Petition launched to get Tommy Robinson and Katie Hopkins kicked off Twitter

A petition has been launched to get Tommy Robinson and Katie Hopkins kicked off the social media website beforehand often known as Twitter – simply hours after they had been reinstated.

X, previously often known as Twitter, was taken over by self-styled “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk simply over a 12 months in the past. Since then he has reinstated accounts beforehand barred from the platform. Whilst a few of these had been unknown accounts who had violated the platform’s guidelines, others had been extra famend – together with controversial influencer Andrew Tate, who stays banned from YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

Similarly, after US President Donald Trump was barred from the positioning after the January 6 revolt, he was reinstated as properly – however regardless of being tweeted by Musk, the US politician stays on his personal social media platform amid his personal ongoing authorized troubles.

Both Robinson, founding father of the English Defence League whose actual title is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, and Hopkins, a former Apprentice candidate, thanked Elon Musk of their first posts since their accounts had been reinstated.

Robinson was banned in 2018 and Hopkins in 2020. Both had been fast to thank the controversial billionaire of their first posts again on the positioning. Speaking on the time, Twitter because it was then recognized, mentioned Hopkins was eliminated to “keep Twitter safe” – she had over a million followers.

Hopkins had in contrast asylum seekers to cockroaches and claimed a heartbreaking photograph of a useless Syrian boy mendacity on a seaside was staged. Far-right agitator Robinson, who has variety of legal convictions, had been accused of posting Islamophobic content material on Twitter. Recently on the positioning he has argued he was by no means convicted over such allegations.

Mark Rowley, talking in 2018 earlier than he grew to become the Metropolitan police commissioner, mentioned that there was “no doubt” that the fabric Robinson posted on-line had contributed to the radicalisation of Darren Osbourne – who attacked the Finsbury Park mosque.

Hope Not Hate, an anti-racist organisation that combats the far-right, launched the petition on-line. They mentioned: “Reinstating Tommy Robinson and Katie Hopkins means Elon Musk will be allowing hateful content and misinformation to take place on his watch on X/Twitter.

“At a time of when extremists on all sides are whipping up fear and hate over the conflict in the Middle East, often on X/Twitter, allowing two of Britain’s most prominent anti-Muslim activists back will only make matters worse.”

Click right here to view or signal the petition.

• A earlier model of this text incorrectly mentioned Tommy Robinson based Britain First. He based the English Defence League and led it from 2009 -2013.