Priti Patel has demanded that Twitter and Instagram explain the length of time it took to remove “abhorrent” anti-Semitic posts made by Grime artist Wiley.
The musician has been given a seven-day Twitter ban and was dropped by his management company over accusations of anti-Semitism.
One post on Friday on an unverified Twitter account in Wiley’s name read: “I would challenge the whole world of Jewish community on my own I am not scared I can handle them.”
After tweeting a stream of "abhorrent" comments, Wiley posted an Instagram video in which he said: “Crawl out from under your little rocks and defend your Jewish privilege."
Twitter has been accused of “ignoring anti-Semitism” as his tweets were still visible 12 hours after they were first posted. However, a number of tweets have now been removed and he has received a ban.
However, on Sunday the Home Secretary called on Instagram and Twitter to explain why the posts were left up so long, saying they must "act much faster" to remove such posts.
She tweeted: “The antisemitic posts from Wiley are abhorrent.
“They should not have been able to remain on Twitter and Instagram for so long and I have asked them for a full explanation.
“Social media companies must act much faster to remove such appalling hatred from their platforms.”
Twitter said Wiley’s account had been temporarily locked “for violating our hateful conduct policy”.
In a statement, it added: “Abuse and harassment have no place on our service and we have policies in place – that apply to everyone, everywhere – that address abuse and harassment, violent threats, and hateful conduct.
“If we identify accounts that violate any of these rules, we’ll take enforcement action.”
Meanwhile, Facebook, which owns Instagram, said in a statement: “There is no place for hate speech on Instagram.
"We have deleted content that violates our policies from this account and are continuing to investigate.”
Wiley’s manager John Woolf said A-List Management had “cut all ties” with the musician following the series of social media posts.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism has asked police to investigate the content and called for Wiley’s accounts to be shut down “to prevent further outpouring of anti-Jewish venom”.
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Mr Woolf, who is Jewish, wrote on Twitter on Saturday morning: “Following Wiley’s antisemitic tweets today we at @A_ListMGMT have cut all ties with him. There is no place in society for antisemitism.”
He had earlier said he did not support or condone what Wiley posted but that he would speak to him privately and “help educate him”.
