On Sunday 26th July, the home secretary demanded a "full explanation" from Twitter and Instagram about anti-Semitic posts uploaded by rapper Wiley whilst stressing for their immediate removal.
‘Wearing My Rolex’ rapper has over 940,000 followers on both social media platforms where he had shared conspiracy theories whilst insulting Jewish people. He began posting offensive content on Friday night and his manager John Woolf's initial response was that, having known the artist for 12 years, "he does not truly feel this way".
Now, police are investigating these posts after both Twitter and Instagram temporarily suspended his account. Priti Patel said the posts were anti-Semitic and "abhorrent" and she insisted that the posts should have been taken down much earlier. She tweeted,
"Social media companies must act much faster to remove such appalling hatred from their platforms.
Mayor of London has echoed similar thoughts and in his letter to bosses of the two social media giants, Sadiq Khan said that when the material was published on their platforms, "the response - its removal and the banning of those responsible - should be immediate.
"It takes minutes for content shared on your platform to reach an audience of millions. When someone influential shares hate speech, in that time it may have an impact on the views of many who look up to them."
Khan stressed that this was "particularly disheartening" when social media had played a "positive role in amplifying the vital voices" of the Black Lives Matter movement recently.
