Twitter Didn’t Delete Racist Posts. So A Satirist Painted Them On Its Building.
Image by YouTube
BERLIN (JTA) — The Berlin-based creator of the viral Yolocaust website spray-painted the German headquarters of Twitter with anti-Semitic posts that the social network failed to delete when he reported them.
Shahak Shapira, a 28-year-old Israeli-German, released his own tweet on Monday claiming responsibility after first working anonymously.
“I reported about 300 hate tweets. Twitter didn’t delete ’em, so I sprayed them in front of their office,” he wrote.
His tweet has been retweeted more than 7 million times.
Shapira used water soluble spray-paint on the Hamburg building.
The tweets included “Let’s get together and gas Jews again … the old days were nice.” And “Here comes another horde of migrants. Did they miss the stop at Auschwitz?”
“If Twitter is going to force me to see these things, then they also have to face it,” he said. According to Bento, Twitter has not responded to the artistic intervention.
In June, Germany’s parliament passed a law — applauded by local Jewish leaders — designed to curb hate speech and libel on social networks. It requires internet platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to remove material with obviously illegal content and fake defamatory “news” within 24 hours of its having been reported. Failure to do so can lead to heavy fines, reportedly of up to 50 million euros, or about $56 million.
Hello, fellow Forward reader! I’m Joel Brown, a Forward reader and supporter for more than 15 years, and currently the chair of the board of directors.
I’m an avid Forward reader because it ticks so many of my essential boxes: excellent journalism, Jewish focus and diverse viewpoints. In today’s political climate, what I most appreciate is the Forward’s independence — made possible by the generosity of its membership.
The Forward is committed to bringing you unbiased, nuanced Jewish news. From my position as board chair, I see an exciting future as we expand our position as the definitive independent voice of contemporary American Judaism.
That’s why I’m paying it Forward, by matching $36,000 of reader gifts. It’s an investment in the Forward’s newsroom, to continue telling the American Jewish story with truth and independence.
— Joel Brown, Forward board chair
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
