Instagram and Twitter have restricted the accounts of American rapper Kanye West, also known as “Ye”, following he posted remarks denounced as anti-Semitic.
A Twitter spokeswoman told AFP on Sunday that her account had been locked due to a violation of the social network’s rules.
And a spokeswoman for Meta, the parent company of Instagram, told AFP that the group had deleted content – without specifying which one – from Ye’s account for violating its rules.
Instagram has also restricted his account, which may involve preventing him from posting, writing comments or sending private messages, according to the same source.
Kanye West, who is black, has been causing a stir on social media since wearing a t-shirt proclaiming “White Lives Matter” during Paris Fashion Week.
It is a diversion of the famous slogan “Black Lives Matter” (“Black lives matter”), emblematic of the anti-racist demonstrations of the summer of 2020 in the United States, and a spade for the attention of the eponymous movement.
On Instagram, Ye, 45, posted screenshots of conversations with rapper Diddy on Friday, who criticized the t-shirt and his message.
“I will use you as an example to show Jewish people who told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me,” Kanye West wrote. The publication has been deleted, but copies are still visible on the internet.
Then on Twitter, he said he was going to attack Jews in a post that is no longer accessible, the social network indicating that it broke its rules.
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) accused Ye of promoting “Jew-hatred.”
“Kanye West should find a way to get his point across without resorting to anti-Semitism,” she said.
Accustomed to controversy, Ye, who suffers from bipolar disorder, was previously banned from Instagram posts for 24 hours in March, amid an acrimonious divorce from reality star Kim Kardashian.
The rapper is also on the verge of breaking with the Adidas brand, which wants to “reassess” its collaboration with the artist.
