Tommy Robinson has been permanently banned from Twitter Tommy Robinson, ex-leader of the EDL, has been permanently banned from Twitter. He was suspended from the platform most recently […]

Tommy Robinson, ex-leader of the EDL, has been permanently banned from Twitter.

He was suspended from the platform most recently earlier this month, for seven days, but Twitter has confirmed this suspension is permanent.

He previously had his blue verified tick removed in November, but still had over 400,000 followers, some of whom have been tweeting their support with the hashtag #IAmTommy.

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Hateful Conduct

Twitter declined to comment on the reasons for the ban, which is their usual practice, but did direct i to their Hateful Conduct policies, which were introduced in mid-December to deal with problems over abusive conduct on the platform.

Hateful conduct is defined as “You may not promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease. We also do not allow accounts whose primary purpose is inciting harm towards others on the basis of these categories.”

Affiliated groups

Tommy Robinson’s real name is Stephen Yaxley, and he initially joined the BNP in 2004. He then went on to lead the EDL from 2009, before leaving in 2012. He was then imprisoned after being convicted of mortgage fraud.

On release, he worked with German anti-Islam group Pegida, and Canadian right-wing politics outlet The Rebel, before producing video on his own channel.

He still has a Facebook page with almost 700,000 likes, and a YouTube channel with 150,000 subscribers.