Britain’s Chief Rabbi has accused Twitter and Facebook of lacking “responsible leadership” in their response to anti-Semitic posts by grime artist Wiley.
Ephraim Mirvis said he would join politicians, celebrities and other high-profile figures in a 48-hour boycott of the social media sites from Monday.
The two platforms have been heavily criticised for their slow response to Wiley’s posts, with Twitter accused of “ignoring anti-Semitism” as his tweets were still visible 12 hours after they were first posted.
In letters sent to Twitter boss Jack Dorsey and Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, the Jewish leader said: “This cannot be allowed to stand. Your inaction amounts to complicity.”
“This cannot be allowed to stand. Your inaction amounts to complicity.” The Chief Rabbi writes to @Jack and Mark Zuckerberg to demand #NoSafeSpaceForJewHate pic.twitter.com/s0AFO4HPSx
— Chief Rabbi Mirvis (@chiefrabbi) July 26, 2020
Police are now investigating a series of comments made on the musician’s Instagram and Twitter accounts on Friday that led to him being banned from both for seven days.
Using the hashtag #NoSafeSpaceForJewHate, a number of high-profile Twitter users have announced their support for a planned boycott of the site in protest over the company’s handling of the incident.
Among those confirming they would take part was shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy, who tweeted her support alongside the message “#Solidarity”, as did fellow 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.”
#Solidarity pic.twitter.com/eoXOYixvlE
— Lisa Nandy (@lisanandy) July 27, 2020
I’ll also be joining the 48 hour Twitter walk out. Anti-semitism has no place in society and there should be zero tolerance of it. #NoSpaceForJewHate https://t.co/vp6WzCg1Wb
— Brendan Clarke-Smith MP #StayAlert (@Bren4Bassetlaw) July 27, 2020
The official Labour Party account tweeted that it supports those taking part but as the official opposition with the duty of holding the Government to account it “cannot afford to be absent from social media platforms”.
Other prominent figures to announce their support included Lord Sugar, consumer champion Martin Lewis, TV presenter Rachel Riley and comedian Shappi Khorsandi.
I'll be silent on Twitter for 48hrs from 9am tmrw in support of #NoSpaceForJewHate. As a proud British Jew, I want to stand in solidarity against anti-jewish racism, & all racism. Twitter must improve.@MoneySavingExp'll reduce its tweets to only core consumer finance help news
— Martin Lewis (@MartinSLewis) July 26, 2020
It seems that @twitter is ignoring antisemitism and Jew hate by enabling the likes of @WileyCEO to spread poison on their platform.
So from 9am today, let's show Twitter it has to act. Please join me on a 48 hour walkout.#nospaceforjewhate pic.twitter.com/fryTDO7rYH
— Lord Sugar (@Lord_Sugar) July 27, 2020
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.
Twitter has previously said “abuse and harassment” have “no place” on its service and that it takes enforcement action over accounts which violate its rules addressing hateful conduct.
