January 7, 2016
The B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC) has welcomed the announcement by Twitter that it is updating its hate speech policy and will be prohibiting violent threats and abusive behaviour by users. Megan Cristina, Twitter’s Trust and Safety Director, has stated that the company will not tolerate, “behaviour intended to harass, intimidate, or use fear to silence another user’s voice.” The new policy also warns users that they may “not promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease.” Any account whose “primary purpose is inciting harm towards others” will be suspended or shut down.
The ADC is the first Australian organisation to join the U.S based Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Working Group on cyber hate which includes YouTube, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Twitter. The mandate of the working group is to come up with recommendations for the most effective responses to manifestations of hate online and to endorse and support the guidelines included in the Best Practices document produced by the ADL.
Dr Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the ADC, issued the following statement:
“We welcome this necessary update. The ADC has a longstanding commitment to protecting civil rights and is strongly committed to fighting the growing problem of cyber hate and the vilification of all groups, including the LGBTI community. This announcement is a critical step in promoting an inclusive, safe and respectful environment for all users regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation. We know that where anti-Semitism thrives, racism, bigotry and homophobia also flourish. The internet has become a vital recruiting tool for racists to inexpensively and easily disseminate their ugly ideology of incitement, and Twitter should not serve as the platform of choice for bigots and other purveyors of prejudice. It is pleasing to see that Twitter is putting in place mechanisms to further curb and counter the spread of hate speech and for this they deserve credit. Social media companies have an obligation to protect users from harassing and intimidating posts that call for violence. We know that it will take more than just words for these new rules to be effective, and we are hopeful that Twitter will not only enforce its new policies, but continue to address the very troubling trend of digital hatred and terrorism, and keep developing new technologies and strategies to counteract this growing menace.”
For further information please contact Dr Dvir Abramovich on (03) 9272 5677
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