Media personality Milo Yiannopoulos was reportedly banned from Twitter this week after abusive messages targeted "Ghostbusters" actress Leslie Jones.
The technology editor at the conservative news site Breitbart reportedly "rallied and directed" a campaign of racist and sexist remarks at Jones’ Twitter account,
according to The New York Times.
Yiannopoulos called Twitter's action to ban him "cowardly" and said it has "confirmed itself as a safe space for Muslim terrorists and Black Lives Matter extremists, but a no-go zone for conservatives,"
according to Breitbart.
"This is the beginning of the end for Twitter," Yiannopoulos told the Times. "Some people are going to find this perfectly acceptable. Anyone who believes in free speech or is a conservative certainly will not."
A Twitter spokesman said in a company statement that, "People should be able to express diverse opinions and beliefs on Twitter. But no one deserves to be subjected to targeted abuse online, and our rules prohibit inciting or engaging in the targeted abuse or harassment of others"
Jones left the social media site on Monday with a final Tweet. "I leave Twitter tonight with tears and a very sad heart,"
she said in part.
Yiannopoulos has been suspended by the social media site in the past,
The Wall Street Journal reported. Twitter deleted his tweets after banning him.
The company said that it is in general working to crack down on abuse.
"We know many people believe we have not done enough to curb this type of behavior on Twitter," the company said in its statement, according to the Wall Street Journal. "We agree. We are continuing to invest heavily in improving our tools and enforcement systems to better allow us to identify and take faster action on abuse as it’s happening and prevent repeat offenders."
Twitter users shared mixed reactions to the ban.