CAMPAIGNERS blasted X/Twitter today for failing to remove a fresh racist post targeting England and Arsenal ace Bukayo Saka.
It included a vile photoshopped image and called him an “ape” — yet Elon Musk’s social media firm insisted it “did not violate safety policies”.
Twitter/X failed to remove a racist post targeting England footballer Bukayo SakaThe FA / Getty
Equality think-tank British future slammed Twitter/X boss Elon Musk for a ‘systemic failure’ to tackle the most obvious and appalling racismReuters
The disgusting tweet follows race-hate messages after the Euros final in 2021 in which Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho missed in a penalty shoot-out defeat to Italy.
Furious Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate branded those offensive rants “unforgivable” and X/Twitter promised a crackdown.
The latest taunt — sparking fears of more to come in this summer’s tournament — followed Arsenal’s Champions League match against Bayern Munich on Tuesday.
Saka, 22, believed he should have had a last-minute penalty but some posters accused him of trying to con the ref.
The troll wrote that he “needs to be humbled before he ruins this sport any further” and posted the image.
User Andrew Howard reported the post immediately. He wrote in an update: “Three days later, X says, ‘Nah, doesn’t violate our safety policies’, so it’s still up.
“I guess that means it will be open season again this summer on England’s players. Pathetic.”
Sunder Katwala, director of equality think-tank British Future, said: “There’s been a systematic failure by X/Twitter under Elon Musk to tackle even the most obvious and appalling racism, like this tweet.
“It breaks all the promises they made after the Euros. And, if they don’t get their house in order, this year’s tournament will be blighted again. They need to sort it out.”
Tory MP Tracey Crouch, vice-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Football Supporters, said: “This post is disgusting and simply unacceptable.
“X should take it down immediately and put measures in place to stop another torrent of racist abuse towards football players.”
Earlier tonight, the FA also called on X/Twitter to remove the post.
A spokesman told The Sun on Sunday: “Incidents of racism and discrimination have no place in football or wider society, and we are very concerned about the rise in online abuse in recent years.
“We worked closely with the Government to ensure the newly introduced Online Safety Act effectively tackles offensive and discriminatory abuse online, and better protects social media users.
“We continue to urge the Government to ensure the independent regulator, Ofcom, has sufficient powers to hold social media companies to account.
“We also implore social media companies to introduce better tools so users are free from damaging discrimination.”
According to the rules and policies section of X/Twitter’s website, “hateful conduct” is a violation of its safety guidelines.
It defines this as attacking people “on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease”.
The penalty for violations depends on the severity and the individual’s previous record. It can include suspending the account that posted it.
However, in a direct reply to Mr Howard’s complaint, it said: “After reviewing the available information, we want to let you know it hasn’t broken our safety policies.
“If this account breaks our policies in future, we’ll notify you.”
Researchers found the use of offensive slurs increased after Musk took over the site in October 2022.
But the billionaire claims “hate speech impressions” have fallen.
X/Twitter was approached for comment earlier today.
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