POLICE are looking into complaints about a post shared on Zack Polanski’s social media which Nigel Farage has claimed incited violence against him.
But how did the Green Party leader get into trouble for a post he didn’t make himself?
The offending post was shared on his Instagram account – and has now been deleted.
It was made, the Green Party said, by another user who had sent a request with Polanski to “collaborate” on the post.
This means that one user posts the image – in this case a man wearing a T-shirt depicting a guillotine alongside the song lyric “we’re only making plans for Nigel” – while another shares it to their profile.
That gives the impression that the two users have worked together on the image – for instance if two users who made videos made one together – and gives both a chance of getting engagement from the other’s followers.
The National asked Meta – the owner of Instagram – what its collaborate feature does through the company’s AI help chatbot.
The chatbot said: “On Instagram, a collaboration (or Collab) allows you to co-author posts or reels with another account. When you invite someone to collaborate and they accept, their username will appear on the post or reel alongside yours.
“Here's how it works: The collaborative post or reel will be shared with both your followers and the collaborator's followers. It will appear on both of your profiles. Both accounts can see all likes and comments on the content.
“Either the original creator or the collaborator can remove the collaboration at any time.
“Your account's privacy settings determine who you can invite to collaborate. For example, private accounts can only invite public or private accounts that follow them.
“This feature is different from tagging or mentions because collaborators are listed as co-authors, and the content is shared with both audiences.”
Why is Zack Polanski facing criticism?
Reform UK have accused the Green Party politician of inciting violence against their leader, Farage.
Farage said: “This is what Zack Polanski has just posted on his Instagram.
“If I was to post anything as inciteful then I would expect to be arrested, and so should Polanski.”
In response, the Green Party said that Polanski was unaware of the content of the post – which appeared to have been included in the middle of more than one photo from a gallery of pictures of an event in Bristol – and deleted it after he was notified.
A spokesperson said: “After attending a public event, Zack accepted a request to collaborate on a post with several images.
“Once this image was brought to his attention he immediately unshared the post. He unequivocally does not support this type of dangerous message.”
Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s home affairs spokesperson, invoked the recent murder of Ann Widdecombe, writing: “Zack Polanski has posted to his 713k Instagram followers a photo of a man in a T-shirt calling for the beheading of Nigel Farage. To do this just two weeks after our friend Ann was murdered is staggering.
“Polanski is inciting murder. It must be treated as such by the police.”
Joshua Kerry, 28, from Rotherham in South Yorkshire, has been charged in connection with Widdecombe's murder. A court heard last week the 78-year-old politician was hit 21 times over the head with a hammer.
What have the police said?
Reform UK reported the matter to the Metropolitan Police, which has said it is looking into the matter.
A spokesperson for the force said: “On Monday, July 27, we received a third-party report relating to an image shared on social media.
“We take reports of this nature extremely seriously, and officers are conducting enquiries into the matter.”
