X accused of giving racists ‘impunity’ after refusing to bar N- and P-word posts

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. 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. Our research found that it was only when a post is described as illegal, which th