Twitter cracks down on alt-right accounts

Twitter has suspended accounts of several well-known “alt-right” members — the same day it announced new measures to combat online harassment and hate speech.

The alt-right, a fringe brand of conservatism that includes proponents of white nationalism, has flourished in the deepest corners of the Internet.

Among the suspended accounts is Richard Spencer, president of the Na- tional Policy Institute, a white nationalist think tank “dedicated to the heritage, identity, and future of people of European descent in the United States.”

Accounts for Spencer’s magazine Radix Journal and NPI were also suspended.

Following the suspension, Spencer uploaded a YouTube video decrying the purge as “corporate Stalinism” and “something like the Night of Long Knives” — a reference to Hitler’s exe- cution of rival Nazi leaders in 1934.

Spencer is credited with coining the term alt-right in 2008 and has said he wants to see minorities expelled from the country.

Paul Town, Pax Dickinson, Ricky Vaughn and John Rivers also were among the suspended alt-right accounts identified by USA Today.

Dickinson, the former chief technology officer for Business Insider, announced his suspension on his Facebook page.

Vaughn, whose real identity remains unknown, was first suspended from Twitter in October under the handle @Ricky_Vaughn99, which led his supporters to start the #FreeRicky hashtag.

Twitter declined to comment on the specific suspensions, citing privacy and security concerns, but said in a statement to USA Today: “The Twitter rules prohibit targeted abuse and harassment, and we will suspend accounts that violate this policy.”