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Twitter Suspends Major Alt-Right Accounts in Hate Speech Crackdown

by VOA News

   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.

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   "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.