We now know who complained to Twitter about the satirical Klan hoods from the cover of my book Alt-America in my profile pic and convinced them to suspend my account. It was an alt-right troll who features Pepe in his profile pic. He decided to brag about it on Twitter, and brought along the receipts, including Twitter’s official response to his complaint.
In other words, Twitter suspended my work exposing the very same white nationalist hate it claims it is attempting to expunge from its site at the behest of an alt-right white nationalist who objected to my work. And it continues to stand by that decision.
Recall, if you will, Twitter’s rationale for suspending my account:
We don't allow hateful symbols in avatars or header images in order to protect users from unintentionally being exposed to abusive imagery that can be upsetting. We know that some people may use these symbols to confront a hateful ideology, but that's not always obvious at first glance. In this case, additional context in the account profile clarifies the intent, but that isn't always visible in the product. So, for example, someone viewing the header on mobile wouldn't have the extra context, and would only see the hateful image.
As I noted at the time, this simply fails the test of both fairness and effectiveness: Not only is there nothing innately hateful about the image from my book cover, this also has the effect of opening the door to classic alt-right white nationalist tactics, which revolve around the appropriation of images and symbols from the mainstream, adopting them as very lightly coded signals of ideological affiliation: “think of all those Pepe and ‘Groyper’ alt-right avatars out there” is how I put it.
Well, hello.
For anyone who’s even vaguely familiar with alt-right trolls and how they operate and, most of all, what their symbology represents, the image of Pepe is an unmistakable signal that you’re dealing with an alt-right troll, and over 90% of the time that troll is an unrepentant racist, anti-Semite, and all-around vicious bigot, not to mention a devoted white nationalist intent on creating a Caucasian ethnostate. It’s true that there is an innate ambiguity around Pepe, since his originator (a liberal Democrat) has attempted to reclaim him, to little effect. It’s also true that the use of a Pepe avatar and profile pic is still alt-right code.
It’s also true that such a profile pic is far less ambiguously a “hateful symbol” likely to inspire a fearful response in the user of a mobile device than the playful and obviously provocative little KKK stars designed by a Verso Books artist—not to mention that my book cover is significantly less well-known than Pepe. There’s a reason the ADL includes it in its list of “hate symbols” while sensibly recommending that it be viewed entirely in its context, since its use can be non-bigoted.
As I explained:
In other words, Twitter’s algorithm has the net effect of privileging alt-right extremism—which specializes in this kind of appropriation and “ironic” use of disguised hate symbols, ranging from the Kek banner to the “OK” sign. And it punishes the serious work of combating white supremacism, which supposedly is what Twitter had in mind when it announced its intention to investigate whether it should actively de-platform hate groups and far-right extremists.
Even more to the point, symbols like Pepe are specifically designed by alt-righters to game Twitter’s rules to their own benefit. And guess what? It works—because Twitter executives and programmers clearly don’t mind that they’re being played for tools. One is left to wonder if their willingness to be manipulated is a matter of cluelessness or something worse.
The end result is multi-pronged: Not only does Twitter utterly fail to prevent the spread of white-nationalist hate speech, it refuses to even attempt to distinguish between such speech and the reportage of journalists and activists dedicated to exposing it. Twitter’s algorithms and policies privilege white nationalist trolling, recruitment, and innate hate speech while punishing serious and legitimate mainstream reportage on the phenomenon.
Its apotheosis: An alt-right troll whose account prominently features a hateful white-nationalist symbol can complain to Twitter about someone engaged in that reporting—for using a symbol whose meaning is far more ambiguous—and Twitter will do his bidding without hesitation or regret. I’m not entirely certain, even if I eventually have my account restored, whether I really want to get back on a platform doomed by its own stupidity to become a cesspit of white nationalist shit.