Accessibility links

Breaking News

Twitter Suspends Major Alt-Right Accounts in Hate Speech Crackdown


Community members take part in a protest to demand stop hate crime during the funeral service of Imam Maulama Akonjee, and Thara Uddin in the Queens borough of New York City, Aug. 15, 2016.
Community members take part in a protest to demand stop hate crime during the funeral service of Imam Maulama Akonjee, and Thara Uddin in the Queens borough of New York City, Aug. 15, 2016.

A number of Twitter accounts belonging to far-right, or alt-right, activists were suspended Wednesday, following the company's announcement that it would crack down on hate speech.

Self-declared white-nationalist National Policy institute, its magazine, and its head Richard Spencer all had accounts that have been suspended, as well as alt-right activists such as Pax Dickinson and Paul Town.

Spencer, who had a verified account on Twitter, has said he wanted a number of minorities kicked out of the country, and has called for "peaceful ethnic cleansing", according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Anti-Muslim Hate Crime Following Trump Muslim Ban Speech
Anti-Muslim Hate Crime Following Trump Muslim Ban Speech

"The Twitter Rules prohibit targeted abuse and harassment, and we will suspend accounts that violate this policy," Twitter said in a statement.

But alt-right supporters have said the suspensions are a "purge".

"I am alive physically, but digitally speaking there have been execution squads across the alt-right," Spencer said in a video he posted on YouTube. "It is corporate Stalinism."

The alt-right has been described as an alternative to mainstream conservatism, but others say it is a collection of white supremacists and racists.

Twitter has suspended high-profile accounts before, including those of alt-right activists, but never so many at once. Normally, suspended accounts are unlocked after a short period of time, but earlier this year it permanently banned Breitbart technology editor Milo Yiannopoulos over accusations that he helped incite abuse of actress Leslie Jones.

  • 16x9 Image

    VOA News

    The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

XS
SM
MD
LG