London (AFP)
Twitter faces criticism from the British government and calls for a boycott on Monday after rapper Wiley posted messages, later deleted because they were considered anti-Semitic, on social media.
"The message is clear: Twitter needs to do better on this," Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, adding that the Tory leader shared the Home Secretary's view on the "heinous" nature of the messages posted on this network and on Instagram.
Wiley, considered one of the pioneers of grime music, was banned from Twitter and Instagram for seven days after a series of comments, then deleted, which police launched an investigation.
Interior Minister Priti Patel wrote to social media giants to ask why these messages remained visible for more than twelve hours before being taken down.
UK Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis also sent a letter to Twitter boss Jack Dorsey and Facebook CEO (Instagram owner) Mark Zuckerberg. "Your inaction equates to complicity," he wrote to them.
Mr. Mirvis took part in a 48-hour boycott of social networks launched on Monday, which was joined by figures such as singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Lisa Nandy, in charge of foreign affairs at Labor.
This party said on its official Twitter account to support the participants in the boycott while not participating in it because as an opposition party charged with holding the government to account, Labor "cannot afford to be absent from the social networks ".
The Prime Minister does not intend to participate in this boycott either, because of the need to communicate "important public health messages", said his spokesman.
© 2020 AFP