Warsaw, Poland
Reuters
The Auschwitz Memorial on Thursday criticised social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, for failing to remove an anti-Semitic post on the site.
X’s owner Elon Musk has described himself as a free speech absolutist, but some critics have said his approach is irresponsible. Researchers have found an increase in hate speech and antisemitic content on the platform since he took over, and some governments have accused the company of not doing enough to moderate its content.
A man walks through the grounds of the former Nazi German Auschwitz death camp for the annual International “March of the Living” in Oswiecim, Poland on 18th April, 2023. PICTURE: Jakub Porzycki/Agencja Wyborcza.pl via Reuters/File photo
The Auschwitz Memorial, which preserves the site of the death camp set up by Nazi Germany on the territory of occupied Poland during World War II, said in a post on X that it had reported an antisemitic message on the site but received a response from X that the content did not violate its rules.
The memorial posted screenshots of the post and what it said was X’s reply to its complaint.
X did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
“Leaving such language unchecked perpetuates the cycle of hatred and reinforces the idea that such hateful language is acceptable on this platform,” the memorial wrote.
More than 1.1 million people, most of them Jews, perished at the Auschwitz camp in gas chambers or from starvation, cold and disease. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe.
X earlier this month sued a nonprofit that fights hate speech and disinformation, accusing it of false claims and spooking advertisers. The group, the Center for Countering Digital Hate, accused the company of intimidation and said its allegations had no basis in fact.
