Why this man showered Twitter with really hateful tweets
Twitter has been under fire lately for not curbing online hate and abuse. However, it has also not been efficiently addressing complaints regarding hate messages. But what can one do if Twitter ignores the reported tweets? Simple. Just launch a protest against Twitter by spray-painting offensive tweets outside its office. That's what this German-Israeli artist did. Know more about the hate-speech graffiti protest!
Not a single tweet was actually removed, says Shapira
Artist-satirist Shahak Shapira accused Twitter of failing to remove hate messages from the site. He stenciled 30 offensive tweets outside Twitter's German HQ in Hamburg, forcing it to know what it is like to be on the receiving end of hate. He reported 300 hateful tweets in six months, but Twitter responded to only nine, saying that they did not violate its rules.
Shapira on Twitter ignoring his tweets
Shapira's YouTube video: #HeyTwitter
In a YouTube video, Shapira explained he made stencils of the offensive tweets and traveled from Berlin to Hamburg to paint them outside Twitter's office. He said, "They will have to look at all the beautiful tweets their company loves to ignore so much."
Tweets against minorities including Muslims, Jews, and African-Americans
Shapira said that Twitter forces him to see the offensive tweets, so, it will have to see them too. He says they aren't only insults or jokes but serious threats that are homophobic, xenophobic, and pro-holocaust. Some of the stenciled tweets include: "Germany needs a final solution to Islam," "Retweet if you hate Muslims," "Let's gas the Jews," and "Hitler did nothing wrong."
Hate Speech in Germany is an offense
In Germany, hate speech is a sensitive subject because of the crimes committed by the Nazis during World War-II. Recently, the country introduced a new law to force online platforms to remove "racist or slanderous posts" within 24 hours or face a €50mn fine. While Twitter failed to remove the offensive content, Facebook removed 80% of the 150 comments reported by Shapira.
Shapira's controversial stand against Holocaust selfies
Shapira was in the news earlier this year for his controversial stand against clicking selfies at Holocaust memorial in Berlin. He had copied 12 such selfies from social media platforms and published them on a website named 'Yolocaust' (a combination of YOLO and Holocaust). He altered every selfie in such a manner that the background of the memorial was replaced with Nazi concentration camps.
Twitter Head of Public Policy (Europe) Karen White's statement
Indirectly rejecting Shapira's claims, White said: "We've introduced a host of new tools and features to improve Twitter for everyone. We've also improved the in-app reporting process for our users, and we continue to review and iterate on our policies and their enforcement."
