Anti-Semitic Twitter Hashtag Trends in Mexico, Causes Uproar

Jan. 25, 2013 — -- In Mexico a Twitter 'trending topic' has caused an uproar in the local Jewish community for its anti-Semitic content. On January 18 #EsdeJudios, which translates to 'it's Jewish to', was second among trending topics in Mexico. In related tweets people talked about soap, ashes and gas in a mocking reference to what the jewish community had to endure during the Holocaust.

The Mexican forum against anti-Semitism, Foro de Coordinacion de lucha contra el Antisemitismo, issued a statement last Friday compiling some of the inappropriate tweets, several of which had more than 400 re-tweets. They also stated that they are looking for the person who started this hashtag.

According to Topsy the hashtag was first tweeted on January 16. The next day it had already received more than 13,000 original tweets. By January 18 it started losing steam, with only 400 tweets sent out using the hashtag. One of the most popular tweets that day read 'To the 'comedians' that feed on the hashtag #it'sjewishto: don't cry when you get fired, don't cry when no one gives you a job.'

Mexico has a Jewish community of 40,000 to 50,000, according to Jewish Virtuality, a nonprofit organization. About 90 percent of this community is based in Mexico City, although smaller communities can also be gound in Guadalajara, Monterrey and Tijuana among others.

Coincidently, on January 24, a French court required Twitter to share the details of users who had used the hashtag #unbonjuif, which translates to 'a good Jew', violating the French law by spreading hate speech. The social network has yet to decide whether they will comply with the request.

Mexico has a similar national initiative against discrimination called CONAPRED, which allows civilians to submit complaints. If the forum against anti-Semitism were to complain about last week's hashtag, Mexico could face a similar case as the French. Twitter has said before that it will not divulge names of users unless a valid U.S. court orders it.