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High profile Twitter users call for boycott of site over antisemitism

Twitter criticised over inaction in response to two day stream of antisemitic abuse by grime artist

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A group of high-profile Twitter users, backed by leading community figures, writers, celebrities and politicians have launched a campaign for a 48 hour 'walkout' from the site from Monday, in protest at Twitter's refusal to take proportionate action against rapper Wiley.

The grime star - who has nearly 500,000 followers - published a series of antisemitic posts on Twitter and Instagram on Friday and Saturday 

But Twitter merely imposed a 'suspension', leaving almost all the posts still on the site.

Wiley is the latest in a long line of accounts with large numbers of followers who have posted antisemitic tweets.

A spokesman for the group said: “The action we are announcing today is to show that the Jewish community and its allies have had enough of platforms like Twitter acting as loudspeakers for antisemitism, amplifying the hatred of Jews to millions of other social media users.

"As soon as Wiley began posting his antisemitic tweets on Friday Twitter was flooded with requests to have his account taken down. In response Twitter deleted a couple of his tweets and gave the grime star a brief suspension. It was a completely inadequate response.

"Unless there is an immediate change in how Twitter operates then there will be further action, including legal action, against the organisation.”

The walkout is being promoted using the hashtag #NoSafeSpaceForJewHate

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