A tweet that will see the wife of a Conservative councillor serve ‘lengthy jail time’ did not violate X’s rules, the BBC has found.
Lucy Connolly, who is married to West Northamptonshire councillor Raymond Connolly, pleaded guilty at Northampton Crown Court on Monday to a charge of inciting racial hatred by publishing and distributing “threatening or abusive” written material on X, formerly Twitter.
Details of the offence were not opened by the prosecutor in the case but a previous hearing was told the 41-year-old childminder posted a message which read: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the bastards for all I care… If that makes me racist, so be it.”
Adjourning Connolly’s case for sentence at Birmingham Crown Court on October 17, Judge Adrienne Lucking KC told her that she is likely to receive a “substantial custodial sentence”, and will be remanded in custody until that point.
An X user who initially flagged the post on the platform said he alerted administrators to it but had been rebuffed in an automated response.
They told the BBC: “I’m shocked and appalled. If they can ignore this clear-cut breach of their alleged rules of conduct and go against UK law, there is clearly a grave problem with their supposed moderation process.”
X hasn’t responded to the BBC’s previous requests for comment – and says online it protects and defends the users’ voice.
In response to the complaint, X emailed: “After reviewing the available information, we want to let you know our automated systems found that [Connolly’s X account] hasn’t broken our rules against posting violent threats. We know this isn’t the answer you’re looking for.”
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