Wiley Permanently Banned From Twitter Over Anti-Semitic Posts

The social media platform apologised for being slow to act after it took six days to suspend the grime artist's account over a series of anti-Semitic tweets.
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Wiley has been permanently suspended from Twitter, six days after he published a series of anti-Semitic tweets.

The grime artist – whose real name is Richard Cowie Jr – has been widely condemned for posting a series of anti-Semitic messages on Twitter and Instagram.

He was initially given a temporary ban, with the majority of his tweets remaining visible.

However, as of Wednesday, his account no longer has any content but for a message reading: “Account suspended.”

The move comes after social media users staged a 48-hour boycott of the platform in protest of Twitter’s handling of the incident.

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Wiley has been widely condemned for posting a series of anti-Semitic messages on Twitter and Instagram.
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Social networks including Facebook and Instagram have also faced criticism for not acting sooner to take down the content, with even Downing Street saying their response “has not been good enough”.

A Twitter spokesperson said: “Upon further investigation, our teams have permanently suspended the account in question for repeated violations of our hateful conduct policy.

“Let us be clear: hateful conduct has absolutely no place on our service and we strongly condemn anti-Semitism. We are sorry we did not move faster and are continuing to assess the situation internally.

“We deeply respect the concerns shared by the Jewish community and online safety advocates, and we will continue to work closely with government, NGOs, civil society partners and our industry peers to tackle anti-Semitism on Twitter.”