Twitter blocks account of Greece’s far-right Golden Dawn party

Twitter blocks account of Greece’s far-right Golden Dawn party
Copyright REUTERS/Fotis Plegas G.
By Alice Cuddy
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Golden Dawn described the decision as a "brutal undemocratic act"

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Twitter has suspended the account of Greece’s far-right Golden Dawn party amid a push to combat white supremacist and other hateful groups operating on the microblogging site.

The move on Thursday (January 4) came two weeks after Twitter announced  it had broadened its “hateful conduct policy” to permanently suspend any account that displays “violent threats, multiple slurs, epithets, racist or sexist tropes, incites fear or reduces someone to less than human.”

In a statement, Golden Dawn slammed the decision, saying the ban was orchestrated by “the entangled news media and the corrupt political power which is controlled by the new world order.”

“After Facebook of [Mark] Zuckerberg, after Instagram and all the corrupt media, it was Twitter’s turn to target the party in a vulgar manner,” it added.

The party said it had sent a “tough message of complaint to the company,” arguing that disabling its account constituted a “brutal undemocratic act that violates our political rights as well as the individual rights of half a million Greek Golden Dawn voters who are excluded from being informed about their party's positions.”

Twitter has not said if the move was the result of its new policy.

Golden Dawn, led by Nikolaos Michaloliakos, is known for its far-right political views.

In 2013, the party’s leader and other senior members were arrested on charges of forming a criminal organisation amid a police investigation into the murder an anti-fascist rapper by a Golden Dawn supporter. 

The party officially denies being a neo-Nazi movement, despite its swastika-like insignia.

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