coverage than attacks carried out by others.

"We need, at all costs, to avoid this kind of discrimination," he said.

"We need to act against extremism in all its forms -- whether it targets mosques, synagogues, churches or anywhere else," the secretary-general said, a week after the terrorist attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand killed 50 people.

"Here today, in the peace of this holy space, I am making a global call to reaffirm the sanctity of all places of worship and the safety of all worshippers who visit revered sites in a spirit of compassion and tolerance," he added.

"Around the world, we have seen ever-rising anti-Muslim hatred, anti-Semitism, hate speech and bigotry," he said. "I have repeatedly warned about those dangers." Enditem

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