NEW YORK (VINnews) — Some Twitter users have decided to stage a 48-hour boycott of the platform over its handling of a stream of anti-Semitic comments that were posted on British rapper Wiley’s social media accounts. The users claim that Twitter is “too slow in removing offensive material.”
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“For too long, social media has been a safe space for those who peddle hatred and prejudice. Free speech is an essential cornerstone of any civilized society, but when it is used to incite hatred and violence against others, social-media companies have a responsibility to act and must do so without delay,” said the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom, Ephraim Mirvis, in a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. “Your inaction amounts to complicity.”
While the complaints against Twitter are clearly justified, as demonstrated when Wiley tried to move his offensive comments to Facebook, they were immediately removed, it is questionable whether this feeble attempt at a boycott is the right way to respond. Harry Truman is quoted as saying about politics that “if you can’t stand the heat, stay out the kitchen.” The same analogy could be said about Twitter and other hate-bearing media. The best boycott would be if people summarily suspended their accounts and left the platform.
If enough people could be found who would transfer their media activity to other emerging platforms like Parler, and would stress that they were doing so because of Twitter’s antisemitic slant, this might have some effect on Twitter’s monitoring of racial hate speech.
The concept of a 48-hour boycott defeats the purpose because it causes no real damage to Twitter and only proves that people are so attached to their Twitter accounts that they cannot bear to part with them for more than 48 hours.
Ultimately boycotts are a double-edged sword. If they are effective they can cause companies to change their attitudes but if they do not work they can lead to even more apathy and indifference on the part of those who care more about the bottom line than about how they earn their profits.
The writer can be reached at [email protected]
Yidden should NOT be on any social networks – BDS = Boycott De Social networks.
also SHORT their stocks
So when is VIN going to delete their Twitter account???
@chavlelokahrre
I agree in principle but you might not understand the meaning and ramifications of shorting stocks. When you short a stock you are, sort of, selling it today and hoping to return the stock you sold when it is cheaper. If you sell a stock and it goes up you will have to pay all that money extra to finish the transaction.
Rule number 1, Never sell short.
Rule number 2, Don’t short if you can’t take the risk.
If you walk into a cesspool, expect to step in some %%^^&it. Social media if filled with garbage, and more garbage. Of course it stinks in the worst way.
Thanks for this well-expressed opinion piece. I totally agree.
Any self-respecting human, let alone religious Jew, should abhor a site designed for empty-headed people to prattle meaninglessly for all the other empty-headed people to hear. “Kishmo ken hu”. Birds tweet and twitter. People write and speak — but think first.
Why limit to 48 hours? I advocate the boycott of all social media with no return to it.
I agree with many of the points others have made here.
1. A frum Jew does not belong on social media at all (and don’t tell me about your business: Do you believe your mezonos were set on Rosh Hashanah?)
2. A 48 hour boycott is quite meaningless.
But, a full-out boycott may not even register with Twitter; after all, what percentage of their millions of subscribers are frum Jews?
Furthermore, if everyone who cares about the proliferation of anti-Semitic comments were to leave Twitter, how would anyone know what is being shared there? It would just devolve into a platform for Jew haters to have another echo-chamber, exchanging vile comments. Do you think Twitter will take care of it themselves?
Oh , I forgot – that’s what the whole thing is about to begin with: Twitter does NOT care to remove anti-Semitic comments.
It should be interesting when the Muslims take over the Christian churches and impose Sharia law.
Reap what you sow
Suing Twitter under the pretext that they are complicit in an anti-semitic attack (Assuming you garner the information from the perpetrators account that would show anti-semitic comments made on twitter and how that perpetrator was rallied by other twitter users into committing his bad acts) will give you some change.
Unfortunately, today, Agudah, Mesorah and the OU represent klal yisroel and they only initiate law suits or do anything when it affects their bottom line. I hope some day they will look into how CAIR (A muslim civil rights organization) helps the muslim community and sticks out their neck in every way possible to help the muslims. Maybe then they will learn what it means to truly help klal yisroel and not just be a political organizations (They have no political points left and the very politicians who they supports are stabbing them in the back every day). I get the CAIR emails every day because I like to know what my enemies say about me. Klal yisroel has a lot to learn from our enemies. They do a better job at protecting their own.
We need a new organization that can come out front and center against these issues and put agudah and their ilk out of business. Hashem Yirachem.
twitter will flitter