Instagram under fire for hosting Bob Vylan ‘death to the IDF' video

Telegraph

10 hours ago

Instagram is under pressure to remove Bob Vylan's chant of 'death, death to the IDF' after the Glastonbury controversy attracted a surge in online interest in the group.
A video of the group's Saturday afternoon performance, shared by the band's frontman on Instagram, has been viewed more than 5m times.
The page for the duo's singer Pascal Robinson-Foster – known as Bobby Vylan – has seen its followers increase almost fourfold in the last week amid continuous controversy.
The surge in online attention has also led to a spike in the band's Spotify listeners and viewers on YouTube.
The BBC has not made footage of the punk/rap duo's Glastonbury set available on demand and has apologised for not cutting away from the live broadcast.
During the performance, the group led the audience in chants of 'Death, death to the IDF!' and chanted 'Free! Free!' with the crowd responding 'Palestine!'.
The footage has been viewed millions of times on Instagram, despite the social network banning incitements to violence.
The app's ban extends to calling for the death of an army's soldiers, although Instagram's parent company Meta has made exceptions such as allowing Ukrainians to wish violence against Russian invaders.
A spokesman for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: 'Bob Vylan's calls for death and destruction should have no place on streaming or social media platforms. We have long called for tougher regulations on social media sites and that social networks proactively search for and remove hate speech from their platforms.
'It is outrageous that footage that the BBC removed for its extremism is now being proudly shared on Instagram, driving up streams and followers. Platforms must not allow musicians or activists inciting violence to profit or gain influence by spreading this poison.'
Footage of the performance was posted by the celebrities4palestine page and shared by Bobby Vylan.
Meta has toughened its stance against antisemitic posts, including removing posts targeting 'Zionists', although its Oversight Board last year ruled that messages featuring the phrase 'from the river to the sea' do not glorify Hamas and should remain online.
Bobby Vylan's Instagram followers have risen from 71,000 to 260,000, according to figures from analytics company Chartmetric.
The band's Spotify followers have climbed by 16pc in the last week and YouTube subscribers have risen by 29pc, although many artists see a rise after Glastonbury.