Update June 2024:
The hearing took place on 4 June at the Berlin Regional Court. The platform had already attempted to significantly delay the proceedings in advance and evade responsibility for illegal content. At the court hearing, X questioned the jurisdiction of the German judiciary. The platform argued that the proceedings were being conducted strategically and that the plaintiffs were not ordinary users. The court must now decide whether it agrees. In the worst case scenario, this would mean that strategic litigation against X could only take place in Ireland. The decision is expected in a few weeks. HateAid and EUJS are prepared to go through all instances and, if necessary, to involve international courts on the question of jurisdiction.
Update July 2023:
Over the past few months, the Berlin Court has been working on determining the legitimacy of the case, examining which department would have jurisdiction over the proceedings.
Now that this has been determined, Twitter was sent, and received the lawsuit. Twitter has since come back with the first response which included a request to prolong the deadline for formal answer.
We granted Twitter a prolonging of the deadline, and expect their response in 2–3 weeks.
Throughout this process, we have been monitoring the reported tweets which serve as part of the evidence for our #TwitterTrial.
We noted that out of the 6 tweets, two are still public, two have been fully removed, and two were blocked, but only for those on Twitter in Germany.
Former EUJS President Avital Grinberg (2022-2023) commented:
“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. 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.”
Avital Grinberg was also interviewed by i24 News regarding TwitterTrial. Here are some highlights of the interview:
Mentions in the Press
A number of media sources have picked up this story. Some main outlets include:
Haaretz (Israel): “Twitter Facing Lawsuit Brought by Jewish Students in Europe Over Antisemitic Tweets”
The Guardian (United Kingdom): “Twitter faces legal challenge after failing to remove reported hate tweets”
Business Insider (International): “Twitter failed to remove anti-Semitic tweets when reported, says nonprofit bringing legal action against company”
Digit News (International): “Twitter Facing Lawsuit Over Antisemetic Hate Speech”
The Liberal (Greece): “Δικαστικές περιπέτειες για το Twitter – Δεν αφαίρεσε ρατσιστικά tweets”
Sec News (Greece): “Twitter: Legal problems due to anti-Semitic content”
Impakter (International): “Twitter Brought to Court in Landmark Case Against Antisemitic Hate Speech”
Yahoo Sports (International): “Twitter failed to remove anti-Semitic tweets when reported, says nonprofit bringing legal action against company”
Next Big What (International): “Twitter faces legal battle over failure to remove antisemitic hate tweets”
The Messenger (International): “Twitter Faces Legal Action in Germany Over Antisemitism, Hate Speech Not Removed”
Jewish News (United Kingdom): “Twitter faces legal challenge after failing to remove antisemitic tweets”
This lawsuit is in partnership with HateAid and is exclusively supported by the Alfred Landecker Foundation.
