Politicians, Celebrities And Journalists Boycott Twitter Over Handling Of Anti-Semitism

“Your inaction amounts to complicity," Britain’s Chief Rabbi accuses social media site after anti-Semitic posts from Wiley's account were left visible for 12 hours.
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Influential actors, journalists, politicians and celebrities have started a 48-hour boycott of Twitter to protest its handling of anti-Semitic tweets from the account of grime artist Wiley.

Using the hashtag #NoSafeSpaceForJewHate, campaigners have accused Twitter of “ignoring anti-Semitism” after offensive remarks on Wiley’s account were still visible 12 hours after they were first posted.

Among those ditching the social media platform from 9am on Monday were Countdown’s Rachel Riley, singer Jessie Ware, Reverend Richard Coles and journalist James O’Brien.

Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said he would take part in the protest, having already written to bosses at Twitter and Facebook to tell them: “Your inaction amounts to complicity.”

Grime artist Wiley
Grime artist Wiley
ASSOCIATED PRESS

The JC will observe tomorrow's 48 hour @Twitter walk out.
We want to send the message to @jack that there must be #NoSafeSpaceForJewHate
By refusing to take serious action against Jew hate, Twitter enables & promotes racism. It must get its house in order. Please join us pic.twitter.com/iNJzfyl9iu

— The Jewish Chronicle (@JewishChron) July 26, 2020

A number of MPs from across parliament have also joined the boycott, including Labour’s David Lammy and Jess Phillips, Tory MP Chris Clarkson and Lib Dem leadership hopeful Layla Moran.

On Sunday, home secretary Priti Patel revealed she had written to Twitter and Instagram demanding a “full explanation” about why “abhorrent” anti-Semitic posts were allowed to remain online for so long.

The antisemitic posts from Wiley are abhorrent.

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.

— Priti Patel (@pritipatel) July 26, 2020

Wiley, whose real name is Richard Cowie, has been given a seven day ban from both Twitter and Instagram, PA Media reported, while some posts have been deleted from his accounts.

Twitter has yet to respond to HuffPost UK’s requests for comment. However, the social media platform has previously said that “abuse and harassment” have “no place” on its service and that it takes enforcement action over accounts which violate its rules addressing hateful conduct.

The Met Police is also investigating the anti-Semitic posts, with a spokesperson saying that the “relevant material is being assessed”.

The Campaign Against Anti-Semitism has called on the Cabinet Office to strip 41-year-old Wiley, who is an MBE, of the honour he was given in 2018.

We have written to the Chairman of @CabinetOfficeUK’s Honours Forfeiture Committee to ask that @WileyCEO be stripped of his MBE. This is a simple case and should not take a long time to decide. Rulings are not usually made public but, in the public interest, this one should be. pic.twitter.com/nWtvTBosUI

— Campaign Against Antisemitism (@antisemitism) July 26, 2020

In a letter to officials the group accused Wiley of bringing the honours system into “disrepute”, calling for him to be “stripped of his honour”.

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