THE AUSTRALIAN
RACHEL BAXENDALE
A Jewish schoolgirl who complained to Facebook after being subjected to sexually violent anti-Semitic abuse was told the comments did not violate the company’s community standards. Melbourne schoolgirl Ariella, 16, had joined the Facebook group “16+ hangouts” to chat with other Australian teenagers last month when a male member realised she and other participants were Jewish and began abusing her.
The young man and more than a dozen other teenagers from Melbourne and Sydney schools wrote messages which included, “All aboard Jew express next stop Auschwitz gassing chambers, I hear there is a lovely shower aboard, Exterminate, Exterminate” and “I’ll make u proud I’ll f*** her in the gas chambers.”
Ariella, who did not want her surname published for fear of further abuse, initially tried to tell the young men to stop, but the abuse worsened.
When she decided to leave the group almost 24 hours after joining, she had compiled almost 50 A4 pages of screenshots of abusive messages. Ariella reported the abuse to Facebook, as well as to Jewish group the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission, and was disappointed with the pro forma reply she received from Facebook.
“Thanks for your report — you did the right thing by letting us know about this,” the Facebook response said. “We looked over the profile you reported, and though it doesn’t go against one of our specific community standards, we understand that the profile may still be offensive to you.”
Facebook’s community standards policy states that “Facebook removes hate speech, which includes content that directly attacks people based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex or gender.”
Ariella, who is descended from Holocaust survivors, said the abuse she and the other Jewish members of the group experienced was a clear breach.
A spokeswoman for Facebook said the company was investigating the matter.
ADC Chairman Dvir Abramovich said he was appalled by the level of racism evident in such young people, and by their use of Facebook as an “engine of hatred”.