A Telegraph journalist is facing a “Kafkaesque” investigation for allegedly stirring up racial hatred in a tweet last year.

Allison Pearson, an award-winning writer, has described how two police officers called at her home at 9.40am on Remembrance Sunday to tell her she was being investigated over the social media post from a year ago.

In an article for The Telegraph, she said she was told by one officer that “I was accused of a non-crime hate incident (NCHI). It was to do with something I had posted on X (formerly Twitter) a year ago. A YEAR ago? Yes. Stirring up racial hatred apparently.”

When she asked what she had allegedly said in the tweet, the officer said he was not allowed to disclose it. However, at this time last year, Pearson was frequently tweeting about the October 7 attacks on Israel and controversial pro-Palestine protests on the streets of London.

The officer also refused to reveal the accuser’s name. Pearson recalled: “‘It’s not the accuser,’ the PC said looking down at his notes, ‘they’re called the victim.’”

Essex Police said on Tuesday night that officers had opened an investigation under section 17 of the Public Order Act 1986 relating to material allegedly “likely or intended to cause racial hatred.”

A police spokesman said: “We’re investigating a report passed to us by another force. The report relates to a social media post which was subsequently removed. An investigation is now being carried out under section 17 of the Public Order Act.

“As part of that investigation, officers attended an address on Sunday 10 November to invite a woman to attend a voluntary interview on the matter.”

Police sources indicated that it was being treated as a criminal matter rather than an NCHI. However, it comes in the wake of an intense debate over the policing of protests and how forces should deal with alleged hate speech.