Social networking site Twitter has blocked users in Germany from viewing a Neo-Nazi account, the site’s general counsel Alex Macgillivray has announced.
Commenting on the decision, Mr Macgillivray said: “Never want to withhold content; good to have tools to do it narrowly and transparently.”
The ban marks the first time the website has enforced its new local censorship policy, implemented in January. The change in policy is designed to help Twitter block content which violates national laws.
Twitter has come under fire recently after accusations that the site is not doing enough to stop offensive content. Within the last week, Twitter users in France reported a new trend, #unbonjuif (#agoodjew) which has prompted racist tweets such as “#agoodjew is a dead Jew”.
The German account in question belongs to far-right organisation “Besseres Hannover”, which has been outlawed by the German government.
The block comes in response to a request from the German police, which states that the organisation “is disbanded, its assets are seized and all its accounts in social networks have to be closed immediately.” Tweets from the account in question will be blocked in Germany, but will still be accessible to global users of Twitter.
