From a stage in the heart of Silicon Valley, London mayor Sadiq Khan called on tech companies to rein in hate speech, speaking about his own experience of abuse amplified by one of the most powerful figures on social media.
He was referencing Donald Trump, who frequently used the mayor as an online punching bag, calling Khan “a stone-cold loser” and “very dumb”. Khan, whose family are from Pakistan, said the amount of racial abuse he received on social media increased by 2,000% under Trump and required him to receive police protection.
“The worst thing globalization has brought to social media is the proliferation of hate speech,” said Khan, speaking at Stanford University as part of his first visit to the US since the pandemic began.
Khan emphasized the power that companies have to act, saying that in the year after Twitter banned Trump over his role in inciting the attack at the US Capitol, he received “the least racial abuse of any time over five years”. Abuse directed at Khan declined by 75% in 2020, the year Trump lost the election, and a further 40% in 2021 after the ban from Twitter, according to statistics from London’s city hall.
The speech came just hours after Elon Musk, who is poised to take over Twitter, announced he would allow the former US president to return to the platform.
Khan stopped short of condemning Musk’s plans, saying he believes “passionately in freedom of speech” and trusts that those who lead Twitter will “make sure that you aren’t seeing...
Read Full Story: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/may/10/sadiq-khan-big-tech-silicon-valley-trump
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