Twitter Removes Anti-Semitic Tweets In France

Twitter has been censoring content again, after anti-semitic tweets emanating from France broke its terms of service.

The social media giant received complaints from the Union of Jewish Students of France (UEJF) after offensive messages with the #unbonjuif (#agoodjew) hashtag started circulating around the platform. It subsequently decided to take action.

UEJF now wants Twitter to hand over the names of those sending out offensive tweets, having already threatened to go to court to get an order.

The student organisation said those who sent the tweets “must take responsibility”, claiming that such messages could cause real-world violence, even murder.

Twitter censorship

Twitter said it would only take action when its policies are breached. “Twitter does not mediate content. If we are alerted to content that may be in violation of our terms of service, we will investigate each report and respond according to the policies and procedures outlined in our support pages,” a spokesperson said.

The news came just several days after Twitter blocked access to a neo-Nazi account in Germany, having received a request from the Hanover police. It marked the first time Twitter had used its ability to block content on a country-by-country basis.

Here in the UK, BNP leader Nick Griffin has been heavily criticised for tweets about homosexuality. He published the address of couple Michael Black and John Morgan, who had just won a case against the owner of a bed and breakfast who refused to let them stay because of religious beliefs.

Police are now looking into the matter.

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