High-profile Twitter users are boycotting the platform for 48-hours after it was accused of being too slow to act over tweets by grime artist Wiley that have been denounced by the Home Secretary as anti-Semitic.
The musician published a string of posts targeting the Jewish community on Friday, which were still visible up to 12 hours later. One of them read: “Jewish people you think you are too important I am sick of you.”
Wiley has nearly half-a-million followers on Twitter alone. His comments prompted the hashtag #NoSafeSpaceForJewHate on as other Twitter users condemned them and the platform’s failure to act early.
Police are now investigating Wiley’s comments along with those made on the star’s Instagram account. He has been banned by both platforms for seven days.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said on Sunday that platforms need to act faster to remove “such appalling hatred” from their sites.
“The anti-Semitic posts from Wiley are abhorrent,” she said in a tweet.
“They should not have been able to remain on Twitter and Instagram for so long and I have asked them for a full explanation.
“Social media companies must act much faster to remove such appalling hatred from their platforms.”
Twitter and Facebook have both previously been accused of not doing enough to stop the spread of hate speech and harmful content on their platforms.
New regulation to better hold online companies to account is currently being prepared by the Government.
Britain’s Chief Rabbi accused Twitter and Facebook, which owns Instagram, of lacking “responsible leadership” in their response to Wiley’s posts.
In letters sent to Twitter boss Jack Dorsey and Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, Ephraim Mirvis said: “This cannot be allowed to stand. Your inaction amounts to complicity.”
The Jewish leader said he would join politicians, celebrities and other high-profile figures in a 48-hour boycott of the social media sites from today.
Among those confirming they would take part were shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy, Labour MP Stella Creasy and Conservative MP Brendan Clarke-Smith, who said: “Anti-Semitism has no place in society and there should be zero tolerance of it.”
Other prominent figures to announce their support included businessman and Apprentice star Lord Sugar, consumer champion Martin Lewis, TV presenter Rachel Riley and comedian Shappi Khorsandi.
Picture: Reuters/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo
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