In a joint letter, 180 civil rights groups from around the world, including UKLFI, have called on Twitter’s new owner to adopt the widely accepted IHRA definition of antisemitism and act against Jew-hatred on the social media platform.
“To maximize the probability that the future is good, the world needs an online platform where everyone can participate,” the letter reads, “unfortunately, this is not the case, as Jewish users are subject to unrelenting harassment on Twitter.”
The groups believe that with Elon Musk’s innovative skills, Twitter can implement technological solutions to curb antisemitism and serve as an example to other social media platforms. In order to do so, Twitter should utilize the IHRA working definition as a tool to define what consists of antisemitism.
Demonstrating the seriousness of Twitter’s antisemitism problem, the letter to Musk includes a dataset of more than 1,000 examples of antisemitic tweets that fall under the IHRA definition.
The joint letter also recommends a way for Twitter to flag antisemitic tweets while educating users about antisemitism.
The IHRA Working Definition describes various types of antisemitism, including justifying the killing of Jews in the name of radical ideology, Holocaust denial, and denying the Jewish right to self-determination in the State of Israel. The definition was adopted by more than 38 countries and by hundreds of educational institutions, local governmental bodies, and international organizations.
The letter concludes by calling on Musk and Twitter “to rise to its commitment to be the modern town square…by fully adopting the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism.”
