Twitter suspends Jeremy Vine for breaking its ‘hateful content’ rules
Twitter suspends Jeremy Vine for breaching ‘hateful content’ rules after naming a woman who opposes a ‘dangerous’ cycle path – fearing he would breach BBC impartiality rules
Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine has been suspended from Twitter for breaking the ‘hate content’ rule by naming a woman who campaigned against a cycle path.
The cycling enthusiast’s account was blocked after reports of an altercation with the woman who leads an anti-cycling group in Chiswick, west London, where he lives.
It was part of his crusade to preserve what has been described as a ‘dangerous’ bike path on a main road nearby.
The Mail can also reveal that concern is growing among BBC bosses over Vine’s regular anti-motorist tweeting. Some fear he risks violating the company’s impartiality rules.
One source compared his social media activities to that of Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker, who was taken off the air earlier this year for saying the government’s Rwandan refugee policy “reminds us of the debate in Germany in the the tirthies’.
Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine has been suspended from Twitter for breaking the ‘hateful content’ rule by mentioning a woman who campaigned against a cycle path
The Mail can also reveal that concern is growing among BBC bosses over Vine’s regular anti-motorist tweeting
A BBC insider said: ‘[Vine] has not been curbed, but it is becoming a problem and has certainly been noticed by some executives. The view is very much “watch this space.”‘
Last week, Vine, 57, who earns between £240,000 and £294,999 for his lunchtime shows on Radio 2, was banned from Twitter, where he has 788,000 followers. The social media giant said: “We have locked @jeremyvine’s account for violating our hateful content rule. We learned that they were violating our hateful content rule through several reports we received about their behavior.”
It came after Vine accused a woman who runs a group called One Chiswick of allowing abuse on her social media.
The group has campaigned for the redesign or removal of what it says is a ‘dangerous’ cycle path along Chiswick High Road that Vine uses.
According to Twitter’s terms of service, offensive tweets must be deleted in order to unlock accounts.
The Mail searched Vine’s Twitter timeline for the post in the middle of the row, but couldn’t find it.
The presenter said yesterday: ‘As far as I know my account was not blocked; all my tweets comply with Twitter’s rules; none of them have been removed. The whole thing is a bit of a mystery.’
A BBC spokesman said: ‘Jeremy is aware of his duty under the BBC’s social media guidelines.’