United Kingdom · AI Safety · The Guardian Technology
X accused of giving racists ‘impunity’ after refusing to bar N- and P-word posts
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X has refused to take down dozens of social media posts reported as “hate, abuse or harassment” in which prominent UK politicians, including Kemi Badenoch, have been racially abused.
Key facts
- On 15 May, the same day Ofcom announced X had made a voluntary commitment to remove illegal content within a 48-hour window, British Future reported 33 uses of the P-word targeting UK public figures
- But on 2 June, after Badenoch responded to Nigel Farage’s speech about Henry Nowak, there were 16 examples in a day, pointing to how much far-right political sentiment is driving the hate on X
- On 26 May, British Future reported another nine posts that used the P-word against British Asian public figures
- In May, researchers from the social inclusion thinktank British Future reported 30 posts from this year in which the Conservative party leader was called the N-word
Summary
In May, researchers from the social inclusion thinktank British Future reported 30 posts from this year in which the Conservative party leader was called the N-word. The Guardian understands X routinely takes action only when posts are reported to it as illegal under the UK’s Online Safety Act. Avaes Mohammad, a researcher with British Future’s British South Asian Bridgers cohesion project, said: “Many people will intuitively report racist posts as ‘hate, abuse or harassment’, but it seems X doesn’t consider it as hate. X eventually restricted visibility for two of the 30 messages in which Badenoch was called the N-word, and only after Sunder Katwala, the director of British Future, emailed the platform saying he should not be expected to fill out an “onerous” form reporting each one as illegal.