(RNS) — As midnight Eastern time approached on Tuesday (Jan. 24), far-right political operative Nick Fuentes shouted into his virtual megaphone — returned just hours earlier by Elon Musk’s Twitter — “I’m back! … ready for WAR!”Twitter first banned Fuentes, a Holocaust denier and self-described neo-Nazi, in 2021 for “repeated violations.” In October 2022, Fuentes opened a new account but was quickly banned. His reinstatement Tuesday morning came amid Twitter’s attempts to bring back users who had been banned before billionaire Musk’s Oct. 27 takeover, in an effort to reform what the new CEO and owner has described as inconsistent policies on hate speech. By Wednesday morning, Fuentes’ account was again suspended.
In his brief Twitter comeback tour, Fuentes reveled in his new freedom by spouting late-night obscenities and conspiratorial, antisemitic musings into Twitter Spaces, an audio feature of the social media platform.
“Jews run the news. … Jews run the media. Back on Twitter, let’s f—ing go,” Fuentes said, mocking critics, including Ben Shapiro, the Jewish founding editor of the conservative media company The Daily Wire.
For about 20 minutes, more than 3,000 listeners tuned in to the 24-year-old’s rambling speech. Fuentes railed against Jews and “Israel first” policies, saying, “Israel did 9/11, and we love Hitler.”
He a …
Twitter reinstated white nationalist Nick Fuentes. He lasted 24 hours.
