Twitter has suspended several accounts linked to the alt-right movement, which has been associated with white nationalism.
The move comes as Twitter is rolling out a series of actions to curb hate speech and abuse on its platform as criticism has mounted of the company’s failure to rein in harassment, racism, sexism and anti-Semitism.
Suspended accounts include those of Richard Spencer, who is considered one of the movement’s founders, his magazine Radix Journal, an associated account @_AltRight_ and his Virginia-based think tank called the National Policy Institute, whose website describes it as “dedicated to the heritage, identity, and future of people of European descent in the United States, and around the world.”
Other suspended accounts include those of prominent alt-right members Pax Dickinson, former CTO of Business Insider, and Ricky Vaughn, who has been suspended in the past.
In a YouTube video titled “The Knight of Long Knives,” Spencer says he and others weren’t trolling or harassing anyone on Twitter, but to “give people some updates and maybe comment on a news story here and there.”