Well, conservatives have more fodder against Twitter. The social media giant will not suspend, ban, or do much discipline-wise against Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who compared Jewish people to insects (via Newsbusters):
In a video tweeted by Farrakhan, the minister compared Jewish people to “termites.” Gripping the pulpit, he called also called them “stupid.” This video was later tweeted by the official Nation of Islam account which Farrakhan leads. Ordinarily, this kind of behavior would get someone suspended or banned from Twitter, because of its hate speech policies. But not so with Farrakhan.
BuzzFeed journalist Joe Bernstein tweeted a response from Twitter over Farrakhan: “Just in from a Twitter spokesperson: Louis Farrakhan’s tweet comparing Jews to termites is not in violation of the company’s policies. The policy on dehumanizing language has not yet been implemented.”
Anti-Semitic language shouldn’t just be against dehumanizing language, though. Twitter stated in its “Hateful Conduct Policy” that “you may not promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis on race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease. We also do not allow accounts whose primary purpose is inciting harm towards others on the basis of these categories.”
I'm not an anti-Semite. I’m anti-Termite. pic.twitter.com/L5dPQcnVg4
— MINISTER FARRAKHAN (@LouisFarrakhan) October 16, 2018
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“I'm not an anti-Semite. I'm anti-Termite,” he tweeted. Conservatives have been suspended or banished for saying much, MUCH less. GayPatriot, a longtime Twitter user who made liberals cry, has been banned from the platform. Why? We don’t know…really. He gave some guesses, but it’s all weak sauce compared to straight up anti-Semitism.
My exclusive interview tonight with Gay Patriot on his banishment from Twitter #FreeGayPatriot pic.twitter.com/FDEoWNMgdu
— Cameron Gray (@Cameron_Gray) October 15, 2018
This isn’t the first time Farrakhan has made anti-Semitic remarks, but if this is the standard for being at the very least suspended from Twitter and it doesn’t happen. What the hell is going on over there? Oh, well, the hateful language policy isn’t in effect…yet:
Twitter indicated Wednesday afternoon that its policy barring "dehumanizing" language, which was announced in late September, has not yet gone into effect.
A blog post last month about the new rules stated that after a survey on the changes closes on Oct. 9, the company will begin its "regular process" that involves various teams and working groups.
"We will share some of what we learn when we update the Twitter Rules later this year," the company added.
[…]
Twitter has penalized Farrakhan over his remarks in the past. Earlier this year, he lost his verified status for tweeting about "the Satanic Jew and the Synagogue of Satan."
Even Chelsea Clinton said this was awful…and there isn’t a whole lot that conservatives can find common ground with her. Then again, there’s no way this will receive as much media attention or condemnation than if a conservative had said such disgusting things.
Comparing Jews to termites is anti-Semitic, wrong and dangerous. The responsive laughter makes my skin crawl. For everyone who rightly condemned President Trump’s rhetoric when he spoke about immigrants “infesting our country,” this rhetoric should be equally unacceptable to you: https://t.co/EvFp4ULugm
— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) October 17, 2018
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