Twitter reinstated the account of Andrew Anglin, the neo-Nazi who founded the white supremacist website The Daily Stormer, after originally banning him in 2013
Andrew Anglin spent his first day back on Twitter defending Ye's antisemitic rants. — Andrew Anglin ― …
HuffPostLydia O'Connor
Context & Ripple Effects
Andrew Anglin had been off Twitter since 2013, one of the longest-standing bans on the platform, and his return lands in the middle of a rapid-fire moderation sequence under Elon Musk: just two days earlier, Ye was suspended for tweeting a swastika merged with a Star of David. Anglin spent his first day back doing exactly what the ban was meant to prevent — amplifying and defending that same antisemitic content.
The move fits a pattern rather than standing alone: weeks later Twitter would reinstate Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, then suspend him again within a day after an uproar. The through-line is a moderation regime making high-profile ban reversals individually and reactively, with Anglin's Daily Stormer having already cycled through fringe infrastructure like BitMitigate's free hosting when mainstream providers cut it off.
First-order effects
Anglin regains direct access to Twitter's distribution for white supremacist messaging, immediately using it to defend Ye's antisemitic posts — the exact behavior his 2013 ban removed from the platform.
Advertisers face renewed brand-safety exposure on a platform whose ad revenue was already reported at $1.08 billion for Q2 2022, down from $4 billion across 2021 per SpaceX filing notes cited in related coverage.
Second-order effects
The Fuentes sequence — reinstated, then suspended a day later after public backlash — forces Twitter into case-by-case whiplash, where each reversal decision is set by outrage cycles rather than published rules.
Rival platforms and advertisers now treat Twitter's moderation as unpredictable, pushing brands toward adjacent channels or stricter placement controls while extremist figures shop their content across whichever platform will host them.
Third-order effects
If the pattern holds, platform moderation shifts from enforced policy to executive discretion, meaning an account's status depends on news-cycle pressure — a structure that makes both reinstatements and re-bans arbitrary and reversible.
Deplatformed extremists gain a repeatable playbook: lose mainstream hosting or accounts, retreat to sympathetic infrastructure like BitMitigate, then wait out leadership changes for readmission — eroding the durability that made deplatforming effective.
The trend: Under Elon Musk, Twitter is dismantling its pre-2022 ban list through ad-hoc reinstatements of extremist figures, with backlash-driven suspensions replacing consistent policy as the real enforcement mechanism.
Asked about Kanye's suspension, Musk says he did it because the swastika image was an incitement of violence, and suggests that it was a violation of US law. Swastikas are obviously problematic symbols, but I'm not aware that sharing them is a violation of any US law.
New: A week ago, Elon Musk announced a great unbanning—Twitter would reverse thousands of suspensions, including Donald Trump. But also, scraped data shows, he freed an emboldened group of trolls, white nationalists, QAnoners, and extreme right-wingers. https://www.nbcnews.com/..…
After suspending Kanye West for antisemitism, @ElonMusk has restored the account of Neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin, publisher of The Daily Stormer, the internet's largest neo-Nazi website. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Wow it turns out that Elon Musk owning twitter and allowing all the nazis and shitheads back on has... driven a huge rise in hate speech! Couldn't have seen this one coming. https://www.theverge.com/...
Musk: “I definitely wanted to punch Kanye, so it was definitely inciting me for violence.” He then mentions Alex Jones and suggests that if Jones was chastising Kanye for his views, then he has clearly gone too far. (Not sure how you enshrine that in a social media policy.)
Huh. After Kanye was suspended, I saw dozens and dozens of white supremacist accounts retweeting that swastika. I reported one to see what would happen, and was told it was not a violation. I take this as confirmation this was just an Elmo whim. https://twitter.com/...
You're the man @elonmusk thanks so much for bringing free speech back to the platform. Nothing like a little neo-Nazi recommended content AM I RIGHT!? https://twitter.com/...
Old enough to remember in 2014 when you could follow one jihadi account, the algorithm would recommend more and in a few mins you'd have a full starter pack. Fundamentally, the algorithm hasn't changed even if for a period extremists were taken down. https://twitter.com/...
Amazing how the Far Right has convinced themselves (wrongly in an epic manner) that Hitler and Nazis are just different political opinions, like disagreeing on school funding or spending on senior healthcare. They're intentionally trying to validate hate. https://www.huffpost.com…
“Neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin has been reinstated to Twitter under Elon Musk's new policies for the platform. The founder of the white supremacist website The Daily Stormer had been banned from Twitter since 2013.” https://www.rollingstone.com/ ...
As you read about Neo Nazi Andrew Anglin that Elon Musk just reinstated on Twitter here's what Anglin did to me and why I sued him and won $4.1 million dollars (on paper.) Maybe Musk wants to pay up for the deadbeat Nazi?! Musk is helping normalize a Nazi https://www.cnn.com/...
Andrew Anglin, Editor of neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer, is reinstated on Twitter after 9 yrs. Adulation to Kanye & defending Hitler are his first tweets https://twitter.com/...
As a spokesperson, I've been looking for something to say about Twitter recommending people to follow neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin but it's challenging. It's like if you walked into a CVS and a uniformed employee suggested you purchase some crystal meth. https://twitter.com/...
NEW: Elon Musk has just restored the Twitter account of Andrew Anglin, the neo-Nazi who founded the infamous website Stormfront and said women should be “raped and locked in cages.” Good luck getting back those advertisers, Elon.
you let Andrew Anglin — a literal neo-Nazi who founded the notorious neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer — back on Twitter yesterday he was banned since 2015, but i guess he doesn't fall into that 10% of “far right extremists” shut the absolute fuck up https://twitter.com/...
“Allowing notorious Nazi and anti-Semite Andrew Anglin back on Twitter certainly means we want our brand associated with the platform. Please take our money,” said no advertiser, ever.
Anglin in a full-fledged Nazi who runs the Daily Stormer and, among many other things, was found liable for the Charlottesville violence in our lawsuit. A perfect example of the vile, violent extremists Musk is welcoming with open arms. https://twitter.com/...
As I stated on MSNBC: Elon MUSK is intentionally normalizing Nazis and HATE by allowing self-professed NAZI Andrew Anglin back on Twitter. I added: Elon Musk is NO friend of the United States. His goal is to amplify the divisions in our nation (like Russia did in 2016 campaign.) …
The Neo Nazi Andrew Anglin who Elon Musk has welcomed back to Twitter has literally stated that his operating principle is “What would Hitler Do.” I'm 100% serious. This is the vileness that Musk is amplifying. https://twitter.com/...
Dear everyone that is talking about me, I was not personally reinstated by Elon Musk. It was some kind of bulk un-ban. I'm following all the rules and will continue doing so. If I stop following the rules, I'm sure I'll be banned quickly. Chillax.
Nazi Andrew Anglin is trending because Musk has reinstated his account on Twitter. Let me remind everyone that Anglin said Tucker Carlson's show is “basically ‘Daily Stormer: The Show’” — a reference to Anglin's website. He has called Carlson “literally our greatest ally.”
Elon has reinstated thousands of QAnon accounts, influential neo-Nazis, etc. while also banning journalists who track extremism without explanation https://www.nbcnews.com/...
“I never thought I'd see the day when I'd be allowed back on Twitter and yet here we are.” — Patrick Casey, a white nationalist https://www.nbcnews.com/... by @BrandyZadrozny