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Fascist group Britain First rejoin Twitter after Musk takeover

BRITAIN FIRST was able to rejoin Twitter last Friday following the platform’s takeover by billionaire Elon Musk — but the account was suspended again two days later. 

The far-right group, whose leader has been imprisoned for hate crimes against Muslims, was banned from Twitter in 2017 for violating the platform’s hate speech rules after posting Islamophobic videos. 

Twitter has mechanisms to detect when banned users set up accounts. 

But the group reported that it was able to send posts without restrictions after relaunching its account on Friday evening, sparking concern about the direction of the platform under Mr Musk, who has been critical of content moderation. 

Among its first posts were videos of asylum-seekers in hotels.

Britain First had praised the Twitter owner as being “committed to freedom of expression.” 

However, while the account was still livestreaming on Saturday evening, by Sunday morning the page had been suspended. 

The far-right group’s return to Twitter, albeit for a small period, alarmed anti-racists, with Stand Up to Racism co-convener Weyman Bennet saying: “Promoting fascists and giving them a platform is not defending free speech by empowering those that want to destroy.

“They represent the greatest threat to democracy.”

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