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Tommy Robinson kicked off Instagram and claims he will soon lose access to Facebook

The ban comes amid a range of punishments for far-right voices, including Alex Jones

Andrew Griffin
Tuesday 07 August 2018 12:33 BST
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Tommy Robinson wins appeal: Far-right leader freed from prison on bail

Tommy Robinson has been kicked off Instagram.

The far-right activist's account, which had been under the name "realtommyrobinson" has now been removed. Instead, the site just shows a message saying "Sorry, this page isn't available".

The ban comes amid a flurry of punishments for controversial far-right figures. Most infamous among them has been the gradual removal of Alex Jones' Infowars from tech platforms, which has included Facebook, YouTube, Spotify and Apple's podcasts.

Robinson – whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – suggested that he may be subject to further bans, in a Facebook in which he announced he can no longer access Instagram.

"They have now deleted my Instagram account," he wrote. Facebook will soon close us down."

He has already been removed from Twitter, in March. The company has refused to say which of his tweets led to that ban, though it came after a host of Islamophobic posts.

Robinson is thought to be in Tenerife, having headed there soon after being released from prison.

Both Robinson and Jones have suggested that they are the victim of a conspiracy to hide conservative voices. But tech platforms have pointed to their policies on hate speech when removing their videos and profiles from their sites.

Robinson has repeatedly used his social accounts to share Islamophobic messages, and has continued that posting since being released from prison.

He posted a long, angry comment about the removal of Jones' platforms, in which he suggested that his voice was being suppressed.

"Imagine EE, Three, O2 and Vodafone all got together and started listening to what you were saying in conversations on your mobile phone," he wrote in a recent Facebook post. "They decided they did not like what you were saying so they all blocked you from their network effectively removing your ability to communicate. If this started happening to people, there would be uproar.

"Well that is exactly what Facebook, Youtube, Apple and Spotify just did to Alex Jones and Infowars. It does not matter if you agree or Disagree with Alex Jones, this is forcible suppression of opposition voices that predominantly left wing silicon valley do not agree with or 'fascism' as it is better known!"

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