48-Hour Twitter walkout over hate speech comes to an end

• At 9am UK time today the 48 hour Twitter walkout will come to an end.
• The action took place following an inadequate response by Twitter to an antisemitic tirade by grime star Wiley, which started on Friday 24 July.
• Celebrities, politicians and activists from around the world joined the campaign, and agreed not to use the Twitter platform as a protest against the failure of Twitter to enforce its own rules on hate speech.
• Wiley’s is just one of a recent number of high profile and influential Twitter accounts that has incited racial hatred against Jews, receiving an insufficient response from the platform provider. This incident reflects the need for clear legislation, such as the Online Harm Reduction Bill.

A spokesperson for the campaign said:

"We have been overwhelmed by the support shown for the Twitter walkout campaign. Over the course of just a couple of days it grew from a grassroots initiative into a worldwide movement that could not be ignored.

People from every background came together to express their anger at the repeated failures of social media platforms, like Twitter, to protect their users from racist content. From Government bodies, politicians and community groups to musicians, artists, and broadcasters, household names to everyday households – their silence talked.

This Twitter walkout was not about one single case, but about sending a clear message: that anti-Jewish racism has no place on social media. The platform providers – not just Twitter, but Instagram, Facebook and all the others – must adhere to their own terms of service.

Our silence was heard around the world. Now we expect the social media companies to listen to what we are demanding, remove hate speech from their platforms and make social media a safer space for everyone.”