Twitter, the micro-blogging social media platform, has suspended the account of a man in Whitefish as part of an apparent crackdown on accounts tied to hate speech or threats of violence.
Richard Spencer is head of the National Policy Institute, a white supremacy think tank, and editor of Radix Journal, an alt-right publication. Twitter suspended Spencer’s, NPI’s and the Journal’s accounts Tuesday, Nov. 15.
In a video titled “Night of the Long Knives” posted to NPI’s Youtube channel, Spencer likened the suspension to a digital execution squad.
"It is corporate Stalinism, in a sense that there is a great purge going on and they're purging people on the basis of their views," Spencer said.
Spencer added that prior to his suspension, he had been using Twitter as he usually does to give updates and comment on news stories.
Twitter banned several other users active in the alt-right movement, which has been associated with white nationalism, after announcing it was expanding ways for users to report harassment. Banned users say they were not given an explanation for their suspension.