After the tragic terror attack in Brussels in which at least 30 were killed and some 200 or more injured, the hashtag #StopIslam began trending on Twitter.
Part of the reason is that ISIS, the militant Islamic group wreaking havoc in the Middle East, took credit for the attack.
https://twitter.com/JaredWyand/status/712336317049413632
https://twitter.com/Ed_Demolay/status/712330076986155008
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
https://twitter.com/ClassySnobbb/status/712323449226706944
https://twitter.com/8hes8/status/712344434961035265
And on it goes.
After the hashtag began trending, however, something happened. According to some, Twitter began to manipulate things…
https://twitter.com/ClassySnobbb/status/712324362314059777
We thought this was interesting, so we conducted an experiment. We tried searching for StopIslam to see what would happen. Sure enough, even after typing all but the last letter, this was the result:
You’ll notice that even though #StopIslam was listed as a trending topic, Twitter’s autocomplete doesn’t show the hashtag by itself. It does, however, show #StopIslamophobia…
Here’s what was trending as of this writing:
Imagine that…
Naturally, a number of people began tweeting very similar messages — almost as if they were following a script:
I'm a Muslim, if I do something wrong, blame me not my religion. #StopIslam ? NO stop terrorism, that's the thing that should be stopped.
— Abdurrahim KAYA (@abdrhmky) March 22, 2016
https://twitter.com/Kerem_Cevahir/status/712343011544408064
I’m a Muslim, Islam is perfect but I am not. If I make a mistake, blame it on me, not on my religion. Peace ✌ #StopIslam
— Faizan (@Faizan_virgo) March 22, 2016
https://twitter.com/amjadt25/status/712323754823716865
Its shouldn't be #StopIslam but it should be #StopTerrorists,Those who are blaming islam are Mentally retarded..
— Shaheer Khan (@shaheerk779) March 22, 2016
There were a few variations of the same message, but not many. Some even tossed out the race card:
Don't think it's right that in today's society people think it's ok to make such racist comments and get away with it disgusting #StopIslam
— Alex N (@__AlexN_) March 22, 2016
https://twitter.com/fatmanuryy/status/712345465942056964
Last I looked, Islam is a religion, not a race.
It’s not the first time such a hashtag began trending after a terror attack like the one in Brussels. After the January 2015 terror attack in Paris, many on Twitter called for a ban on Islam.
Now we have to worry about how long it will take social media sites to censor articles that mention Islam in any capacity.
Related:
- What did he know? Turkish President Erdoğan seems to predict attack on Brussels days before attack
- Live feed: Explosions in Brussels shut down trams, metro and buses
- India; Islamic fatwa issued against patriotic slogan
- Twitter erupts with calls to ban Islam
- Calls to deport Muslims, restrict Islam grow in wake of Paris attacks
If you haven’t checked out and liked our Facebook page, please go here and do so.
