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Twitter Changes Policy After An Old Anti-Semitic Louis Farrakhan Tweet Circulates On Platform

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Chris White Tech Reporter
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Twitter is now prohibiting the dehumanization of religious groups after a year-old anti-Semitic tweet from Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan’s recently began circulating on the platform.

Farrakhan’s 2018 tweet compared the Jewish people to termites and has long-prompted calls for Twitter to nix either the tweet or Farrakhan himself. Twitter spokeswoman Katie Rosborough told the Daily Caller News Foundation “that we started examining this policy last year.”

The company told the DCNF on Sunday that the tweet did not violate rules against hateful content.

“If reported, Tweets that break this rule sent before today will need to be deleted, but will not directly result in any account suspensions because they were Tweeted before the rule was set,” Twitter said in a blog announcing the change. The company is now requiring Farrakhan to delete the tweet.

Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and fin-tech firm Square, sits for a portrait during an interview with Reuters in London, Britain, June 11, 2019. REUTERS/Toby Melville

“It’s against our rules to dehumanize others based on religion,” a Twitter representative told CNN. “That tweet is now unavailable.” (RELATED: Twitter Refuses To Follow Facebook’s Lead In Banning Louis Farrakhan)

Twitter requires users to delete a tweet violating one of its policies, and the account is also unable to post new tweets until the offending post is removed. Farrakhan, who was de-verified in 2018 following the tweet, is not being permanently suspended.

Farrakhan was banned from Facebook and Instagram on Thursday, along with figures like Alex Jones and his outlet, Infowars; Milo Yiannopoulos; Paul Joseph Watson; Laura Loomer; and Paul Nehlen. Those platforms labeled these individuals “dangerous.”

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