‘Any group with the word ‘hate’ in their title are normally everything they claim to be against. So when Katie Hopkins had her Twitter account suspended on Wednesday 29th January 2020, an account with over 1 million followers, we decided to take a look at the ‘Center for Countering Digital Hate’.
But first, the background.
Katie Hopkins is known for her provocative statements, and uncompromising views on issues that dominate the news cycle. She is never PC, or worried about sensitivities. This has made her a hated figure among the far left, and as we know, the closer to the target you are, the more flak you receive. We looked for any evidence of any incitement to hate & violence, the charge levelled against her by Twitter as justification, but could find nothing.
However, as the day of the suspension progressed, the reality of what happened started to reveal itself. A recently formed organisation called Center for Countering Digital Hate (@CCDHate on Twitter) claimed responsibility for the censorship, stating that along with Rachel Riley, they had met Twitter UK and presented a case for Hopkins to be banned. CCDH have been endorsed by London Mayor Sadiq Khan and pundit Gary Lineker. This meeting took place without Katie in attendance to provide context to whatever was raised, or to defend herself and the tweets in question. The group had also not seen fit to engage with Katie prior to the meeting. Action was swift (the day following the meeting) and the gloating from the left wing press followed almost instantly (The Independent managed to publish an article within moments of the ban, suggesting they may have been briefed). Riley also revelled in what she saw as a victory, though a read through her twitter feed reveals she has a minority view that this is a good thing. Riley and CCDH also called for George Galloway to be banned, citing anti-Semitism, but Twitter failed to act on this.
Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz has a larger holding in Twitter than CEO Jack Dorsey.
The alarm expressed by many was that yet again, Twitter had met with left wing activists and acted on their bidding. The political discrimination against the right has been proven by Project Veritas and others, with many accounts falling victim to mass reporting by trolls and activists (itself a violation of Twitter ToS). At time of writing, the account Zero Hedge with over 600,000 followers has also been suspended. Many have predicted that 2020 would see a Conservative and pro Trump crack down, and it is clear that political interference isn’t a problem for Twitter. UK political party “For Britain” had both the party account and the leader banned from the platform. A perfectly legitimate political party registered with the Electoral Commission, banned for (justifiably) criticising the police over grooming gangs. The police have since apologised for their handling of grooming gang cases, but this hasn’t brought back the banned accounts. At time of writing, the Iranian regime, responsible for murdering 1500 citizens also can happily tweet away. Far left Account Rachel Swindon was re-instated by a Twitter exec after mass complaints from left wing activists following a ban. The exec tweeted ‘he would sort it’ prior to the account coming back online. Swindon is currently accused of antisemitism and many Jewish activists have called for her account to again be banned.
Other accounts still live include Nish Kumar who stated “I want you white people in the audience to do something for me….. I want you to go home and kill your racist Brexit-voting parents“.
