THREAD: A Tale of Two Twitter Likes, ~~compare & contrast the fallout~~

Didn't think I had more to say about this situation (& didn't have much to begin with, not a big tweeter), but a clear example of #jwitter's disingenuous & racist double standards fell into my lap. 1/
Don't want to drag this out further, but hoping this might serve as a case study for future reference.

Chevre, feel free to save this for the uninitiated next time the obfuscation & deliberate obtuseness resurfaces, as it will. 2/
(Though will delete this or lock account if requested by those involved, I realize it's been a rough couple of days.) 3/
Two different accounts [follower counts in brackets] each like a single tweet. Compare the reactions. 4/
ACCOUNT 1: @temasmith [11.4K followers], one of the most visible Black Jews on Twitter who is also a well-respected Jewish professional. 5/
Tema likes a tweet in a thread by @russelneiss [7.1K], software engineer at popular text study site Sefaria and general Jewish tech aficionado. 6/
Russel explains why he revealed the name of the person behind a pseudonymous account (@/Claire_Voltaire) that he says shared false info about him. 7/ https://twitter.com/russelneiss/status/1339224176935251976
While I'm unfamiliar with the alleged false info shared about Russel, @/Claire_Voltaire [13.4K] is otherwise widely known for stoking harassment & dogpiling from her followers against anyone on #jwitter who is too left on Israel or Zionism. 8/
Black Jews especially seem to get a disproportionate share of the abuse from this crowd.
As one might imagine, revealing the name of someone who used a cloak of anonymity to escape accountability was seen as a good thing.
9/
(Side note: "name" is explicitly considered by Twitter *not* to be private information that is covered by their "private information policy." In other words, Twitter does not support a fundamental "right" to tweet under a pseudonym. 10/
Tweeting under a pseudonym is *permitted* but effectively done at one's own risk of having their name revealed.) 11/ https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/personal-information
Private information policy

Posting another person’s private and confidential information is a violation of the Twitter Rules. Learn more about how our enforcement works in this article.

https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/personal-information
Back to Tema -- Initial response includes Jewish identity policing frequently happens to Jews on Twitter who are open about less "conventional" Jewish backgrounds/identities, but is particularly salient for race/Jews of Color. 12/
Tema highlights examples of trolls: one calls her "a trash can of a person," another accuses her of being neither Black nor Jewish (thread) 13/ https://twitter.com/temasmith/status/1339270744480608256
It escalated further, with these people on Twitter basically trying to get Tema fired and accusing her of putting Jews in danger.
(another thread) 14/ https://twitter.com/temasmith/status/1339704105435082755
To recap: Tema likes a tweet in Russel's widely circulated thread that *plenty* of others liked too. But racist trolls fixated on Tema & tried to threaten her livelihood. 15/
ACCOUNT 2: Aforementioned @/Claire_Voltaire -- who has about the same/slightly more followers than Tema in the low five figure range -- screenshots and shares my [487 followers] tweet saying that I donated to Sefaria in honor of Russel...
16/
after some right-wing Zionists got upset that their beloved source sheet creator was supporting ~evil~ by continuing to employ their lead engineer. 17/
My tweet also expressed solidarity with everyone who's been harassed by Claire+her followers, since I've seen it happen routinely and once got a very minor taste myself, some time ago.
Offered to make small charitable donation in honor of anyone who'd been harassed.
18/
Lots of unhinged replies to Claire's screenshot of my tweet, but let's just pick one, which Claire liked:

"These people are pathetic and I hope you [Claire] have a gun. If not, get one now."

19/
Lots of unhinged replies to Claire's screenshot of my tweet, but let's just pick one, which Claire liked:"These people are pathetic and I hope you [Claire] have a gun. If not, get one now."19/
Lots of unhinged replies to Claire's screenshot of my tweet, but let's just pick one, which Claire liked:"These people are pathetic and I hope you [Claire] have a gun. If not, get one now."19/
COMPARE & CONTRAST: Accounts with similar follower counts should probably get about the same level of scrutiny, right??? 🙃

20/
TEMA:
- one of many people who likes a tweet in a thread from a Jewish professional colleague (also a relatively popular account himself), explaining why he revealed the name of a serial harasser who *also* shared false info about him.

21/
- Tema was otherwise uninvolved in this ~whole situation.~
- Consequences: the standard racist/antisemitic identity policing PLUS a ton of awful & life-disrupting bs with trolls contacting her employer and saying she wants Jews dead
22/
CLAIRE:
- screenshots a pretty bland and definitely not-violent tweet from my comparatively small account (esp since a significant portion of my following isn't even part of #jwitter), claiming that I'm "insane" for donating on behalf of a "doxxer"...
23/
(Again, Twitter considers names to be public information. Not doxxing.)

24/
- Claire likes a direct reply saying that she [Claire] **should get a gun** because of "these [pathetic] people" (presumably Russel and me? Lol.)

- Consequences: nothing

25/
To be clear-- I do NOT think there's a clear obligation to moderate one's Twitter replies and call out/hide the awful ones. Too time-consuming & there will always be trolls. (though if it's excessive, then yeah probably one should do something)

26/
But ignoring trolls is different from ~actively encouraging,~ which Claire does through engagement with her followers' inflammatory statements.

While I don't think liking always implies endorsement, that calculus changes when the content is incendiary. 27/
Claire liking a reply that suggests that my tweet, or Russel's tweet revealing Claire's name, warrants *getting a gun* is ludicrous, given the absence of any demonstrated credible threat. And an indication of bad faith.

28/
It seems like it's largely one side that's escalating things here. I WONDER WHO? Really hard to tell.
29/
Anyway, *plenty* of other examples demonstrating the complete detachment from reality, just in those same replies to Claire's screenshots of my tweet. But I found this one particularly illuminating.
30/
And don't @ me with "revealing a ✨unique name✨ is the same as doxxing" or that people are endangering her life to neo-Nazis by revealing her name. Been there, done that. Most everyone here has encountered Twitter Nazis, under our real names. 31/ https://twitter.com/JewishWonk/status/1339347337211162626
"Some Nazis harassed me" is not the same as a credible threat. Meanwhile don't use anonymity as a shield for harassing people who do use their real names
32/ https://twitter.com/JewishWonk/status/1339367440590008322
Anyway, wanted to tweet this now since I knew I wouldn't be able to tomorrow w/ early shabbos. And I kinda hope fewer will see it this late. But it will be here whenever this issue inevitably resurfaces. That is, if people find it a helpful example.
/fin
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