It took less than a day for the Nazis to find us.
We knew they were coming, but as the lone gentile in this group, I had no idea how quickly or how viciously they'd retaliate. I was quick to find out.
Within 12 hours of the launch of Operation Highlord, my Tumblr inbox was hit with images of graphic gore--a man whose mouth was nothing but a bloody circle, another who appeared to have possibly shot himself in the head with a high-caliber shotgun. This charming, wordless missive came courtesy of a blog called "dead-kikes."
The Jewish community on Tumblr has dealt with this for months. It's time to step up.
Read about how we're doing it below the lovely orange curls.
Tumblr has long touted itself as a platform for free speech. But this year, it's become all too chillingly apparent they're not--blog posts about Ferguson and lists of the names of KKK members have been removed, while Nazi blogs send harassing messages to Jewish bloggers ranging from "the showers are ready" to picture-spamming images of German death camps. These missives come from bloggers with easily-identifiable racist names, including ones that are in no uncertain terms an incitement to antisemitic hatred. Tumblr's Community Guidelines clearly state that these are prohibited:
"Malicious Speech. Don't encourage violence or hatred on the basis of things like race, ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, or sexual orientation. We encourage you to dismantle negative speech through argument rather than censorship. We will, however, remove anything that is overtly malicious."
This rule--and others clearly violated by these Nazi blogs--can be viewed here as of 27 April 2015, and this version of them has been in effect since the 26th of January.
And yet, "nationalist" and Nazi Tumblr users have indicated they can get their blogs back just by asking staff, even when they've spammed minority Tumblr users (both over and under the age of 18) with gore, messages about genocide, and harmful content. What's more, staff refuses to acknowledge multiple reports--many blogs just go right on posting about how "Hitler should have finished the job" with no reprisals from staff. The line between "free speech" and "hate speech" was clearly crossed long ago, but staff has no interest in fixing the problem.
And so stood the situation as of 25 April, when a post from a Jewish friend crossed my dash saying that Tumblr has no incentive to remove Nazi users because after the sale of Tumblr to Yahoo!, their platform is now based on selling advertising spots. A suggestion was made: "Has anyone considered writing to Tumblr's advertisers?"
Within hours, a blog was created, modeled off the Flush Rush campaign; an amazing thing was happening on Jewish Tumblr, with people previously too afraid to step up getting ready to fight. We named it "Operation Highlord" in direct reference to the Normandy invasion codenamed "Operation Overlord;" then, as now, we are fighting Nazi ideology. Then we did it to save Europe; now we do it to create a safe space for Jewish teens and bloggers. A team was assembled; information collection on both Tumblr advertisers and Nazi hate blogs began.
Our intention: make Tumblr enforce its own Community Guidelines and stop giving a free pass to blogs that call for genocide against Jewish and Romani people.
As far as I know, I'm the only gentile member of the team, and thus the one least at risk. My fellow members have chosen not to disclose their identities at this time due to fears of real-life retaliation, and having seen the initial response--before we've even sent a single letter--I don't blame them in the slightest. But my voice should not be taken as the most important simply because it is the one with a name attached--it's only one of several, speaking for thousands more, and speaking for my fellow team members only because for too long they have had to stand unsupported in silence.
If you have a Tumblr, or some time to write letters, Operation Highlord could use your support. Because of Tumblr's previous history of "selective enforcement" (and sometimes no enforcement at all), we'll be keeping an active presence on DailyKOS as well to document our progress. Any advice or support (moral or hands-on) would be greatly appreciated as we work to take Tumblr back from the anti-Jewish, anti-Romani contingent currently working with very little opposition to make the site their own.
Tumblr: Operation Highlord