A Facebook page called ‘Get Them Out of Town’ came to our attention on October 8th. The page had over 800 Likes and featured a number of racist and demeaning posts about the Roma population in Waterford, and users discussed vigilante violence against Roma on the page. This was not the first time that such pages have emerged from the Waterford region, following the popularity of the ‘Waterford Against Roma’ page established earlier in the year.
On October 9th, Pavee Point, in collaboration with the No Hate Speech Movement in Ireland and Strasbourg and members of Waterford Against Racism, mobilised hundreds of Facebook users to report the page for violation of Facebook’s Community Standards. The page was removed roughly 90 minutes after the first reports were submitted, and a backup page was also removed a number of hours later before acquiring substantial ‘Likes’.
You can read about the page and the response to it at the Irish Examiner. Check out Waterford Against Racism on Facebook and tag in with the No Hate Speech Movement on Facebook and Twitter to receive updates about hate speech in Ireland and abroad.
You can read Facebook’s Community Standards here.
