More white nationalists on Twitter than IS backers

The number of white nationalists and Nazi sympathisers on Twitter has multiplied to more than 600% in last four years, outperforming the Islamic State group in everything from follower counts to number of daily tweets, a study has found.

Researchers at George Washington University analysed 18 accounts belonging to major white nationalist groups- such as the American Nazi Party and the National Socialist Movement - mostly located in the US. The number of followers in these accounts increased from 3,500 in 2012 to 22,000 in 2016.The study noted that while IS stood out for its outreach and recruitment using Twitter, white nationalist groups have excelled in the medium. The report underscores the declining influence of IS on the platform after Twitter said it shut down 3,60,000 accounts for what they saw as promoting terrorism.

According to the study, white nationalist users are “heavily invested” in Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s candidacy. But mentions of the real estate tycoon were second only to talk of “white genocide”.