Twitter recently banned Milo Yiannopoulos, a prominent figure in the "alt-right" movement. Drew Angerer / Getty

Following the release of new features to tackle abuse on its network yesterday, Twitter has begun suspending the accounts of users associated with the alt-right political movement, reports USA Today.

That includes the one belonging to Richard Spencer, who heads up the National Policy Institute (NPI) think tank. The organization concerns itself with the identity of “people of European descent in the United States, and around the world,” and publishes related writings on its sister site, Radix Journal.

Accounts for both bodies have also been suspended, along with those of well-know alt-righters Paul Town, Pax Dickinson, Ricky Vaughn and John Rivers.

In a YouTube clip titled ‘The Knight of Long Knives’ (possibly a nod to the 1934 purge of Nazi leaders meant to help Hitler consolidate power) uploaded yesterday, Spencer said that he wasn’t being more of a troll or engaging in any untoward behavior prior to his ban. He noted:

"I am alive physically but digitally speaking there has been execution squads across the alt-right."

Spencer added:

"There is a great purge going on and they are purging people based on their views."

Twitter previously terminated the account belonging to Milo Yiannopoulos, the outspoken tech editor at Breitbart, after he harassed Ghostbusters actor Leslie Jones on the site.

Spencer clearly believes that there’s a coordinated effort being made to stamp out the alt-right movement on Twitter. He also said that he’d consider switching to Gab, a social network that focuses on allowing people the right to free speech with minimal censorship.

Twitter told USA Today that it doesn’t comment on the actions taken with regard to individual accounts, for privacy and security reasons – so we may not hear from the company about this. However, it’d be naive to think that this is the last we’ll hear on the subject. Spencer said in the video that he believed “this is a clear sign that we have power.” How things will play out from here is anybody’s guess.