Twitter deactivated the account of white nationalist Nick Fuentes on Wednesday, January 25, only one day after a move to reinstate it drew significant condemnation.
Fuentes made many antisemitic statements in a Twitter Space on Tuesday after his account was reinstated, according to Hannah Gais, a senior researcher at the Southern Poverty Law Center who tracks hate organizations. After his suspension on Wednesday, Fuentes requested his Telegram followers to petition for the reinstatement of his account.
In 2020 and 2021, the white supremacist was suspended from many social media networks, including Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, for hate speech.
Wednesday, Twitter did not immediately react to a request for comment about its recent choices regarding Fuentes’s account.
The new owner of the site, billionaire Elon Musk, describes himself as an absolute free speech advocate.
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Under Musk’s leadership, Twitter has restored bans of several accounts that were deleted under its previous management, most notably the account of former President Donald Trump, who was permanently banned for inciting violence during the Capitol incident on January 6, 2021.
Since Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, human rights groups have highlighted concerns about hate speech on the platform.
Trump welcomed Fuentes and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West to his Florida private club at the end of the previous year. Trump stated that the interaction with Fuentes occurred by accident when he was dining with West.
West, now known as Ye, has received tremendous condemnation for a series of antisemitic remarks and was recently banned from social media networks, including Twitter.
The number of Americans who believe antisemitic conspiracy theories and stereotypes has nearly quadrupled since 2019, according to a poll conducted by the Anti-Defamation League and released this month.
In December, the White House had a roundtable with Jewish leaders to discuss increasing antisemitism, and President Joe Biden created an interagency body to coordinate efforts to combat antisemitism.
