Angela Lang/CNET
Twitter has shuttered an account that claimed to represent an antifa group and pushed violence at US protests but which was actually linked to white nationalist group Identity Evropa, the microblogging site told CNET on Tuesday. Twitter suspended the account after a tweet inciting violence, the company said.
“This account violated our platform manipulation and spam policy, specifically the creation of fake accounts,” a Twitter spokesperson said in an email. The news had been reported earlier by NBC.
Antifa, short for anti-fascists, is an overarching description of far-left militant groups that confront white supremacists and neo-Nazis at rallies and other events. On Monday, President Donald Trump referenced antifa when criticizing protest violence. The previous day, Trump had tweeted that the US would designate antifa a terrorist organization. Legal specialists, however, have said antifa isn’t an actual organization.
Nationwide protests followed the May 25 death, in Minneapolis, of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man. According to a video posted to Facebook, other footage, and prosecutors, a police officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes while Floyd, handcuffed and on the ground, said repeatedly, “I can’t breathe.”
Floyd was taken away in an ambulance and later pronounced dead. On Friday, authorities charged the now-fired officer, Derek Chauvin, with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The three other officers involved were fired and are under investigation.
