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  6.  » UK criticises Twitter, Instagram for being slow to remove rapper Wiley’s posts

Introduction – July 27, 2020

Priti Patel was forced to resign as International Development Secretary after it was revealed she had secret meetings with Israeli ministers during a holiday in 2017.

British Home Secretary Pritti Patel has been quick to demand an explanation as to why social media giants were slow to remove allegedly “anti-Semitic” comments by a rap artist.
Patel’s comments came after rap artist Wiley claimed that Jews were exploiting Black artists in the music industry.
We haven’t seen the social media post so we are not going to comment on Wiley’s claim. However, Patel’s quick response on the issue is interesting. In 2017 she was forced to resign her position as International Development Secretary after she held a series of secret meetings with top Israeli officials.
Since then Patel has been appointed Home Secretary, a position comparable to what is known as Interior Minister in many countries.
That’s why her quick response as Home Secretary raises questions. Was she acting in Britain’s interests in this regard? Or in response to pressure from Zionist interest groups?

UK criticises Twitter, Instagram for being slow to remove rapper Wiley’s posts

Reuters – July 26, 2020

British interior minister Priti Patel said on Sunday she had asked Twitter and Instagram for a full explanation of why anti-Semitic comments made by rap artist Wiley remained on the social media platforms for so long.

Wiley is facing a police investigation after comments appeared on his social media accounts on Friday asserting that Jews systematically exploited Black artists in the music industry.

“The anti-Semitic posts from Wiley are abhorrent,” Patel said on Twitter.

“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.”

A company spokesperson for Facebook, which owns Instagram, said: “There is no place for hate speech on Instagram. We have deleted content that violates our policies from this account and have blocked access to it for seven days.”

Twitter has deleted some anti-Semitic statements on Wiley’s Twitter account. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Wiley, 41, whose real name is Richard Cowie, released a number one single in Britain in 2012 and had several other top 10 hits as a leading figure in grime music, a British genre of rap. He received a UK government honour for his contribution to music in 2018.

John Woolf, of A-List Management, has said he would no longer represent the artist.

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