London Mayor Sadiq Khan reveals racist abuse in powerful speech

London Mayor Said Khan has revealed some of the vile tweets directed towards him in a speech during his visit to the US.

London Mayor Said Khan at the SXSW conference.

London Mayor Said Khan at the SXSW conference. Source: Facebook: SXSW Festival

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has delivered a powerful speech in the US when he read out racist social media comments directed at him.

Mr Khan is the first British politician to speak at the South by Southwest (SXSW) technology conference in Austin, Texas, and he used the occasion to highlight the abuse black, Asian and minority ethnic people received when they pushed for a career in politics.

"I don't read this out to be portrayed as a victim, or to ask for sympathy, but ask yourself this 'what happens when young boys and girls from minority backgrounds see this kind of thing on their timeline or experience it themselves? Or someone thinking about becoming a politician?'" Mr Khan said before reading out six posts.




Mr Khan started with a tweet that read: "Deport all Muslims and make London white again, all problems will be gone."

Another read: "Sadiq Khan is just a gay muzzie [sic] terrorist."

"I say, kill the mayor of London and you will be rid of one Muslim," another tweet directed at Mr Khan read.

Mr Khan added it was important more was done to protect people on social media platforms from unwanted abuse.

"What about girls and women who have been driven from these platforms, reversing our long fight for gender equality?" Mr Khan asked.



"We simply must do more to protect people online."

Mr Khan said with the enormous amount of resources available to these giant companies, more had to be done to regulate online abuse and remove content that breaks local laws.

The London mayor said he would like to see countries follow Germany's lead in ensuring social media giants remove hate speech.

The German government introduced a new law in 2018 called NetzDG to force social media companies to delete offensive content or face heavy fines.

The SXSW conference brings together the interactive, film and music industries to help initiative discovery.


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2 min read

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By Riley Morgan



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