Twitter has reportedly agreed to remove French-language anti-Semitic messages from its website and to block access to an account linked to German neo-Nazis.

Stephane Lilti, an attorney for the Union of French Jewish Students said that Twitter has agreed to remove tweets that her group has flagged as anti-Semitic, according to the French newspaper Le Nouvel Observateur.

She said Twitter’s decision was “an important victory” for the fight against anti-Semitism. Earlier this week, her organization threatened to sue Twitter if it did not remove anti-Semitic messages.

Antisemitism Notebook

Your weekly guide through the news and the noise of how rising antisemitism and disputes over how to address it are shaping American Jewish life.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Twitter’s announcement came after #UnBonJuif – a hashtag meaning “a good Jew” – served Twitter users to enter what Le Mode termed “a competition of anti-Semitic jokes.” On Oct 10, it became France’s third most popular Twitter phrase. Some users tweeted that a good Jew was a dead Jew. One placed a picture of an emaciated woman taken at a Nazi concentration camp as an interpretation of what a good Jew.

On Thursday, Twitter also announced that it had blocked access in Germany to a neo-Nazi group’s account due to hate speech. The San Francisco-based micro-blogging service has halted access to the account of Besseres Hannover, German for “Better Hannover,” according to the Financial Times.

Members of the group have been charged with inciting racial hatred and creating a criminal organization, the BBC reported.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount