So if you were wondering if Elon Musk was really going to open up the sewers and “amnesty” all the worst people who’ve ever been banned from Twitter, it sure looks like he’s doing just that. Today the Daily Stormer’s Andrew Anglin, initially banned way back in 2013 for something truly terrible, we assume, is back and shitposting up a storm, as it were, on the increasingly Nazified social media platform.
Not everyone is thrilled Anglin is back.
Anglin, who has a warrant out for his arrest for ignoring a $14 million judgment against him for instigating an antisemitic harassment campaign, says he intends to follow Twitter’s new rules, whatever they are. “I can be the most politically correct person you’ve ever seen,” he tweeted.
Still, he can’t help tweeting about his boy Hitler, declaring, in defense of Ye (Kanye West), that “saying you love Hitler is not even a big deal. No one cares about that. The man died 80 years ago.”
Lucky for Anglin, he doesn’t have to risk a ban by saying he’s a Hitler fan out loud; he just has to say he supports Ye, and everyone knows what he means anyway. For what it’s worth, he’s “officially endorsing” Ye for president.
So far Anglin–who is hiding in an undisclosed location, presumably overseas, to avoid arrest–is doing his best to play the victim, talking about the death threats he says he’s getting and calling his opponents “completely unhinged,” with “deep-rooted emotional and psychological problems.”
Of course, despite his exaggerated contriteness, his Twitter bio links back to his Daily Stormer site, filled to the brim with the same old hatred. “FDA Considers Allowing F*ggots to Donate Blood,” reads one headline on the site today. “BREAKING: Jew Pig Viciously Oinks at Donald Trump…!” reads another. Still another story on the front page uses the antisemitic “Happy Merchant” cartoon for a graphic. Same as it ever was.
Meanwhile, Ye himself has caught what is apparently a permanent suspension from Twitter after tweeting a picture of a swastika embedded in a Star of David. It’s a logo of the Raelian UFO cult, but it’s doubtful Ye was announcing a religious conversion with the tweet.
Not sure why Anglin’s up on Twitter while Ye is down. Anglin hasn’t even shelled out his $8 for a blue check.
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Thanks for answering my unasked question. The second I saw the name I thought, “Hey! That guy’s got an active warrant!”
Baaaaarrrrffff.
I’m so going to burn 2022 in effigy, just like I did with 2020 and 2021.
I see Twitler is living up to the expectations of opening the gates of hate speech. I left. I’m not getting paid to see hateful crap when ever I went there. As the only jollies these people get are hating on the left, if there is no one there for them to hate on, it just becomes an empty void they are screaming into.
I mean, I could think of one obvious reason, but I surely wouldn’t want anyone to think I was implying Elon Musk could possibly be a racist or run racist companies.
So either he follows the rules and that’s that or he breaks the rules and gets no quarter.
I (along with others I assume) reported his account for being the piece of shit Nazi he is, and last I saw it’d been suspended
Oh crap. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse. On the upside, at least he banned Kanye West again. I was hoping that the advertisers pulling off Twitter and the warning to Musk by the EU head would rein him in.
I just want to know when they’re going to roll out that “community notes” feature internationally. I’d join up just because I think it might be a way to fight back against hate speech and conspiracy theories on the platform.
@Trying: the only rule at the moment seems to be “don’t hurt Musk’s feelings”, which apparently includes the suggestion that he should pay more tax.
“I can be the most politically correct person you’ve ever seen” — Andrew Anglin
“I can be Presidential” — Donald Trump
“I’m the least racist person you’ve ever met” — Donald Trump
Under Musk, Twitter’s moderation policy has been supposedly relaxed with regard to hate speech. There are plenty of signs that he is socially and politically affiliated with the far-right community. Personally, I think it’s very possible that he’s been systematically “groomed” by far-right activists and that may have been a major influence in his decisions with regard to buying and managing Twitter. I suspect he’s receiving and considering a lot of suggestions from his “friends” on which previously banned accounts should be reinstated. With Trump, he famously pretended to run some kind of user referendum, probably to plaster some legitimacy on a decision he’d already made.
On another point, Musk is said to have fired nearly all content moderators in a fit of corporate corner-cutting. That presumably means moderation is increasingly algorithmic, probably based mainly on balancing how popular an account is vs. how many people are complaining about said account. Undoubtedly, being a sponsored account, Twitter Blue user etc. gives one a lot of favorable weight in this system. Sometimes, human decision making is still invoked for the big players – for example Musk is said to have personally made the decision to reban Ye. Now I’m seeing some controversy on whether Ye’s swastika etc. “really” violated the relatively lax hate speech rules Twitter currently claims to have.
Then there’s all the rumors that Musk engages in micromanagement to ban accounts that criticize him, possibly based on tips from his flying monkey fanboys. I wouldn’t put it past him, but I think this could possibly be also explained by a million flying monkeys reporting an account to a dumb algorithm with no human oversight.
My understanding about Anglin is that he’s pretty good at acting civil on mainstream platforms, using them for far-right recruitment rather than violent wank fantasies or recreational harassment. I suppose that under Musk’s whims, he might still get banned if he becomes too much of a PR liability, and that’s regardless of whether he technically violates the stated rules or not.
Maybe people should collectively stop thinking the next year is better. So far it doesn’t seem to be the case.
And Kanye banned because he made fun of Elon.
It is fascinating how every single online “Free Speech Advocate” only seem concerned about Nazis being silenced, and whether they understand that the First Amendment does not apply to non-government entities seems to depend greatly on who is being censored.
Almost as if they are arguing in bad faith.
@Allandrel: Almost as if they’re evil and stupid, too.
Firing all the people who knew what they were doing (software-wise) has led to 2 massive data breaches. If you have an account, even if you’re not using it, delete it.
Apartheid was simply Nazi with a slightly different accent, so of course he’s got no problem with Nazis running wild.
Andrew Anglin is endorsing a Black guy for president? Does he understand what white supremacy means?
Thing is, it looks like that black guy is a white supremacist.
Yeah, I know how strange that sounds. But I do recall that one time when a short guy with mousy brown hair was a tall-blondes supremacist, and managed to become head of state.
As I recall, it didn’t end well for him or for anyone within roughly a continent’s radius.
Meanwhile I’m still permanently suspended for having referenced the Sean Cullen comedy song “With the Food of Your Choice, I Will End Your Life Tonight” in a conversation about vegetables. Twitter insists that was a genuine death threat, even though last time I contacted them I said I didn’t even want my account back, I just wanted it deleted (I’m in a limbo where because all my account activity is suspended, Twitter won’t let me delete it).
At least I get to tell people I’m banned from Twitter.
Ye is a celebrity with a massive following, and he has been making antisemitic and pro-Hitler statements in very public forums. That makes him a very convenient figure for someone like Anglin to latch onto, regardless of his skin colour.
@John Lucas: Plus he gets to say, “See I’m not racist, I’m supporting a black guy!”
(Till they all throw him under the bus when he’s no longer a useful “good one”)
Remember their Mango Messiah’s quote: “Where are my African Americans at?” All 4 of them, LOL. And they were “his”.
Let’s just hope that’s too much hot water, added too fast, and the frog jumps out.
Judging by appearances isn’t fair, and who knows what someone would make of mine, but I’m afraid Musk has unalterably reminded me of a Central Casting Gauleiter.