06 November 2023 , 21:22
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A petition has been launched to get Tommy Robinson and Katie Hopkins kicked off the social media site previously known as Twitter - just hours after they were reinstated.
X, formerly known as Twitter, was taken over by self-styled “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk just over a year ago. Since then he has reinstated accounts previously barred from the platform. Whilst some of these were unknown accounts who had violated the platform’s rules, others were more renowned - including controversial influencer Andrew Tate, who remains banned from YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
Similarly, after US President Donald Trump was barred from the site after the January 6 insurrection, he was reinstated as well - but despite being tweeted by Musk, the US politician remains on his own social media platform amid his own ongoing legal troubles.
Both Robinson, founder of the English Defence League whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, and Hopkins, a former Apprentice candidate, thanked Elon Musk in their first posts since their accounts were reinstated.
Katie Hopkins once called Sadiq Khan, the London Mayor, the 'Muslim mayor of Londonistan' (Twitter)
Former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson (PA)Robinson was banned in 2018 and Hopkins in 2020. Both were quick to thank the controversial billionaire in their first posts back on the site. Speaking at the time, Twitter as it was then known, said Hopkins was removed to “keep Twitter safe” - she had over one million followers.
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Hopkins had compared asylum seekers to cockroaches and claimed a heartbreaking photo of a dead Syrian boy lying on a beach was staged. Far-right agitator Robinson, who has number of criminal convictions, had been accused of posting Islamophobic content on Twitter. Recently on the site he has argued he was never convicted over such allegations.
Mark Rowley, speaking in 2018 before he became the Metropolitan police commissioner, said that there was “no doubt” that the material Robinson posted online 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 online. They said: “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 here to view or sign the petition.
- A previous version of this article incorrectly said Tommy Robinson founded Britain First. He founded the English Defence League and led it from 2009 -2013.