Twitter has failed to reveal the authors of anti-Semitic tweets after a French court mandated the company do so, reports the AFP. The January court ruling required that Twitter hand over user data to help identify hate speech authors who live under the jurisdiction of French laws. The suit was originally filed by France's Union of Jewish Students (UEJF), and the UEJF has now announced that it is taking further legal action against Twitter for claims that it has not complied with court orders.
Twitter snubs French court request for information on authors of hate speech (update)
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The AFP reports that French President François Hollande called for Twitter to release the user’s information one week ago. Twitter told the AFP that it had only been informed of the ruling a few days prior, and that it intended to appeal the decision. The company has previously worked with foreign governments to comply with local laws, and has removed some of the anti-Semitic tweets at issue. By not complying with the order, UEJF President Jonathan Hayoun tells the AFP that Twitter is “offering a highway for racists and anti-Semites.”
Update: Twitter has provided us with a statement that describes the UEJF as “more interested in grandstanding” than following the international law governing this type of data request. The company has now filed an appeal of the French court’s decision. We’ve reached out to the UEJF for comment. Twitter’s full statement is below:
“We’ve been in continual discussions with UEJF. They are sadly more interested in grandstanding than taking the proper international legal path for this data. We have filed our appeal, and would have filed it sooner if not for UEJF’s intentional delay in processing the court’s decision.”
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