Campaigners say Twitter ignored antisemitic tweets, including calls to ‘gas Jews’
Social media giant accused of not taking action over hateful posts and failing to hold promised meetings to discuss the issue, according to Campaign Against Antisemitism
The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) have accused Twitter of ignoring hundreds of abusive tweets it had flagged up including calls to “gas the Jews”.
The charity also accused Twitter of not moving forward with regular promised meetings after they had raised concerns about the implementation of their policies.
The charity said it had been selected by the tech giant as a “Twitter partner” to help tackle antisemitism on its platform after Twitter faced criticism for being slow to remove abusive tweets by British rapper Wiley.
Stephen Silverman, Director of Investigations and Enforcement at CAA, said: “We do not have confidence in Twitter’s capacity to address the rampant antisemitism on its platform.
“As Twitter’s partner in trying to combat anti-Jewish hate, we have not come to this conclusion lightly.’
He added: “If Twitter brought us on as a partner as some sort of fig leaf for its inaction, we are now laying bare the true picture of the company.
“Having cut off contact with us after we provided clear evidence that Twitter’s policies on hateful material are failing, it is clear that the company is neither capable nor interested in tackling antisemitism, and it must now fall to an independent regulator to assume that role instead.”
The CAA submitted 1,000 tweets incorporating antisemitic tropes.
On just one day, December 4 2020, the charity flagged a series of antisemitic tweets which they claim Twitter deemed acceptable.
This included tweets stating that: “Except Hitler was right”, while another user wrote: “Wow. Biden’s now over 81 million votes? It’s like the Holohoax: you can just keep making up numbers.’
Others said: “3 baby Jew rats. 1 will grow up and Rob empires. 1 will go up committing sex act. 1 will grow up and become a Rabbi and will commit Jewish Talmudic Hebaric Terrrorism”.
Around 60 percent of the tweets that CAA submitted were not found to have breached Twitter’s policies on hate.
The charity also claimed the material in the permitted and banned tweets was often the same.
Twitter declined to comment on the allegations made by the CAA but told The Times “all online abuse — including antisemitic abuse — has no place on Twitter [and] is prohibited by our rules”.
The company said “attempts to deny or diminish” violent events such as the Holocaust are prohibited under Twitter’s hateful conduct policy.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
