Bye, Bitch: Neo-Nazi Blair Cottrell Has Been Permanently Banned By Twitter

Far-right figure Blair Cottrell has been permanently banned from Twitter, the platform has confirmed. A spokesperson for Twitter was unable to confirm exactly which of Cottrell’s tweets were the final straw, but cited “multiple violations” of the platform’s abuse policies as the reason for the banning.

Twitter’s abuse policy states: “You may not engage in the targeted harassment of someone, or incite other people to do so. We consider abusive behaviour an attempt to harass, intimidate, or silence someone else’s voice.”

In a series of tweets earlier this week, Cottrell vilified Muslims, women and LGBTIQ+ people, and praised Adolf Hitler.

“Hitler said that if only one nation maintains its identity while all others mix with each other, the nation holding its true identity will become master of the world,” he said in one tweet. “You can react in moral outrage or you can consider that statement objectivity [sic] & how it may apply to us today.”

Cottrell was temporarily banned by Twitter in August last year after he appeared to direct a rape threat at Sky News journalist Laura Jayes.

“I might as well have raped @ljayes on the air, not only would she have been happier with that but the reaction would’ve been the same,” he said, in the midst of controversy over an appearance he made on Sky News.

Cottrell has been a staple of Australia’s far right since 2015, where he gained prominence organising and speaking at a number of Reclaim Australia rallies. He has lead the United Patriots Front, which is now known as Fortitude Australia.

In 2017 he was convicted and fined for violating Victoria’s racial vilification laws after he staged a mock beheading in protest at plans to build a mosque in Bendigo. He has previously called for a portrait of Hitler to be hung in every Australian classroom, and positively cited Hitler’s autobiography, Mein Kampf, as informing his views.

In 2016, Triple J’s Hack program aired a live TV special which pitted Cottrell against other panellists on issues such as feminism and immigration.