Far-right group Patriotic Alternative suspended from Twitter again, one month after being reinstated

The far-right group Patriotic Alternative has been suspended from Twitter just one month after their accounts were reinstated.

Patriotic Alternative is a UK-based group headed by the former leader of the youth wing of the BNP, Mark Collett. Mr Collett is reported to have dabbled in Holocaust denial, is regularly heard as a guest on the radio show of the former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard, David Duke, and has described the Holocaust as “an instrument of white guilt”.

The group is known for its efforts to recruit youth to its white nationalist ideology. Previously, the far-right group published an online “alternative” home school curriculum condemned as “poison” and “hateful” and attempted to recruit children as young as twelve through livestreaming events on YouTube, according to The Times.

The group’s latest suspension from Twitter is understood to have been a result of complaints made by CST, with further escalation from The Times. The far-right group was banned from Twitter for almost two years before the platform reinstated them under its newest owner, Elon Musk. 

Mr Musk has drawn criticism in recent months for his repeated reinstalling of previously banned far-right individuals to the platform, including the founder of the America First Political Action Conference, Nick Fuentes, a known Holocaust-denier.

On January 15th, Mr Collett posted to his Telegram channel that he had been reinstated. Patriotic Alternative’s official Twitter account had also been reinstalled, as well as accounts belonging to other high-ranking figures in the group.

However, on 24th February, Patriotic Alternative released a statement in which it said that the accounts had once again been suspended a day earlier, a little over a month from when they were reinstated.

The far-right group claimed that the Twitter ban was “clearly an attempt to prevent us from reaching people who are crying out for our message,” stating that “the establishment” was concerned about the organisation “being allowed freedom of speech”.  

Campaign Against Antisemitism closely monitors the far-right, which remains a dangerous threat to the Jewish community and other minority groups.