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Twitter Reinstates White Nationalist Leader's Account (buzzfeed.com)

An anonymous reader quotes BuzzFeed: On Saturday evening, Twitter reinstated -- with verification -- the account of Richard Spencer, a leading figure of the so-called alt-right movement, and the head of the white nationalist think tank, The National Policy Institute. Spencer's account was suspended mid-November as part of a larger cull of prominent alt-right accounts... However, according to Twitter, Spencer was banned on a technicality: creating multiple accounts with overlapping uses. Twitter's multiple account policy was put in place as a safeguard to help curb dog piling and targeted harassment. [Twitter] offered to reinstate one of Spencer's accounts if he agreed to follow the company's protocols.
Vox says the move "raises the question of to what extent Twitter intends to enforce the 'hateful conduct' policy." But the suspension had also been criticized by David Frum, a senior editor at the Atlantic, who wrote that "The culture of offense-taking, platform-denying, and heckler-vetoing...lets loudmouths and thugs present themselves as heroes of free thought. They do not deserve this opportunity... today, a neo-Nazi has more right to build an arsenal of weapons and drill a militia than to speak on Twitter." But BuzzFeed points out that though the account's been reinstated, Spencer "is now tip-toeing around the company's three strike policy, which carries a permanent suspension."

2 of 470 comments (clear)

  1. Re:"White Nationalist" is racist term by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Spencer wants to create a nation of just white people. That's what is meant by the term.

  2. Re:"White Nationalist" is racist term by h33t+l4x0r · · Score: 5, Informative

    A nationalist (of any skin color) simply wants government to put the interests of his nation first

    White nationalist doesn't mean a nationalist who happens to be white and I think you know that. It means they are promoting a white nation, which historically has meant KKK-style antics. Black nationalism is different because, as a minority, they had to separate. There was never a black KKK that went around lynching white people.