French 'Tolerance' Groups Take Twitter to Court Over 'Hate Speech'

Man, this one's over-the-top Orwellian.

At the Times of Israel, "Twitter heads to Paris court after flood of ‘Nazi’ posts":

Major tolerance groups join Jewish student organization in claiming social media giant is violating French laws banning hate speech.

Jewish students in France went to court Tuesday to demand that Twitter release the names of French users employing the social media network to spread anti-Semitism.

The hearing, scheduled in November, gained new urgency over the weekend following a flood of posts featuring the hashtag #SiJetaisNazi (#IfIWereANazi). The label ranked in the country’s top five trending topics Saturday.

“Because it does not take the necessary measures to identify where the tweets come from, Twitter is offering a platform to racism and anti-Semitism,“ said Jonathan Hayoun, the president of the Union of French Jewish Students (UEJF), in a statement Monday.

The legal battle has entered the national spotlight, with four influential anti-racism groups joining the Jewish student organization in claiming that the hashtags violate French laws against hate speech.

Along with UEJF,  I Accuse! International Action for Justice; SOS Racism; the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism; and the Movement Against Racism and for Friendship Between People are calling on Twitter to identify users and set up a framework to warn customers of illegal content.

Twitter says it cannot divulge details about users without approval from a court in the US, where the company is based.

Differences between French and American laws on speech have produced “a huge void, a question mark,“ Twitter attorney Alexandra Neri told Agence France-Presse. The company is arguing that French judge Anne-Marie Sauteraud, who will issue a decision Jan. 24, does not have standing to rule on the matter.

Opponents disagree, with Hayoun urging government action in an op-ed published Sunday in the Liberation newspaper. “It is incumbent on the French justice system to act in accordance with the Republican principles that bind us together,“ he wrote, “and to restore the trust that we place in our justice system.“

Notice how all those "tolerance" groups are far-left, communist-backed organizations. Are these real Nazis on Twitter? Who knows? It doesn't matter to the leftists, since anything critical of the progressive agenda will be demonized as hate speech. That's the new totalitarianism. It'll be interesting to see how well Twitter holds firm against these bullies.