POLICING SOCIAL MEDIA
Row over yellow star image highlights concerns around antisemitic content online
TWITTER HAS relented over the use of an image of a Holocaust-era yellow star by an account which works to combat antisemitism following an intervention by the Community Security Trust (CST).
On Sunday the @GnasherJew account, which exposes allegations of Jew-hatred in the Labour Party, tweeted a screenshot of a message from Twitter announcing that the firm had blocked the account.
It would be unlocked, Twitter said, once the offending image was removed.
The social media platform said the photo of the yellow star with “Jude” — the German word for Jew — inscribed on it was in breach of its rules concerning hateful imagery.
The decision outraged some social media users, who pointed out that Twitter had targeted an account which says it aims to combat antisemitism, while in many cases failing to act against antisemitic content.
On Tuesday, CST said it had been in contact with Twitter’s policy team, and that assurances had been given that the @GnasherJew account would be able to continue to use the star as its profile image.
A spokesman for the @GnasherJew account — which is run anonymously — said it was grateful for CST’s intervention, but reiterated its point that antisemitic messages by other users continued to go unpunished.
The spokesman said: “The fact remains Twitter took down our account — Jews fighting antisemitism — without warning, holding us to ransom, to delete our Star of David.
“Then if you look at our timeline there is a man tweeting revolting antisemitism and they do nothing about it.”
Following a brief, unexplained second suspension on Tuesday evening, the account was operating again the following day with a different Star of David image as its profile picture.