Last month, Twitter suspended a number of accounts associated with the alt-right movement. Among those suspended was Richard Spencer, a white nationalist and leading figure of the movement. After he was banned, Spencer claimed Twitter was trying to “airbrush the Alt-Right out of existence,” and accused the site of “purging people based on their views.”
Well, now Spencer and his alt-right views, are back.
I'm back. pic.twitter.com/ngfq4aHWtc
— Richard ?? Spencer (@RichardBSpencer) December 11, 2016
On Saturday, Twitter reinstated Spencer’s account.
Many assumed Spencer was banned for violating Twitter’s rules against “violent threats, harassment [and] hateful conduct.” This includes promoting violence against, threatening or attacking people “on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease.”
However, a Twitter spokesperson told The Washington Post that Spencer was actually banned for having multiple accounts with overlapping uses.
“Our rules explicitly prohibit creating multiple accounts with overlapping uses,” said the spokesman. “When we temporarily suspend multiple accounts for this violation, the account owner can designate one account for reinstatement.”
Back in November, the National Policy Institute (NPI) and Radix Journal were also suspended from Twitter. Both are operated by Spencer.
On Sunday, Spencer tweeted that he is working to get those accounts restored, as well.
I worked on getting my personal reinstated first. Next will be Radix, NPI, _AltRight_, and WSP.
— Richard ?? Spencer (@RichardBSpencer) December 11, 2016
Despite this, Twitter said that it will only allow him to use one – the other’s will remain inactive.
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The Washington Post published the official email Twitter sent to Spencer before restoring his personal account:
Hello,
As referenced in our November 18, 2016 communication, creating serial and/or multiple accounts with overlapping use is a violation of the Twitter Rules (https://twitter.com/rules[twitter.com]).
Please select one account for restoration; the others will remain suspended. This account will need to comply fully with the Twitter Rules (https://twitter.com/rules[twitter.com]). Please reply to this email with the username of the account you would like reinstated and we will make sure to answer your request in a timely manner.
Thanks,
Paul Town, Pax Dickinson, Ricky Vaughn and John Rivers – all of whom are associated with the alt-right movement – were also banned from the social media site back in November. Twitter has not reinstated any of their accounts, or specified why they were suspended to begin with.
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