Site takes no action over hate posts against UK politicians including Kemi Badenoch, Shabana Mahmood and Zia Yusuf
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.
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. In each case the researchers used the platform’s “hate, abuse or harassment” reporting option. X refused to act in the majority of cases, despite repeated requests.
The Guardian understands X routinely takes action only when posts are reported to it as illegal under the UK’s Online Safety Act. In those cases, it restricts visibility in the UK, leaving the post unrestricted in other jurisdictions.
The ‘p’ word is a shortening of the word ‘Pakistani’ to the first four letters and is very much used abusively. When people came to the UK from Asia - India, Bangladesh and Pakistan mostly - starting in the 1950/60’s, the usual assortment of racist/fascist scum, being both hateful cunts and also deeply stupid, assumed anyone who looked Asian was Pakistani and so the p-word became a term of racial abuse for literally anyone who might appear to be from that part of Asia or have that heritage.