German Neo-Nazis Use New WhatsApp Stickers Option to Spread Antisemitic Images
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by Benjamin Kerstein
Antisemitic imagery posted to WhatsApp. Photo: Twitter screenshot.
German far-right and neo-Nazi groups are exploiting the text application WhatsApp’s new option to create custom stickers in order to disseminate antisemitic symbols.
The German newspaper Deutsche Welle reported that the stickers include photographs, SS “runes,” and images of Hitler.
The Jewish Forum for Democracy and Against Anti-Semitism (JFDA) discovered the trend, and tweeted, “Just after WhatsApp makes it possible to create and use stickers, right-wing extremists flood their group chats with hateful Nazi symbols.”
The JFDA has contacted WhatsApp and asked the company to stop users from abusing the new sticker option to disseminate racist messages.
A WhatsApp spokesman said, “These anti-Semitic stickers are unacceptable and we do not want them in WhatsApp. We strongly condemn this hatred.”
“If users get stickers with illegal content, we ask them to report it. We will act accordingly against it, even to the extent of blocking the accounts from which they were sent,” he added. The use of Nazi symbolism is illegal in Germany.
