SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) – The social networking site Facebook has removed anti-Semitic slurs after protests from an Australian Jewish leader.
Comments such as “Jew rats,” “F****** Mercedes Jews” have been removed from the site after Vic Alhadeff, the CEO of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, lodged a complaint.
Students from some of Sydney’s elite private schools had posted the messages, which included “support Holocaust denial” and a link to another internet site called “F*** Israel and their Holocaust bull****.”
One student told the Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday that there was “no intention of causing conflict or racial hatred.”
But Alhadeff told the newspaper: “Any comments which propose a racial stereotype are offensive.” (JTA)
Facebook also pulled several Italian neo-Nazi pages from its Web site following a public outcry and complaints from European regulators that the pages promoted violence against gypsies.
From the beginning there does not need to be such materials on Facebook as their terms of service prohibit attacking a group of people or promoting hate or hate crimes.
It is really sad to see people who make racist and offensive comments hide behind the ‘I never meant to do it – it was all in good fun!’ façade or even worse, shelter behind the ‘What’s the matter with you? Can’t you take a joke?’ cliché. What makes it worse here is to see schoolboys from elite schools do this sort of thing – neither youth nor ignorance is an excuse for racism!