 "Twitter hands over data of anti-Semitic users to French authorities"){kind=logo}
Micro-blogging website Twitter has surrendered data that could be used to identify users behind anti-Semitic tweets to French authorities. The handing over came after months of legal battle waged by Union of Jewish Students, France (UEJF) and four other anti-racism groups.
Twitter said in a statement acquired by AFP that it had handed over information to judicial authorities “enabling the identification of some authors” who tweeted anti-Semitic and racist tweets, signalling an end to the dispute with the groups. The company said that the two sides had “agreed to continue to work actively together in order to fight racism and anti-Semitism”. Twitter also said that it will be taking steps to improve the accessibility of the reporting procedure of “illegal tweets”.
Data surrendered
The outrage against these tweets started back in October last year when tweets anti-Semitic in nature were posted on Twitter. They were posted under hashtags like #UnBonJuif (a good Jew) and #UnJuifMort (a dead Jew).They were promptly pulled off when Twitter was alerted, but the damage was done.
The UEJF, along with other anti-racism groups, appealed to the court to get Twitter to hand over personal details of the users who had been posting these tweets in order to have them prosecuted. The student union wanted these identified users to stand trial for racist and discriminatory hate speech.
Twitter was asked by the judge in January to hand over the data saying that it violated French laws against hate speech and Holocaust denial. UEJF and anti-racism groups launched a civil lawsuit against Twitter and its CEO Dick Costolo claiming EUR 38.5 million in damages in March for not handing over the details in January. Twitter has finally bent and has given the data to French authorities nearly eight months after it was ordered to do so.
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