'This is so un-American': Internet roasts Bill de Blasio after mayor urges New Yorkers to SNITCH on those not doing social distancing by snapping their photo and texting it to the city (7 Pics)

Mayor Bill de Blasio wants New Yorkers to rat out their fellow citizens who are not following social distancing orders during the coronavirus pandemic by taking a photo of the violators on their cell phones and texting it to the city.

'It's simple: just snap a photo and text it to 311-692,' the mayor tweeted Saturday.

In a video posted to his Twitter account, de Blasio praised the people of his city, saying: 'You have been extraordinary at social distancing.'

'It has taken every fiber of our beings to figure out how to do this because we're warm, emotional people,' he said.

'We're used to being close to each other.' 

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio posted a video message on Saturday asking city residents to 'snap a photo and text it' if they happen to see anyone failing to adhere to social distancing guidelines

New Yorkers were seen walking through Central Park wearing face masks on Saturday

One Twitter user said de Blasio's proposal 'is so un-American'

Another Twitter user noted that both Anne Frank and Harriet Tubman were in hiding and that de Blasio's proposal likely would have meant outing them

Others said that de Blasio's proposal is more suited to the Soviet Union, where citizens routinely snitched on one another

Another Twitter user told de Blasio: 'Your communist roots are showing'

Another Twitter user called the New York mayor 'a Karen' - a derogatory term given to someone who complains about minor things

But the mayor added that 'there's some people who need to get the message.'

'And that means sometimes making sure the enforcement is there to educate people and make clear we've got to have social distancing,' the mayor said.

'When you see a crowd, when you see a line that's not distanced, when you see a supermarket that's too crowded, you can report it right away so we can get there to help fix the problem.'

He added: 'That's going to stop spreading this disease. And that's going to save lives.'

The mayor's idea was not well-received on social media, where Twitter users blasted him for suggesting that city residents snitch on each other.

One Twitter user noted that Anne Frank and Harriet Tubman were also quarantined.

Tubman was an abolitionist who escaped slavery and then risked her life to help other slaves go free.

Frank was a Dutch Jewish girl whose family went into hiding during the Nazi occupation of Holland. 

She was shipped off to the death camps after neighbors alerted the Nazi authorities to their hiding place. 

Another Twitter user called the mayor a 'Karen' – a popular internet meme used to describe a person, usually a middle-aged white woman, who complains about usually minor things not being to their liking.

Another Twitter user said that de Blasio 'asking people to snitch' is 'so un-American.'

Others commented that de Blasio's message is more suited to Soviet Communism.

In the Soviet Union of the 1930s, citizens routinely snitched on one another to the authorities in an effort to improve their living conditions and curry favor with the government.

One Twitter user joked: 'Comrade citizen! Report all suspected anti-distancing activities to friendly New York Ministry of Social Cleanliness!'

Another Twitter user commented: 'Your communist roots are showing.

'I noticed you said 'enforcement' and not law enforcement.

'Is that because the cops in your own city hate your guts?'

Others on Twitter noted that de Blasio himself has been spotted out and about during the coronavirus lockdown.

The mayor, who lives in his official mansion on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, has been spotted going to his gym in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

He and his wife have also been spotted walking outside in public – even while he and other state, local, and national leaders have asked Americans to remain indoors during the pandemic.