Romea.cz reports Facebook group "Gypsies to the Gas Chambers", Facebook sees no problem

The Czech administrators of the Facebook social networking site must really like racism. How else can their refusal to close a group named "Gypsies to the Gas Chambers" ("Cíkáni do plynu") be explained?

News server EuroZprávy.cz was the first to report on the issue. Another Facebook group making fun of racism was promptly taken down by the Czech administrators after complaints.

The full name of the group is "Gypsies to the Gas Chambers! Fags!" ("Cikáni do plynu !buzeranti!"). It is set up as a "closed" group with only six members.

EuroZprávy.cz reports that some of the members are publishing openly racist commentaries. User "Wilson Gabriela" is one of them.

Her own Facebook page includes the following commentary (our translation):  "I don’t tar you all with the same brush I don’t mind gypsies but their behavior that’s why I don’t tar them all with the same brush but I would throw them all into one giant gas chamber, I know that what I am writing here is what everyone thinks but no one says out loud…"

When the page was reported by other users for its hate speech and symbols, administrators refused to remove it. According to the administrators, the material does not violate Facebook’s rules.

News server Romea.cz also reported the page as hateful and received the following response:  "You have reported the page "Cikáni do plynu !buzeranti!" for containing hate speech or symbols. The group has not been removed." 

Facebook has, on the other hand, repeatedly removed the pages of the satirical group "Stop Czechs" ("Stop Čechům"). That group attempted to use humor to point out the dangers of racism and xenophobia by showing Czechs what it would be like to be a minority, but the administrators believe that page is an example of racism and xenophobia.