Twitter determines Jewish Star of David is ‘hateful image’
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – The Twitter social media platform has again determined that the Jewish Star of David constitutes “hateful imagery” and has locked the accounts of several users who posted the star on their profile, the Jerusalem Post reported Tuesday. Twitter made the exact same determination in February 2018, but overturned its decision following outrage expressed by users.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) group said a number of Twitter users had their accounts locked because they have some form of the star on their profile, the Jerusalem Post reports. The images were in various styles ranging from the blue star of the Israeli flag to the yellow star that Jews were made to wear by the Nazis. Explaining its action, Twitter reportedly told the users: “We have determined that this account violated the Twitter Rules. Specifically for: Violating our rules against posting hateful imagery. You may not use hateful images or symbols in your profile image or profile header. As a result, we have locked your account.”
Pointing out that social media companies often claim they do not have the resources to police hateful, anti-Semitic and racist content on their platforms, CAA Director of Investigations and Enforcement Stephen Silverman said in a statement: “Twitter has put the lie to that claim by demonstrating that it does have the resources, but chooses to target the benign symbol of a victimized minority instead of the countless racists who use its platform with impunity.”
“Twitter must immediately restore these accounts, apologize to the owners, and pledge finally to take robust action against the anti-Semites whom it has enabled for so long,” Silverman said.
Twitter has been criticized in the past for apparently anti-Semitic conduct, including when it determined the Star of David was a hate symbol two years ago. That determination was overturned, but the action has now been repeated. Twitter was also criticized as recently as last week when it refused to remove a hateful #JewishPrivilege hashtag that was trending and generating anti-Semitic commentary.