Trolls and terrorists: the (in)famous people banned by Twitter

Published August 11th, 2016 - 02:04 GMT

Twitter is never short of controversy. From Donald Trump trolling his political opponents to the Ayatollah Khameini celebrating the capture of US sailors with a meme, opinions of all stripes are welcomed on the social media site. But not all. Twitter has banned countless accounts throughout its existence.

Twitter’s criteria for being banned includes “spam,” “account security at risk,” and perhaps most controversially “abusive tweets or behavior.” Most recently, Twitter permanently suspended Milo Yiannopoulos, the conservative provocateur, technology editor at Breitbart and self-described “dangerous faggot,” claiming he partook in racial abuse. But Milo is far from the only one to catch Twitter’s wrath. From Daesh (ISIS) to Putin parody accounts, meet the most prominent groups and individuals to have been suspended from Twitter.

Adam Lucente

View as a slider

View as a list

Twitter permanently suspended Milo Yiannopoulos in July, citing his role in encouraging racist tweets directed at Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones, although Twitter did not mention him by name in the statement defending the decision. Milo has been relentlessly criticizing the decision, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and even their stock TWTR since then.

Other celebs have been suspended for alleged racism as well. In May, American rapper Azealia Banks was permanently suspended after directing racist and Islamophobic language at British pop star Zayn Malik. Banks later apologized on Instagram.

Also in May, Twitter suspended popular Vladimir Putin parody account @DarthPutinKGB, only to lift the suspension a day later. It’s unclear why Twitter did so in the first place, but they were widely criticized for it. “My security services have thwarted yet another CIA attempt at regime change in Russia,” he tweeted after his return.

@DarthPutin KGB wasn’t the only Russia parody account banned that day; several were, including @SovietSergey, which parodies Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. The account has likewise since been reinstated.

Since Daesh’s infamous burst onto the social media scene, Twitter has suspended thousands of the militant group’s accounts. However, their members simply create new ones, making it difficult to keep them off Twitter entirely.

Although not the Twitter juggernaut that Daesh is, Twitter has gone after accounts run by members of Al-Qaeda and their affiliates as well.

Neo-Nazis: the original internet troublemakers? Twitter doesn’t like them either, and suspended the German Neo-Nazi group Besseres Hannover in 2012, at the behest of German police.

Twitter suspended the account for Hamas’ military wing the Qassam Brigades in June of this year, but other accounts related to the group like the Shehab News Agency remain open.

Twitter permanently suspended Milo Yiannopoulos in July, citing his role in encouraging racist tweets directed at Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones, although Twitter did not mention him by name in the statement defending the decision. Milo has been relentlessly criticizing the decision, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and even their stock TWTR since then.

Other celebs have been suspended for alleged racism as well. In May, American rapper Azealia Banks was permanently suspended after directing racist and Islamophobic language at British pop star Zayn Malik. Banks later apologized on Instagram.

Also in May, Twitter suspended popular Vladimir Putin parody account @DarthPutinKGB, only to lift the suspension a day later. It’s unclear why Twitter did so in the first place, but they were widely criticized for it. “My security services have thwarted yet another CIA attempt at regime change in Russia,” he tweeted after his return.

@DarthPutin KGB wasn’t the only Russia parody account banned that day; several were, including @SovietSergey, which parodies Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. The account has likewise since been reinstated.

Since Daesh’s infamous burst onto the social media scene, Twitter has suspended thousands of the militant group’s accounts. However, their members simply create new ones, making it difficult to keep them off Twitter entirely.

Although not the Twitter juggernaut that Daesh is, Twitter has gone after accounts run by members of Al-Qaeda and their affiliates as well.

Neo-Nazis: the original internet troublemakers? Twitter doesn’t like them either, and suspended the German Neo-Nazi group Besseres Hannover in 2012, at the behest of German police.

Twitter suspended the account for Hamas’ military wing the Qassam Brigades in June of this year, but other accounts related to the group like the Shehab News Agency remain open.

Tags:Breitbart Twitter Khameini Milo Yiannopoulos Putin Donald Trump Adam Lucente

Trolls and terrorists: the (in)famous people banned by Twitter

Other celebs have been suspended for alleged racism as well. In May, American rapper Azealia Banks was permanently suspended after directing racist and Islamophobic language at British pop star Zayn Malik. Banks later apologized on Instagram.

@DarthPutin KGB wasn’t the only Russia parody account banned that day; several were, including @SovietSergey, which parodies Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. The account has likewise since been reinstated.

Since Daesh’s infamous burst onto the social media scene, Twitter has suspended thousands of the militant group’s accounts. However, their members simply create new ones, making it difficult to keep them off Twitter entirely.

Although not the Twitter juggernaut that Daesh is, Twitter has gone after accounts run by members of Al-Qaeda and their affiliates as well.

Neo-Nazis: the original internet troublemakers? Twitter doesn’t like them either, and suspended the German Neo-Nazi group Besseres Hannover in 2012, at the behest of German police.

Twitter suspended the account for Hamas’ military wing the Qassam Brigades in June of this year, but other accounts related to the group like the Shehab News Agency remain open.

You may also like

Subscribe

Can Yaman reveals how he learned fluent Spanish in record time

After months of silence, Iran discloses the damage to Its nuclear program following US attacks

Angie Khoury sparks outrage after showing off cash from Fanspicy earnings

Caribbean on edge as US deploys carrier, bombers, and Nuclear submarine near Venezuela

Macron and Zelensky Sign New Arms Deal