Yesterday, Juneteenth (19th June 2020), Twitter announced that it has banned English media personality, Kate Hopkins, permanently from the platform. While the social media company did not reveal which particular Tweet led to the ban, many Twitter users have been celebrating the ban.
Hopkins, who had worked for popular British media houses like The Sun, Daily Mail, and LBC, has always been a source of controversy on social media. Her Twitter exploits are especially popular because she has been accused countless times of advocating abuse and discrimination.
Kate Hopkins’ comments on politics, social class, obesity, migrants, and race have rubbed many the wrong way. Many have organized protests against her and even professional journalists have criticized her countless times. In fact, in 2016, Mail Online (the outfit she worked for while at Daily Mail) had been directed to pay £150,000 to a Muslim family after she had falsely accused them of extremist links.
Twitter did not reveal the particular reason why it banned Kate Hopkins. However, this is not the first time it will be taking action against her. The company had suspended her for a week in January 2020. This time, Twitter says that the Kate Hopkins account is ‘not coming back. The only statement the company has made on the issue is:
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“Keeping Twitter safe is a top priority for us – abuse and hateful conduct have no place on our service and we will continue to take action when our rules are broken.”
The LBC had let Hopkins go in 2017 after she made a controversial statement on Twitter concerning the Manchester Arena bombing. Following her suspension on 19th June 2020, other users were jubilant.
One user said:
Kate Hopkins got permanently banned from twitter think it calls for a celebration https://t.co/tpYJdJZ28z
— aka chiderashoots, BLM ✊🏾🇳🇬💚 (@chideraaye) June 19, 2020
Good riddance. Thank you @Twitter
Kate Hopkins was known for her raunchy remarks against the south Asian especially the Muslim community. https://t.co/5Bwu59p3Kq
— Paiy H (@fabpaiy) June 20, 2020
There are calls for YouTube to suspend her account as well. However, the company has not shown any inkling of doing this. Donald Trump seems to be a fan of the banned Kate Hopkins and he has Retweeted some of her posts. Twitter is likely on slippery ground here as it has been in a tussle with the US President in recent weeks.
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