Twitter Tracks Down, Suspends Fake Antifa Account Associated With Identity Evropa

Micro social networking site Twitter took matters into its own hands Monday (June 1) as it tracked down and suspended an account claiming to be associated with the white supremacist group, Identity Evropa.

With the United States under a state of distress following the death of African-American George Floyd in the hands of a white Minneapolis police, protesters are taking the streets calling for justice and equality. As demonstrations – peaceful and violent alike – began to emerge, @ANTIFA_US took to Twitter and called for violence amid the already chaotic unrest.

“Tonight's the night, Comrades. Tonight we say 'F--- The City' and we move into residential areas... the white hood... and we take what's ours...,” reported NBC News.

According to Axios, @ANTIFA_US move to spark even more distress is the “latest example” of how social media is being used to “exploit and sharpen the very real divisions in American society.” At the same time, it is Twitter's ongoing thrust to crackdown users who spread false information using their platform.

“This account violated our platform manipulation and spam policy, specifically the creation of fake accounts. We took action after the account sent a Tweet inciting violence and broke the Twitter Rules,” a Twitter representative told the outlet.

NBC News also pointed out that Twitter saw a handful of misleading information late Sunday and into Monday related to the protests. Among those was #DCBlackout which claimed cell service in Washington D.C. and other means of communication were allegedly disrupted by a “secret internet blackout.”

The network added that Twitter took down the false hashtags from its trending list due to the “coordinated attempts to disrupt the public conversation” surrounding the protests. Likewise, the site also suspended several hundred accounts and is investigating the viral spread of the hashtags, saying that “hundreds of spammy accounts” helped it slither through the top of its trending topics.

Protests and demonstrations surrounding the death of Floyd have made President Donald Trump and his allies to accuse Antifa – a militant, left-wing, anti-fascist movement – as responsible for the volatile scenario. On Sunday, Trump tweeted that the U.S. would designate the group as a “Terrorist Organization.” This was echoed by Attorney General William Barr, who said in a statement that it will use its existing network Joint Terrorism Task Forces to “identify criminal organizers and instigators” in the ongoing protests, including the Antifa and other similar groups.