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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Twitter suspends Britain First leaders | Twitter suspends Britain First leaders |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Twitter has suspended the accounts of two leaders of a British far-right group shortly after revising its rules on hate speech. | |
| Paul Golding, Britain First's leader, and Jayda Fransen, his deputy, can no longer tweet and their past posts no longer appear. | Paul Golding, Britain First's leader, and Jayda Fransen, his deputy, can no longer tweet and their past posts no longer appear. |
| The organisation's official Twitter page has suffered the same fate. | |
| It appears that three of Ms Fransen's posts that President Trump retweeted have gone from his feed as a result. | It appears that three of Ms Fransen's posts that President Trump retweeted have gone from his feed as a result. |
| The messages had featured anti-Muslim videos and proved highly controversial when the American leader shared them in November. | The messages had featured anti-Muslim videos and proved highly controversial when the American leader shared them in November. |
| British Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said it had been "wrong for the president to have done this". | British Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said it had been "wrong for the president to have done this". |
| Ms Fransen and Mr Golding were arrested earlier this week over separate behaviour relating to Northern Ireland. | Ms Fransen and Mr Golding were arrested earlier this week over separate behaviour relating to Northern Ireland. |
| Restricted swastikas | |
| Twitter announced in October that it planned to take a tougher stance against hate symbols as well as those who posted messages that glorified or condoned violence. | Twitter announced in October that it planned to take a tougher stance against hate symbols as well as those who posted messages that glorified or condoned violence. |
| It has now said that those who express an affiliation with groups that use or celebrate violence to achieve their aims will be permanently suspended. | It has now said that those who express an affiliation with groups that use or celebrate violence to achieve their aims will be permanently suspended. |
| Hateful imagery - such as the Nazi swastika - can still be posted, but will initially be hidden behind a "sensitive media" warning, that visitors must disable to proceed. However, such content will no longer be allowed on a person's profile page. | Hateful imagery - such as the Nazi swastika - can still be posted, but will initially be hidden behind a "sensitive media" warning, that visitors must disable to proceed. However, such content will no longer be allowed on a person's profile page. |
| Those that featured examples will be asked to remove them. Repeat violators will be banned. | Those that featured examples will be asked to remove them. Repeat violators will be banned. |
| The company said the move would "reduce the amount of abusive behaviour and hateful conduct" on the network. | The company said the move would "reduce the amount of abusive behaviour and hateful conduct" on the network. |
| "If an account's profile information includes a violent threat or multiple slurs, epithets, racist or sexist tropes, incites fear, or reduces someone to less than human, it will be permanently suspended," it explained. | "If an account's profile information includes a violent threat or multiple slurs, epithets, racist or sexist tropes, incites fear, or reduces someone to less than human, it will be permanently suspended," it explained. |
| "We plan to develop internal tools to help us identify violating accounts to supplement user reports." | "We plan to develop internal tools to help us identify violating accounts to supplement user reports." |
| Twitter has promised a more robust system to appeal against decisions, but said that it was still in development. | Twitter has promised a more robust system to appeal against decisions, but said that it was still in development. |
| US bans | US bans |
| The company is not commenting about the action it is taking against individual accounts citing "privacy and security reasons". | The company is not commenting about the action it is taking against individual accounts citing "privacy and security reasons". |
| That has left it to others to play detective and report who else has been suspended. Many are using the hashtag #twitterpurge to do so. | That has left it to others to play detective and report who else has been suspended. Many are using the hashtag #twitterpurge to do so. |
| US accounts that appear to have fallen foul of the new rules include: | US accounts that appear to have fallen foul of the new rules include: |
| Several other members of the so-called alt-right have tweeted that fans should sign up to Gab.ai - a social network that pitches itself as a free speech alternative to Twitter - if they too are suspended. | Several other members of the so-called alt-right have tweeted that fans should sign up to Gab.ai - a social network that pitches itself as a free speech alternative to Twitter - if they too are suspended. |
| Generation Identity, a pan-European nationalist group that opened a British branch last month, has also had its UK and Ireland Twitter account suspended. | Generation Identity, a pan-European nationalist group that opened a British branch last month, has also had its UK and Ireland Twitter account suspended. |