On Friday morning, the Twitter trending topic "Kill all Jews" appeared in many New Yorkers' local trending sections.

That phrase had been the subject of discussion following the vandalism of Union Temple, a Brooklyn synagogue that was set to host a political event with Broad City star Ilana Glazer on Thursday. The incident was heavily covered by local media, resulting in a number of stories featuring the anti-Semitic phrase that were then shared on Twitter.

Some Twitter users started to notice the trending topic on Friday morning and began wondering why the platform was promoting the hateful phrase, which was a violation of the social network's own rules. According to Twitter, it does not permit profanity or words that "incite hate on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease" in its trending section. Topics are set by algorithms but can later be reviewed by human moderators.



"This phrase should not have appeared in trends, and we’re sorry for this mistake," a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement. "This was trending as a result of coverage and horrified reactions to the vandalism against a synagogue in New York. Regardless, it should not have appeared as a trend."

