THE TWITTER STANDARDS OF HATE
2 September 2024
Elon Musk’s publicized visit to Auschwitz earlier this year did next to nothing to improve the implementation of hate speech standards on Twitter/X, according to a new REPORT by the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association.
The report describes hundreds of shocking samples of extreme hate speech reported by ‘NEVER AGAIN’ to X in the last 12 months. X has refused to remove them or ignored reports.
The report includes a lengthy list of written posts, images and videos inciting hatred against minorities such as Jews, Africans, Muslims, Ukrainian refugees, and LGBT people. The contents include dehumanization, glorification of the Holocaust, calls to violence – for example shooting refugee children – as well as calls to mass murder of whole groups.
The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association, Poland’s leading anti-racist organization, documented and informed X of 343 examples of extreme hate speech addressed to a Polish audience on the platform since August 2023. The removal rate has been a mere 10 percent, which means that 90 percent of the reported cases have remained on the platform.
The contents were monitored daily and reported through a regular user interface, with a removal rate of 8 percent. Then 295 out of the pending cases were reported again on behalf of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association, which has had a Trusted Flagger status with the main social media platforms since 2020, with a removal rate of 11 percent.
- ‘The inadequate reaction of the platform to reported cases of hatred is striking’ – said Dr Anna Tatar who is a co-author of the report. – ‘Apparently, there is little or no sense of a global responsibility on the level of the company. We hope our report will contribute to a big change, which is necessary’.
The documentation was prepared by ‘NEVER AGAIN’ in the frames of the SafeNet (Monitoring and Reporting for Safer Online Environments) project, an initiative of 21 organisations from different European countries, members of the International Network Against Cyber Hate (INACH), supported by the European Commission.
The report comes in the wake of a statement by the Commission which in July 2024 informed X of its preliminary view that it is in breach of the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) in areas linked to dark patterns, advertising transparency and data access for researchers. The DSA is widely expected to curb the spread of hate speech in the EU.
Twitter’s owner Elon Musk visited the site of the former Nazi camp at Auschwitz before the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 27 January 2024. During his visit to Poland, he condemned antisemitism and said: - ‘It was incredibly moving and deeply sad and tragic that humans could do this to other humans.’
The ‘X’s policy on hateful conduct’, available on the company’s website, states among other things: ‘We are committed to combating abuse motivated by hatred, prejudice or intolerance, particularly abuse that seeks to silence the voices of those who have been historically marginalized. For this reason, we prohibit behavior that targets individuals or groups with abuse based on their perceived membership in a protected category.’
Examples of tweets reported by ‘NEVER AGAIN’ and not removed by X:
‘I will repeat my post from a few months ago, gas the Jews!’
(X did not react to reports)
‘The only answer I agree with is [...] shooting everything that enters the zone as a rule. If a couple of ciapatych [darkies - an abusive term for brown-skinned people] children die because of it, all the better’
(X responded: ‘the content does not breach our standards’)
‘During Le Pen’s [rule] I hope they’ll start shooting n…rs with live ammo, and if not, get them out to Africa to their shit houses’
(X did not react to reports)
‘Fuck gender. Fuck the perverted whores. Fuck transvestites. Load these whores into the furnace!!!!!!’
(X did not react to reports)
‘Putin’s security services would not allow such an oversight. Why? Because there [i.e. in Russia] are no lesbians, faggots and invalids. And that’s how it should be’
(a tweet by Sebastian Ross, a leader of the UK branch of the Polish far-right group Confederation in reaction to an attempted assassination of Donald Trump, X responded: ‘the content does not breach our standards’)
‘Ukry [an abusive term for Ukrainians]!!! Get out to Ukraine!!! That's where you belong!!! Stay away from Poland!!!’
(X responded: ‘the content does not breach our standards’)
‘N…rs are subhumans’
(X responded: ‘the content does not breach our standards’)
‘Fuck the jews and the n…rs, eradicate that disease!’
(accompanied by an image of a Nazi death camp, X did not react to report).
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The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent anti-racist organization founded in Warsaw in 1996. It has campaigned against antisemitism and xenophobia both in Poland and internationally. It has actively participated in civil society networks, including the Global Alliance Against Digital Hate and Extremism (GAADHE), the International Network Against Cyber Hate (INACH) and the Alliance Against Genocide. It takes part in international projects to counter hate speech, Get The Trolls Out and SafeNet.
‘The Twitter Standards of Hate’ (full version of the report - PDF).
For more information:
https://help.x.com/en/rules-and-policies/hateful-conduct-policy
www.neveragainassociation.org
www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity
www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ
www.linkedin.com/company/never-again-association