Katie Hopkins has been suspended from Twitter following backlash from campaigners who accused her of spreading hate on the platform.
The far-right commentator has been temporarily locked out of her account for violating the site’s hateful conduct policy.
Ms Hopkins’ account has more than one million followers, with several of her tweets previously shared by Donald Trump, the US president.
The only tweet still visible on her main profile page on Thursday morning was from a critic accusing her of inciting racial hatred with messages directed at the rapper Stormzy.
Centre for Countering Digital Hate
The move came little over a day after Countdown host and anti-racism campaigner Rachel Riley met Twitter representatives calling for them to review and remove Ms Hopkins’ account.
The meeting was organised by the Centre for Countering Digital Hate campaign group, which called for Twitter to permanently delete the account.
“We are pleased that preliminary action appears to have been taken by Twitter against the identity-based hate actor, Katie Hopkins following productive discussions with Twitter’s UK office,” said CEO Imran Ahmed.
“There is a long road ahead before social media is made safe for dialogue, information exchange and the formation and maintenance of relationships.
“The fact parents are so hesitant and fearful of allowing children onto social media platforms shows how toxic many of these environments have become.
Handing megaphones to hate actors
“We believe social media can empower the world to be even better, but handing megaphones to hate actors is irresponsible and dangerous.”
Ms Riley said she was “pleased to see that action appears to have been taken”, but added that she also called for the removal of George Galloway’s account – which remains online.
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