Ellie Abraham
Nov 06, 2023
content.jwplatform.com
Controversial right-wing figures Katie Hopkins and Tommy Robinson have been allowed back on X/Twitter by Elon Musk, years after being banned.
Hopkins was permanently banned from the social media platform in 2020 for breaching its “hateful conduct policy” after using the platform to spout several hateful views.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon and is the former leader of the far-right English Defence League, had his Twitter account deactivated in 2018. He is well-known for being a far-right anti-Islam campaigner and has several convictions related to violence, fraud, drug possession and public order offences.
Now, the controversial pair have had their accounts reinstated by the platform's new CEO Elon Musk.
In her first post in three years, Hopkins wrote: “Thank you @elonmusk. And thank you to all the Twitter family who have brought Tommy & I back to @X.
“Know this. You are not alone. We are many. And we are stronger together. The fight back for your freedom is on.”
Robinson’s first post since his ban was a video of David Hasselhoff performing his 1989 song Looking For Freedom, with Robinson’s face dubbed over the singer’s.
The news of Robinson’s and Hopkins’ return to the platform went down as well as you might expect, with one person branding it a “dystopian sequel to When Harry Met Sally”.
Another wrote a post to Musk, writing: “Tommy Robinson and Katie Hopkins, huh? You're a moron.”
In her last stint on the platform, the former Apprentice contestant Hopkins became well-known for her controversial views that eventually got her banned.
But the ramifications of her hate have affected her in other ways – in 2017 Hopkins lost £131,000 in a libel case brought by cookery writer Jack Monroe. Additionally, in 2018, she was detained in South Africa for “spreading racial hatred” and in 2021 was deported from Australia when her visa was revoked after she bragged about flouting lockdown rules.
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