Twitter banned racist account who praised the Dover terrorist Andrew Leak

Twitter suspended a racist account holder who praised the Dover terrorist Andrew Leak after Tell MAMA flagged the materials with them.

Our investigation began after a member of the public got in touch, flagging tweets from the account made on November 8, one of which called for Leak to receive a state funeral and a Victoria Cross medal.

A screenshot we captured before Twitter suspended the account holder following our complaint.

A further investigation revealed racist comments about deputy prime minister Dominic Raab being a “Jewish puppet of the WEF and UN”.

The racist currency of @BryanMc82451905 would see them trade in racialised, dehumanising comments about Muslims and refugees. Examples included myths of demographic change and so-called “Islamification” whilst linking both groups to criminality.

Examples of anti-Black racism appeared in archives, with some targeting the late Stephen Lawrence, murdered by racists in 1993. That inflammatory, hateful tweet read, “Blacks want to tear down Lord Nelson from his Column. No doubt they will replace him with St Stephen”.

Our investigation coincided with a report in The Independent that far-right individuals or groups are calling for attacks on refugee centres and hotels. On Telegram, the article described those who described the terrorist Leak as a “hero” and a “legend” who “shows that one of us [white people] has got a spine”.

In recent years, our research has detailed how a subsection of social media accounts reported to us praised or encouraged similar attacks following the far-right terror attacks in Finsbury Park and Christchurch, New Zealand. Examples of the latter resulted in criminal convictions for terrorism offences, as the murder of 51 Muslims continues to influence those convicted of far-right terror offences in the UK.

YouTube, however, did not remove comments that denied the terrorism or comments claiming it was a “false flag”.

Several high-profile far-right Telegram pages pushed similar “false flag” conspiracies, including the street defence movement Britain First, which wrote, “How on earth did the media manage to get such a perfectly timed photo of the attack on the Dover migrant processing centre?” on the evening of October 30.

As our briefing paper on Andrew Leak revealed, he was in the thrall of various conspiracy theories, notably around Covid.

Tell MAMA remains a trusted flagger across all major social media platforms and encourages the public to flag such material with us so we can escalate with the platforms or the police. Despite our reservations about Twitter’s direction, we will continue advocating for communities.

Following our investigation, we flagged the @BryanMc82451905 account with the police to investigate further.

Get advice from our confidential and free helpline on 0800 456 1226. Or through our free iOS or Android apps. Report through our online form. Alternatively, please leave us a WhatsApp message at 0734 184 6086.

The post Twitter banned racist account who praised the Dover terrorist Andrew Leak appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Categories: Andrew Leak, Dover, Far Right groups, News, refugees, terrorism

Rachel Riley Awarded £50,000 in Libel Damages

Rachel Riley has been awarded £50,000 in damages after winning a libel claim against a political blogger over an article claiming she was a “serial abuser”.

Ms Riley, who appears on the Channel 4 show Countdown, sued Mike Sivier after he published an article on his website Vox Political in January 2019 with the headline “Serial abuser Rachel Riley to receive ‘extra protection’ – on grounds that she is receiving abuse”.

The article discussed tweets posted as part of an online debate on antisemitism in the Labour Party, some of which were exchanged between Ms Riley and a user who identified herself then as a 16-year-old called Rose in December 2018 and January 2019.

A judge previously found that Mr Sivier’s article would be read as claiming Ms Riley “engaged upon, supported and encouraged a campaign of online abuse and harassment of a 16-year-old girl”, allegations denied by Ms Riley.

Mr Sivier defended the libel claim by arguing he had a “reasonable belief” it was in the public interest to publish the claims in the article.

However, in a judgment on Wednesday, Mrs Justice Steyn ruled in favour of Ms Riley, granting her the five-figure sum in damages as well as an injunction requiring Mr Sivier to remove the article and not repeat it.

The post Rachel Riley Awarded £50,000 in Libel Damages appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: libel, Libel Claim, Mike Sivier, Rachel Riley, Vox Political