Board of Deputies President welcomes decision to delete account of Wiley following his extended antisemitic rant

Board of Deputies President Marie van der Zyl has welcomed Facebook’s decision to delete the account of Wiley, the rapper who launched an extended antisemitic rant across social media last weekend.

She said: “We are pleased that Facebook have completely removed Wiley’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, following our strong recommendation to them earlier today that they take these steps. This sends a strong message to those who believe that they can use social media platforms to spread hate and we hope that this is just the beginning of a crackdown on those who do so.

“As mentioned before, we will also be urging Twitter to permanently ban Wiley, especially as he as he made it clear on earlier today that he intends to exhibit even worse behaviour when allowed back onto the platform. Indeed, he should now be banned from all social media platforms.

“As with Facebook, this is part of a larger conversation on racist, misogynistic and homophobic accounts, which have been allowed to operate with impunity for far too long.”