Elon Musk responds to far-right Austrian’s post

Martin Sellner, founder of the Identitarian Movement, advocates for the superiority of European ethnic groups and was banned from Twitter in 2020

An Austrian figure with far-right affiliations, who had interactions with the Christchurch terrorist prior to the 2019 attack, has had his X account reinstated. Elon Musk, the owner of X, responded to one of his tweets.

Martin Sellner, the founder of the Identitarian Movement promoting the superiority of European ethnic groups, was banned from Twitter in 2020 along with several other accounts linked to the movement. This action was taken amid criticism of the platform’s handling of extremist content.

In 2019, Austrian authorities conducted searches related to Sellner, suspecting his involvement with the Christchurch terrorist, Brenton Tarrant, and a terrorist organization. Sellner has denied any connection to the attack.

It was disclosed that Tarrant had donated €1,500 (A$2,487) to Sellner’s Identitarian organization and that the two had exchanged amicable emails in 2018. Sellner had invited Tarrant to join him for a beer or coffee if he ever visited Austria.

Although Tarrant did visit Austria in 2018, Sellner denies ever meeting him.

Sellner expressed gratitude to Musk for restoring his X account last week. He now has a blue checkmark associated with paid accounts and has amassed 51,000 followers.

“I’m happy and grateful to be back on Twitter/X. I would especially like to thank Musk for making this platform more open again,” he stated in a translated tweet. “Hope the trend continues and everyone else who has been banned comes back.”

After Sellner shared a video regarding Swiss police shutting down an event he was speaking at in the Swiss canton of Aargau and stating he had been banned from Aargau for two months, Musk replied, “Is this legal?”

Last month, reports emerged that Germany was contemplating banning Sellner from entering the country.

Dr. Josh Roose, an extremism expert at Deakin University, remarked that Sellner’s account is just one of many far-right accounts, including that of the leader of the National Socialist Network in Australia, that have been reinstated on X under Musk.

“Coincidentally, all of them, in some way, shape, or form, interacted with Brenton,” he noted.

Musk stated that illegal posts would be removed, but if they did not violate the law, they would not be censored.

Roose noted that while this approach might align with Musk’s interpretation of freedom of speech in the US, the accounts were initially removed for spreading hate and inciting fear online, and nothing had changed.

“Although it’s not unexpected, it indicates… it’s an enabling force that offers these movements a platform to propagate hate.”

In January, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, disclosed that, according to data provided by X, 6,103 Australian accounts had been reinstated between November 2022 and May 2023. Among these were 194 accounts that had been suspended for violating X’s previous hateful conduct policy.

“A number of these reinstated users were previously banned for online hate,” Inman Grant stated. “If you allow the most egregious offenders back onto the platform while simultaneously reducing trust and safety personnel… there are evident concerns about the implications for user safety.”