French Twitter Lawsuit Pits Free Speech Against Hate Speech
by Eleanor Beardsley
January 22, 2013
A French judge will decide this week if Twitter must hand over the identities of users sending anti-Semitic tweets. The case, brought against Twitter by a Jewish student organization, pits America's free speech guarantees against Europe's laws banning hate speech.
The controversy began in October, when the French Union of Jewish Students threatened to sue Twitter to get the names of people posting anti-Semitic tweets with the hashtag #unbonjuif, or "a good Jew."
"If I type 'un bon Juif' ... I can see it was full of tweets against Jews," says Eli Petit, vice president of the Jewish student organization. "It was written, for example, 'A good Jew is a dead Jew,' 'A good Jew is a burned Jew.' "
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Back in the office of the Jewish student organization, Petit says if the judge rules in their favor and Twitter doesn't comply, they will take their case to American courts. They did it 10 years ago with Yahoo, he says, and won, forcing the search engine to remove neo-Nazi articles for sale on its website.
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French Twitter Lawsuit Pits Free Speech Against Hate Speech : NPR
by Eleanor Beardsley
January 22, 2013
A French judge will decide this week if Twitter must hand over the identities of users sending anti-Semitic tweets. The case, brought against Twitter by a Jewish student organization, pits America's free speech guarantees against Europe's laws banning hate speech.
The controversy began in October, when the French Union of Jewish Students threatened to sue Twitter to get the names of people posting anti-Semitic tweets with the hashtag #unbonjuif, or "a good Jew."
"If I type 'un bon Juif' ... I can see it was full of tweets against Jews," says Eli Petit, vice president of the Jewish student organization. "It was written, for example, 'A good Jew is a dead Jew,' 'A good Jew is a burned Jew.' "
...
Back in the office of the Jewish student organization, Petit says if the judge rules in their favor and Twitter doesn't comply, they will take their case to American courts. They did it 10 years ago with Yahoo, he says, and won, forcing the search engine to remove neo-Nazi articles for sale on its website.
...
French Twitter Lawsuit Pits Free Speech Against Hate Speech : NPR
