Dutch Town Sues Twitter For Paedophile Conspiracy
As if Twitter's embattled managers are not dealing with enough burning issues, now, a small town in the Netherlands is taking legal action against Twitter over the spread of a conspiracy theory claiming it was once home to a ring of Satanic-worshipping paedophiles.
False reports that the Dutch town Bodegraven-Reeuwijk, with around 35,000 residents, was the place of the abuse and murder of multiple children in the 1980s were first circulated by three men in 2020. The men concerned have been spreading unfounded stories on Twitter since 2020 about the supposed abuse and murder of children.
The main faker, who grew up in the town near The Hague, claimed he had witnessed the abuse by a group of people in Bodegraven, as a child. Local authorities want to see all posts relating to the alleged events removed.
The claims have prompted dozens of people to travel to the town's Vrederust cemetery to leave flowers and tributes at the graves of seemingly random dead children.
The stories caused much unrest in Bodegraven, as scores of followers of the men’s tweets flocked to the local graveyard to lay flowers and written messages at the graves of seemingly random dead children, who they claimed were victims of the satanic ring.
Twitter's lawyer, Jens van den Brink, declined to comment ahead of a hearing at The Hague District Court on Friday 17th September. In 2021, the same court ordered the three original men to remove all tweets about the town, but the claims continue. The town's lawyer, Cees van de Sanden, said Twitter had not responded to a request in July that it find and remove all posts related to the claims.
Mayor Christiaan van der Kamp said that claims were "very painful and sometimes even threatening for the relatives of the deceased", RTL Nieuws reported.
The three men behind the claims are currently serving jail sentences following convictions in separate cases for incitement and making death threats against a number of people, including Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
RTL Niews: BBC: Reuters: NYPost: Yahoo:
You Might Also Read:
Protecting Children In The Digital Age:
