LONDON: The London mayoral candidate for the Conservative Party has come under scrutiny for her involvement in Facebook groups known for hosting Islamophobic content.

A joint investigation by Greenpeace-funded outlet Unearthed and The Guardian revealed that Susan Hall was a member of at least six private Facebook groups containing Islamophobic hate speech and abusive remarks directed at her opponent, Sadiq Khan.

The exposé revealed that the groups, presented as local grassroots campaigns against London’s clean air policies, are run by Conservative Party operatives including staff and activists.

Despite public exposure, Hall has declined to exit any of these Facebook groups and instead joined another one on Tuesday, according to Unearthed.

Khan told The Guardian these revelations could have an impact on the safety of his family and staff and has urged police to take action.

Reporters who infiltrated the 36-group network uncovered numerous Islamophobic and racist posts, including derogatory remarks about Khan, labeling him a “terrorist sympathizer” and a “khaki punt.” Some commenters even expressed willingness to pay for harm to be inflicted on him.

Alongside posts inciting vandalism, the investigation identified at least one YouTube video alleging that “Islamists” were “taking over Britain.”

While Conservative staff or politicians did not appear to directly engage with these racist posts, a party spokesperson unequivocally condemned posts in the groups.

However, Ami McCarthy, a political campaigner at Greenpeace UK, criticized Hall’s decision to join another group as a “last-ditch attempt to boost her ratings,” arguing that a “respectable politician would have issued an apology and left the Facebook groups” after the exposure of racism, Islamophobia, and posts inciting criminal damage.

Londoners will cast their votes for the new mayor on Thursday, with current mayor Khan leading in the polls, according to YouGov.

Hall has previously faced similar controversies related to Islamophobia. In February, she was called upon to apologize by Khan’s Labour party after suggesting that Jewish Londoners were “frightened” of Khan and retweeting a post from a far-right figure calling Khan the “mayor of Londonistan.”

Last November, Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain Zara Mohammed denounced Hall’s candidacy as “unacceptable,” highlighting the persistent nature of Islamophobia within the Conservative Party and its divisive impact on communities.

LONDON: Julien Hawari, CEO of the emerging social media platform Million, is promising to build “the future” of the sector.

Interviewed recently during the World Economic Forum’s special meeting in Riyadh, Hawari said: “Today, if you look at legacy social media (Instagram, TikTok, X), content creators are not really making money on social media. To make money, they need a third-party relation, which is the sponsor, the advertiser.

“The problem with this model is that the moment you open the door to someone to pay you, you allow this person to impose their narrative. So you’re not doing your narrative, you’re doing the narrative of the brand.”

Hawari, who promises to build “the future of social media,” said Million’s subscription model enables creators to monetize various forms of content, including pay-per-view, live streaming and e-commerce, all within the platform itself.

Million, a UAE-based startup launched in February across the Middle East and North Africa region, aims to empower content creators by giving them greater control and facilitate direct engagement with their audiences.

Hawari said he is developing a platform where users do not “lose their authenticity with their fans and audience base” and where creators can earn a larger portion of the revenue generated.

“We have an engagement-to-earn model. The more time they (creators) spend on the platform, the more money they will get. Seventy percent of advertisement revenue that comes to the platform is redistributed to the users,” Hawari said.

He added that creators can also charge their audiences a monthly subscription fee, similar to existing exclusive content platforms like Patreon.

Million is currently open to all types of content creators, including those in food, fashion and sports. However, creators must apply and undergo a review process before being invited onto the platform.

Platform regulation, including creator vetting and content monitoring, is a significant aspect of Million.

“We’re extremely sensitive to our culture, our situation in this part of the world. So we use technology … to ensure that content is within the norm of the region,” Hawari explained.

He said Million seeks to capitalize on an industry projected to grow significantly over the next few years, with the content-creator economy estimated to surge from $100 billion in 2023 to $480 billion by 2027.

“(Million) is really the first (app) of its kind. And the growth and the potential that this app has is way beyond only this part of the world,” Hawari said.

“Every day we get more and more creators that are more and more starting to learn and understand how they’re going to use this platform to make a living because at the end of the day, it’s their image, it’s their business, it’s their rules. So they decide what they want to sell (and) at what price they want to sell it.”