“Racists should feel comfortable”: Twitter successor X tolerates Holocaust denial

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The Green National Councilor Meret Schneider (31) wanted to be funny. But X (formerly Twitter) was not to be trifled with. The platform unceremoniously pulled the plug on Schneider and blocked her profile for two days.

The Zurich woman had asked for comment to show why polarization and populism were the crux and why “you should hang these overpaid political faces on their own fucking federal terrace”. She had undoubtedly crossed a line with the ‘hanging’.

X sees no problem

At the same time, however, messages circulated on the social network denying the Holocaust – and X saw no problem with that.

An anonymous account under the Auschwitz Memorial profile wrote, “The Holocaust is a ridiculous hoax and Hitler was right.” The Auschwitz Memorial Museum commemorates the millions of victims of the Nazi regime – and wanted to defend themselves.

punch in the face

The institution reported the comment to X. But the platform responded, “After reviewing the available information, we have determined that there are no Twitter rule violations in the content you reported.” This is a slap in the face to the Auschwitz Memorial, even if it wasn’t the first.

When asked by Blick, a spokesperson for the museum says they mainly receive such Holocaust denials and anti-Semitic messages in response to their tweets. However, the reporting system has not been working for a few days. “That’s why X always tells us that the tweets don’t violate the guidelines,” said the spokesperson.

‘Racists should feel good’

Elon Musk (52), the owner of X, repeatedly expressed himself in a way that could give readers an anti-Jewish impression. That is why Martin Steiger (44), a lawyer in the digital space, says: “I am not surprised that Holocaust denial is tolerated.” Because Musk has largely disbanded the departments and teams that moderate content and sanction users.

Steiger concludes from this: “Corona deniers, Putin friends and racists can feel very comfortable with X.” To save personnel costs, it is now mainly algorithms that determine who is blocked. X does not disclose how these work. As a result, there may be unjustified and arbitrary blocking. “Everyone should expect to be blocked at any time,” says Steiger.

Since there is no regulation of online platforms in Switzerland, social networks like X can act and switch as they please. And, as the example of the Memorial Auschwitz shows, with very unsatisfactory results.

A Blick request from Platform X went unanswered.

Source:Blick