Over the weekend, the hashtag "gays must die" become the most popular topic to trend on Twitter in France, prompting an LGBT rights organization to announce it plans to sue the social media website, reports UPI.
Because the hashtag allegedly violates hate speech laws in the country, the pro-LGBT group known as the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, or IDAHO, says its members will sue Twitter to release information on users of the hashtag to authorities to be investigated.
"We support free expression, and we understand that there are some people who simply don't like gay people, but this is a call for the extermination of the gay community," IDAHO member Alexander Marcel told UPI. "Twitter hasn't deleted a single homophobic tweet nor removed a single homophobic hashtag from its list of most popular trending terms."
In addition to #gaysmustdie, #TeamHomophobes and #LetsBurnGayPeople were also popular hashtags that gained traction in France over the weekend.