Sadiq Khan ‘concerned’ Islamophobic abuse puts young people off politics
Examples of Islamophobic abuse of the Mayor of London doubled in 2024, making it the second worst year for such abuse since he was first elected.
Sir Sadiq Khan is concerned that Islamophobic abuse aimed at him is putting people from ethnic minorities off getting involved in politics, sources close to the Mayor have said.
Analysis from the Greater London Authority (GLA) found Islamophobic abuse targeting Sir Sadiq more than doubled last year, making 2024 the second worst year of his mayoralty for such abuse.
The research found 27,830 cases of Islamophobic abuse last year, compared to 12,173 in 2023 and surpassed only by the 41,871 examples found in 2019, when Donald Trump described him on Twitter as “a disaster” and “a national disgrace”.
Sources within the GLA fear the true picture could be even worse, given the analysis cannot include private groups and only looks at posts where Sir Sadiq was mentioned directly.
A source close to Sir Sadiq said: “The Mayor is extremely concerned about the impact of hateful and abusive content online. This kind of content can have devastating real-life consequences, and it’s a problem which is getting worse not better.
“The Mayor is concerned that his treatment is discouraging young minority Brits from getting involved in politics or public life, meaning we’re losing a lot of talent.
“It could be having a chilling effect on ethnic minorities putting their head above the parapet.”
The GLA analysis found 124,390 Islamophobic mentions of Sir Sadiq since 2015, the year before he was elected Mayor of London for the first time.
Of these, almost 90% came from X, formerly Twitter, while a little more than half originated from outside the UK.
The source added: “The Mayor is calling for both more action from social media companies to protect their users and stronger regulation from governments to ensure they fulfil their responsibilities.”
Most of the abuse directed at Sir Sadiq in 2024 came from within the UK and coincided with an election year for the mayoralty.
That year also saw now-Reform MP Lee Anderson suspended from the Conservative Party after he claimed Sir Sadiq was controlled by “Islamists”.
The GLA analysis went on to say 2025 was already “on course to be another notable year” for Islamophobic abuse of the Mayor, with more than 2,000 examples recorded in the first two months of the year.
