Twitter has permanently suspended former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke — a man referred to as a neo-Nazi by the Southern Poverty Law Center — from its platform.
Duke repeatedly violated the social media site's rules on “hateful conduct,” according to Twitter and first reported by the Associated Press. Twitter did not note specific tweets that caused the ban against Duke, but the company has been cracking down on messages that incite violence, promote hate, and spread lies.
Duke led the racist, anti-Semitic, and homophobic KKK in the 1970s. He ran unsuccessfully for president several times, but did get elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1989. He ran, also unsuccessfully, for Louisiana governor in 1991. His political ambitions mostly ended after being sent to prison in 2002 for tax evasion and mail fraud (he embezzled from his racist followers to pay for luxury goods, gambling expenses, and home improvements, according to the SPLC).
Espousing white supremacy and hatred of Jews and sexual and gender minorities, Duke is not surprisingly a big supporter of Donald Trump. Duke has said, “Voting against Donald Trump, at this point, is really treason to your heritage.”
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