GoDaddy has pulled an alt-right website which is owned and operated by white nationalist Richard Spencer.

Following a letter from the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in the US, the internet domain registrar which prohibits sites which encourage violence has cut off Alt-right.com's service.

GoDaddy has not released a statement explaining why the site was taken down, nor which parts of its terms of service it found were being breached, but as of 4 May, the website no longer loads when users attempt to visit that URL.

BREAKING: We shut down Richard Spencer's Altright website. We will continue using every tool in our arsenal to confront white supremacists, the alt-right & those who incite violence and hate in our country. We applaud @GoDaddy for heeding our call and pulling the site. pic.twitter.com/1gU2ZOlNXN — Kristen Clarke (@KristenClarkeJD) May 3, 2018

:: Who is Richard Spencer?

Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, welcomed the move.


"We will continue using every tool in our arsenal to confront white supremacists, the alt-right and those who incite violence and hate in our country," she said.

"We applaud GoDaddy for heeding our call and pulling the site," she added.

Mr Spencer, who credits himself with coining the term "alt-right", has not directly responded to the action, but has retweeted a number of individuals criticising its decision.

Image: Richard Spencer's speeches have attracted protests

He lost his blue verification tick from Twitter last November, after complaints the tick was lending gravitas to controversial figures.

Jason Kessler, a far-right figure who organised a rally in Charlottesville in which counter-protester Heather Heyer was killed, also lost the Twitter verification. The rally drew white supremacists and neo-Nazis.

Gab, a free speech social network, said: "You are horrible people. This is what authoritarian fascism actually looks like. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

"If you don't like the content on a website, don't visit it. Those who have no argument and terrible ideas are forced to censor others. Sickening."

In a video soliciting donations for his legal defence against a federal lawsuit targeting the organisers of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville last year, Mr Spencer claimed: "I am under attack and I need your help."

He has denied responsibility for the death of 32-year-old Heather Heyer and the ugly violence that erupted on the streets of Charlottesville.