France orders Twitter to identify authors of racist posts

A French court has ruled that Twitter, which has steadfastly refused calls to police its millions of users, must hand over data to help identify the authors of racist or anti-semitic tweets.

In a test case that pitted the right to free speech against laws banning hate rhetoric, the court granted a request lodged in October by France’s Union of Jewish Students (UEJF) which argued that many tweets had breached French law.

UEJF had been pressing Twitter to exercise tighter control following a deluge of anti-semitic messages posted under the hashtag #unbonjuif (#agoodjew).