A fake Twitter account stirred tensions between Jews and African Americans. Trolls celebrated.
Friday, January 3, 2020
January 3, 2020 - CNN
Trolls on the online forum 4chan celebrated on New Year's Day as a fake Twitter (TWTR) account seeking to stoke tensions between Jewish and black Americans amid a string of anti-Semitic attacks in New York provoked outrage. Even as the trolls celebrated, the account went unchecked by Twitter for hours despite dozens of users saying they reported the account to the social media company.
The incident is more evidence of how trolls work to increase racial division in the US. It also raises questions about Twitter's commitment to combating hate on its platform and how quickly it will respond to fake accounts seeking to stoke such divisions during an election year.
"As a fellow Jew who was frightened by the string of anti-Semitic attacks, I am frightened," the fake account, which used the name "Elaine Goldschmidt," tweeted Wednesday. Using the n-word to describe black Americans, "Goldschmidt" added they "were supposed to be on our side. Now, we have lost control of them."
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