Countdown star Rachel Riley has revealed that she played a part in Katie Hopkins’ disappearance from Twitter.
Hopkins’ account on the social media platform has been locked as Twitter conduct an investigation into her tweets following complaints from anti-racism campaigners.
The former Apprentice star, who has over 1 million Twitter followers, has become known for her pro-Trump, pro-Brexit and anti-immigration views since appearing as a contestant on the BBC show.
Rachel applauded Twitter’s suspension of Hopkins’ account, which came about after she met with the company to discuss both Hopkins’ account and that of George Galloway.
Rachel, who is Countdown’s resident maths expert, told her 654,000 followers: “I met with @Twitter yesterday with @imi_ahmed from @CCDHate and asked them among other things to review George Galloway & Katie Hopkins’s presence on their platform. I am pleased to see that action appears to have been taken!”
She added: “This is what happens when they have the #WillToAct.”
At the time of writing, George Galloway’s account is still active.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate said they had also been in discussions with Twitter.
In a statement, they called for further action against Hopkins’ Twitter and said: “We hope they now remove her from their platform and continue to demonstrate the will to act. 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 on to social media platforms shows how toxic many of these environments have become.
“We believe social media can empower the world to be even better, but handing megaphones to hate actors is irresponsible and dangerous.”
Speaking about the investigation into Hopkins’ account, Twitter explained: “Keeping Twitter safe is a top priority for us – abuse and harassment have no place on the service.
“We take enforcement action against any account that is violative of our rules – which includes violations of our hateful conduct policy and abusive behaviour policy.
“These rules apply to everyone using our service – regardless of the account involved.”
