UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) has assisted an anti-racist Twitter user to return to Twitter after he had been permanently suspended for tweeting two “profanities”.

The Twitter user had already appealed twice against his suspension, without success. UKLFI advised him to make a further appeal to Twitter on the basis that permanent suspension for two profanities is not in line with Twitter’s abusive behaviour policy which states:

“Using insults, profanity, or slurs with the purpose of harassing or intimidating others

We take action against the use of insults, profanity, or slurs to target others. In some cases, such as (but not limited to) severe, repetitive usage of insults or slurs where the primary intent is to harass or intimidate others, we may require Tweet removal. In other cases, such as (but not limited to) moderate, isolated usage of insults and profanity where the primary intent is to harass or intimidate others, we may limit Tweet visibility as further described below. Please also note that while some individuals may find certain terms to be offensive, we will not take action against every instance where insulting terms are used.” 

 Jonathan Turner, chief executive of UKLFI commented:  “It is important to ensure that anti-racist Tweeters aren’t silenced by Twitter’s algorithms.  Unjustified decisions can sometimes be corrected by showing that they are inconsistent with the policy.”

The Tweeter told UKLFI “Getting a ‘Permanent suspension’ from Twitter is really stressful as you can imagine.”  And after being restored he wrote to UKLFI: “Thank you so much, this means a lot.”