The Twitter logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, Sept. 28, 2016. Photo: Reuters / Brendan McDermid / File.

Twitter is being sued by two non-profit organizations that are accusing the social media platform of failing to immediately act on racist and antisemitic tweets they reported to the social media giant six months ago.

HateAid, a German organization that campaigns for human rights in the digital space, and the European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS) reported six disturbing tweets to Twitter in January, four of which explicitly denied the Holocaust, The Guardian reported on Monday. Another tweet said “blacks should be gassed and sent with space x to Mars,” while a separate tweet compared COVID-19 vaccination to the mass extermination that took place at the Auschwitz concentration camps during the Holocaust.

Some of the accounts shared other antisemitic tweets over the next few months, including swastikas, more Holocaust denial, antisemitic conspiracy theories and accusations about Jews instigating the war in Ukraine, according to The Guardian.

The lawsuit states that Twitter ruled three of the tweets that EUJS and HateAid reported to Twitter did not violate the latter’s guidelines and Twitter failed to respond to the other tweets, the British publication added.

One tweet mentioned in the lawsuit, from January 11, said: “The holocaust is a lie, everything they told you about the holocaust is a lie, the jews have taken credit of footage that has never happened to them.” The tweet did not violate the platform’s guidelines, according to Twitter.

HateAid and EUJS filed the civil action lawsuit against Twitter on January 25 in Berlin District Court, saying that Twitter’s failure to act immediately against these tweets violates the platform’s Rules and Policies, which are part of the Terms of Service for users. Twitter also has a Hateful Conduct policy, which directly references the Holocaust, and Abusive Behavior policy that the non-profit organizations drew attention to.

The Berlin court recently determined the legitimacy of the case, allowing it to move forward, and Twitter has now been sent and received the lawsuit, EUJS said on Tuesday. Twitter has since asked for an extended deadline to give a formal answer, which EUJS and HateAid have agreed to. They expect a response from Twitter in two to three weeks.

EUJS further noted on Tuesday that out of the six tweets reported to Twitter in January, “two are still public, two have been fully removed, and two were blocked, but only for those on Twitter in Germany.”

“This shows once again that Twitter does not care about the amount of hate that we, young European Jews, are exposed to on their platform, and that even with a lawsuit, they are not willing to make the effort to remove such disgusting content,” said EUJS President Avital Grinberg in a newly released statement. “Twitter needs to take concerns and screams for improvement serious. As EUJS we commit to continue our hard work into making the online and offline space safe for all and are not leaving this issue behind us.”

If Twitter decides to respond to the lawsuit with legal action, a date will be set for a hearing later this year, according to The Guardian.

Twitter dismissed accusations made in The Guardian’s article on Monday about the six tweets, saying the report is “extremely misleading.” The California-based company, owned by Elon Musk, said its system “automatically detected” that the tweets were “either toxic or abusive” and “immediately restricted the reach of all six tweets (less than 100 impressions per tweet).” It added that “after the suits were filed, triggering compliance review, four tweets were blocked in Germany and two were removed for terms of service violations.” Musk himself tweeted, “Shame on The Guardian.”

This article is extremely misleading.

The purportedly “landmark” lawsuit concerns six Tweets, and all of those tweets were actioned, and here’s exactly how:

— Each of the six Tweets were reported on Twitter, focusing on our terms of service for violations.

— Twitter’s… https://t.co/zYbnvU7Q5N

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) July 12, 2023

According to a report released by the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) in late January, more neo-Nazis, white supremacists and extremists have flocked to the platform since Musk’s purchase of Twitter in October 2022, making him the company’s owner and CEO. The same report revealed that certain antisemitic tweets doubled in usage since Musk first offered to buy Twitter in April and that accounts run by antisemites have garnered a substantial increase in followers.

In June, The Algemeiner cited an analysis report revealing that among the five major social media platforms, Twitter was home to the most antisemitic content about the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest and Israeli pop singer Noa Kirel’s participation in the singing competition. The same report showed that there have been higher rates of removal of antisemitic content on Twitter since Musk’s acquisition.

Musk has also promoted antisemitism and far-right conspiracy theories on Twitter.