Boris Johnson criticises Wiley’s antisemitic comments as ‘abhorrent’ and condemns Twitter’s response

Prime minister is not taking part in 48-hour boycott of social media site to protest at failure to take down hateful messages

Boris Johnson regards rapper Wiley’s string of antisemitic tweets as “abhorrent” and believes Twitter’s response was “not good enough”, the prime minister’s official spokesman has said.

But Mr Johnson’s spokesman said the PM was not taking part in a 48-hour boycott of the social media site observed by some MPs and celebrities in protest at its failure to take down the messages.

The home secretary, Priti Patel, wrote to Twitter and Instagram on Sunday demanding a “full explanation” of why the rapper’s offensive comments were allowed to remain on his accounts for 12 hours after they were first posted.

And the PM’s spokesman today told reporters: “The prime minister would echo the comments of the home secretary yesterday that the antisemitic posts by Wiley are abhorrent. The prime minister would also echo the home secretary’s comments that this material should not have been able to remain on Twitter and Instagram for so long.”

The spokesman added: “Social media companies need to go much further and faster in removing hateful comment such as this.”

“The home secretary has written to Twitter and Instagram seeking an explanation and we expect to be given a full response. The message is clear: Twitter needs to do better on this.”

Politicians including Liberal Democrat leadership candidates Ed Davey and Layla Moran have joined celebrities such as Jason Isaacs, Rachel Riley and Armando Iannucci in a two-day boycott of Twitter under the hashtag #NoSafeSpaceForJewHate.

But Mr Johnson posted a video on Twitter this morning of himself talking about his efforts to lose weight as part of the government’s anti-obesity drive.

His spokesman said the PM was not joining the boycott because of the need to communicate “important public health messages” during the coronavirus pandemic.

“But at the same time we have set out very clearly that Twitter’s performance has not been good enough in response to the antisemitic comments made by Wiley and it needs to do much better,” the spokesman added.