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Model and former Miss Slovakia faces online harassment for speaking out against antisemitism
Model and former Miss Slovakia faces online harassment for speaking out against antisemitism
i24NEWS English
6.4K views • 123 likes • 65 comments
1 week ago • 9:31 min
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Transcript
[00:00]
For international model and former Miss
[00:02]
Slovakia, Miriam Matova, opening her
[00:05]
phone now means looking at anti-Semitic
[00:09]
messages, personal ones, too. She says
[00:12]
the abuse has escalated in the past
[00:15]
year, but it hasn't stopped her speaking
[00:17]
publicly about her Jewish heritage and
[00:21]
about Israel. Now, she and her lawyer
[00:24]
are taking legal action against Meta,
[00:27]
asking the company to make its platforms
[00:31]
safer, and Miriam is visiting Israel.
[00:33]
So, it's an absolute pleasure to welcome
[00:36]
former Miss Slovakia, Miriam Matova.
[00:39]
Thank you so much for being here. We so
[00:41]
appreciate it. When you were here in
[00:43]
studio last year, you were already
[00:45]
speaking publicly about Israel and about
[00:48]
your Jewish identity. Give us a sense,
[00:50]
what has changed since then? What do you
[00:53]
now face every time you turn on your
[00:56]
phone and look at social media?
[00:58]
>> So, this has started in November of last
[01:00]
year, where I opened my phone on a daily
[01:02]
basis and I get about 10 to 20 threats,
[01:04]
death threats, harassments on my phone.
[01:07]
>> Why?
[01:08]
>> And
[01:09]
it was because I was involved in an
[01:11]
anti-Semitic incident, which I am not
[01:13]
going to speak about because it has been
[01:14]
resolved, and I'm very happy with the
[01:16]
settlement.
[01:18]
But, I got it
[01:19]
you know, when you're in schools, you're
[01:20]
advised that if you get threatened, you
[01:22]
should go to the police, and that's
[01:23]
exactly what I've done. I went to the
[01:25]
police, I reported everything. I went
[01:27]
the legal way.
[01:28]
And the police told me that the messages
[01:30]
do not cross the criminal threshold.
[01:32]
I asked them why, and they told me
[01:34]
because they do not specify a time and
[01:36]
date when they're going to come and kill
[01:37]
me. So, they pretty much need to wait
[01:38]
for something to happen to me in order
[01:40]
to start arresting these people. A lot
[01:42]
of people were telling me that these are
[01:43]
bots, but I have done some research, and
[01:45]
about 10 to 15% of yes of these accounts
[01:47]
are bots, but the rest are actual
[01:49]
people. And it's very scary because we
[01:51]
tracked some of them down, and some of
[01:52]
them were working in big companies like
[01:54]
Telus.
[01:55]
Telus is a big telecommunications
[01:56]
company,
[01:57]
and thank God we made sure that these
[02:00]
people were fired from their jobs. But,
[02:02]
this is very small percentage of things
[02:04]
we were able to do. So, I went back to
[02:06]
my lawyer, and I asked him, "Howard
[02:08]
Levitt, what are we able to do? Are we
[02:10]
able to do something? Because one thing
[02:11]
is freedom of speech, and one thing is
[02:13]
harassment and death threats."
[02:15]
>> Well, death threats certainly is hugely
[02:17]
problematic. And just by way of context,
[02:19]
there are obviously huge sensitivities
[02:21]
when it comes to legal cases, but we can
[02:23]
say that there was an incident in
[02:26]
Toronto involving an Uber driver who
[02:28]
ordered you out of the vehicle because
[02:31]
you were Jewish. As you say, that issue
[02:34]
was resolved. We can't go into too many
[02:36]
of the details right now, but I would
[02:38]
like to know more about life in Toronto
[02:41]
now as an outspoken Jewish person facing
[02:45]
the death threats you're getting on your
[02:47]
phone. What does it feel like? How are
[02:50]
you being protected on a daily basis?
[02:53]
>> You know, I talk about my modeling
[02:54]
industry a lot, and this is why and this
[02:56]
is well because I felt with
[02:59]
a lot of rejection throughout my
[03:00]
modeling career. You know, you're judged
[03:02]
based on your looks, your body, and your
[03:03]
face, and you know, it made me grow
[03:05]
really thick skin. And I think that was
[03:08]
what prepared me for what was coming
[03:09]
after October 7th. And I think it's very
[03:12]
important to say that, you know, we
[03:13]
still have to be Jewish and proud, and
[03:15]
we still have to stand up because
[03:17]
if we're going to be silent, it's it's a
[03:19]
very dangerous path we're going, you
[03:20]
know, because I always go back to my
[03:22]
grandmother's story, and I always used
[03:24]
to ask her like, "How did we let this
[03:25]
happen? How did we let our whole family
[03:27]
end up in concentration camps?" And
[03:29]
she's always answered me because people
[03:30]
were silent.
[03:32]
And this is something that motivates me
[03:33]
to do what I'm doing because, you know,
[03:35]
we should speak up till we have the
[03:37]
freedom of speech.
[03:39]
>> Well, talking about speaking up and
[03:41]
talking about bravery, you and your
[03:42]
lawyer are now in discussions with
[03:44]
Meta's legal team. So, that certainly is
[03:47]
taking on the big guns, so to speak.
[03:49]
What more can you tell us about that
[03:52]
case given the sensitivities, no doubt?
[03:54]
>> Yeah, so you know, I always looked at
[03:55]
the fact that if governments and police
[03:57]
cannot help me, then the technology
[03:58]
companies need to comply. And um I
[04:01]
decided with my lawyer that um we should
[04:03]
write to them, and I would love to
[04:05]
resolve the case off of course if
[04:06]
possible, because I think they have the
[04:09]
technology to protect the people and
[04:10]
protect the people against hate. So,
[04:13]
what we are demanding is that if
[04:15]
something is reported regarding death
[04:17]
threats, terrorism, hate speech, these
[04:19]
people need to be taken down within 24
[04:21]
hours of the report. And these IP
[04:23]
addresses need to be flagged so that
[04:25]
these people cannot create more and more
[04:27]
accounts and create the same things over
[04:29]
and over again. Of course, I personally
[04:31]
think that it's also very important to
[04:33]
link valid IDs to social media profiles
[04:35]
because I don't think anonymous accounts
[04:38]
are the best way we should be going in
[04:40]
today's world, but of course it's going
[04:41]
to be a very hard pull to do. But I
[04:43]
think that the technology regarding
[04:45]
pulling the people down from these
[04:47]
social media sites is something that is
[04:49]
possible and can be done very fast.
[04:51]
>> And what kind of reaction have you had
[04:53]
so far when you are taking on Meta and
[04:56]
trying to make sure that people online
[04:58]
can feel safe? It's not about freedom of
[05:01]
speech. This is about death threats,
[05:03]
about a threat to your own personal
[05:05]
safety and security.
[05:06]
>> Yeah, so at the beginning they thought
[05:07]
that this is only a case regarding me,
[05:09]
so they started to take down all the
[05:11]
hatred that I was getting under my
[05:12]
picture, so all the comments and the
[05:14]
death threats. But my lawyer wrote back
[05:16]
to them and told them this is not only a
[05:17]
me problem. This is a problem that a lot
[05:19]
of people are facing. You know, and this
[05:20]
is not only about anti-Semitism, but
[05:22]
this is about hate in general. And I
[05:24]
think that hate online needs to be
[05:26]
prevented and can be prevented. You
[05:28]
know, I'm not saying that we're going to
[05:29]
solve the issue 100%, but even if we
[05:32]
help about 30 to 40 cases, I think I've
[05:34]
done my job.
[05:35]
>> Mariam, what surprises you since October
[05:38]
7th? We have covered so many stories
[05:41]
since that incredibly dark day, the
[05:44]
darkest in the history of the country,
[05:46]
about the fact that there were people
[05:47]
who questioned that it even happened
[05:49]
when Hamas terrorists themselves filmed
[05:52]
the atrocities in real time as it
[05:54]
unfolded. As somebody who is active in
[05:57]
the social media space, does it shock
[05:59]
you that young people are questioning
[06:02]
that it even happened when the evidence
[06:04]
was recorded by the perpetrators
[06:06]
themselves?
[06:07]
>> I'm going to go back to the Holocaust
[06:08]
and people are also denying the
[06:10]
Holocaust and I think that this is very
[06:11]
comparable. You know, my grandmother is
[06:13]
91 and she's still alive and the fact
[06:15]
that she has to hear that the Holocaust
[06:16]
never happened, same like the hostages
[06:19]
are hearing the fact that October 7th
[06:20]
never happened is a tragedy. And I think
[06:23]
that again here we're crossing the line
[06:25]
between what is freedom of speech and
[06:26]
what isn't because hate and freedom of
[06:28]
speech are two different things.
[06:30]
And I think that something needs to be
[06:31]
done about this legally as well.
[06:34]
>> Do you get a sense that this is
[06:35]
something that can gain traction the
[06:37]
world over?
[06:39]
Is this something that is being
[06:40]
prioritized when you speak to people
[06:42]
across the globe about these particular
[06:44]
problems?
[06:45]
>> I personally think that if the media
[06:47]
helps me push these things, yes, we can
[06:49]
come to solutions that can help prevent
[06:52]
hate online especially because I think
[06:54]
that online you can see emotions winning
[06:56]
over facts.
[06:58]
And I think this is the biggest
[06:59]
misconception we have today that the
[07:00]
people are thinking that Instagram
[07:02]
creates facts and it doesn't. These are
[07:04]
only emotions.
[07:05]
And that's the thing that needs to
[07:06]
differ. Even when I speak at
[07:07]
universities, I often ask the students,
[07:10]
"Where is your source of information
[07:11]
from?" A lot of people say social media.
[07:13]
Social media is not a source of
[07:15]
information and this needs to be very
[07:17]
clear.
[07:18]
>> And it is quite extraordinary that
[07:19]
despite these threats to your safety,
[07:22]
you still keep on speaking publicly. Are
[07:25]
there relatives or friends or members of
[07:26]
your community who are saying, "Don't do
[07:28]
it anymore. Rather stay safe. Stay at
[07:30]
home."
[07:31]
>> Yes, a lot of people ask me why I
[07:32]
complicate my life but
[07:35]
I answer with one thing saying that the
[07:36]
IDF risk their lives for our safety and
[07:39]
the safety of our country and the least
[07:40]
we can do is to speak up. We're not
[07:42]
risking our lives. We're not risking our
[07:43]
safety. We're only helping them to
[07:46]
protect our beautiful Israel and our
[07:47]
country.
[07:48]
>> And give us a sense of what it's like to
[07:50]
be a member of the Jewish community in
[07:53]
Canada right now. Just 24 hours ago, we
[07:56]
were conducting an interview with
[07:58]
somebody in Toronto describing the
[08:00]
pro-Palestinian protests that were
[08:02]
conducted at the same time that Israel
[08:05]
was mourning the people who were
[08:07]
butchered on the 7th of October. What
[08:09]
does it feel like to be a Jewish person
[08:11]
living in Canada seeing these kinds of
[08:14]
protests unfolding on a day like that
[08:16]
when people just wanted to remember and
[08:18]
mourn and grieve?
[08:19]
>> Unfortunately, I don't feel safe at all.
[08:21]
You know, when I saw how the police
[08:22]
treated my case and they pretty much
[08:24]
laughed in my face. I see that they're
[08:26]
not going to do anything with this as
[08:27]
well. But I think also it's the fault of
[08:29]
the people that not enough people are
[08:30]
speaking up. And you know, I try to
[08:32]
motivate the people to speak up and
[08:33]
basically to start saying that this is
[08:35]
not right. Because if people stay silent
[08:37]
and we're going to allow this to happen
[08:39]
and we're going to normalize these
[08:40]
things because we are already
[08:41]
normalizing these protests. We're taking
[08:43]
them away. It's Friday. It's Saturday.
[08:45]
Oh, there's another pro-Palestine
[08:46]
protest. We should not be normalizing
[08:48]
these things. What are we going to be
[08:50]
normalizing next?
[08:51]
>> Very briefly, I understand the modeling
[08:54]
industry has been hugely supportive of
[08:56]
your work. Briefly tell us why.
[08:59]
>> So, um after my PR agency kicked me out
[09:02]
on October 9th, I went back to my
[09:04]
modeling agency and I told them that if
[09:05]
anybody will want me on their cover,
[09:08]
um and they'll be doing an interview,
[09:09]
they're not allowed to delete anything
[09:10]
that I say. Everything needs to be
[09:11]
published. So, when every single
[09:13]
interview, I make sure that I say that
[09:14]
Israel has every right to defend itself
[09:16]
and I speak about my Jewish heritage
[09:17]
because
[09:18]
I believe that if you're able to speak
[09:20]
about your values, even if it gets
[09:21]
uncomfortable, then I think that those
[09:23]
are your values. Not only when it is
[09:25]
comfortable.
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Description
(by owner on YouTube)
Model and former Miss Slovakia faces online harassment for speaking out against antisemitism
