Twitter blocks German neo-Nazi account in world first
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In this Sept 25, 2012 file picture a police officers shows a confiscated Nazi flag at a press conference in Hanover, Germany after it was found at the Nazi group Besseres Hannover (Better Hanover). Twitter has for the first time blocked an account using a new tool that allows it to bar content in individual countries, shutting out a banned German neo-Nazi group at the behest of local authorities. -- PHOTO: AP
BERLIN (AFP) - Twitter said on Thursday that it had blocked an account in a country for the first time, after German police asked the micro-blogging site to restrict access by a neo-Nazi group.
"We announced the ability to withhold content back in January," Twitter's chief lawyer Alex Macgillivray said in a message posted on the website.
"We're using it now for the first time re: a group deemed illegal in Germany."
In a separate tweet, Mr Macgillivray posted a link to a letter from the police in the northern German state of Lower Saxony asking Twitter to block the account of Besseres Hannover, a far-right outfit which was outlawed last month.
