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February 6, 2025
Elon Musk's X has suspended a raft of accounts associated with neo-Nazis from Australia's Nat ional Socialist Network but not before the far-right extremist group boasted that it had raised more than $13,000 to replace equipment "stolen" by Victoria Police.
On Tuesday, in a rare but "significant" move under Mr Musk's ownership of X, a raft of accounts belonging to high-profile Australian far-right figures, including Thomas Sewell, Jacob Hersant and Blair Cottrell, were suspended prompting suggestions of a level of "co-ordination" between X and the federal government.
Many NSN members had returned to X after being previously banned, including Mr Sewell, Mr Hersant and Mr Cottrell, who gained tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of views on recent posts, before Tuesday's abrupt suspension of a swath of accounts.
On Telegram, NSN members claimed the account crackdown was "obviously" spearheaded by Australian authorities trying to silence the group.
Deakin University associate professor Josh Roose said the removal of accounts did suggest a degree of involvement of the federal government. "It looks like the Australian government is becoming more agile and active in targeting the extremist right online," the political violence expert said.
"It's a significant development that suggests a co-ordinated effort, likely with the Australian government on board."
Both Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke and Australia's eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, were contacted.
The NSN had previously vowed to continue to spread "hate" it remains active on encrypted platform Telegram and its recent financial haul will go towards replacing laptops, cameras, mobile phones and other digital equipment confiscated during Victoria Police raids, the group said.
In January, NSN leaders Mr Sewell and Mr Hersant announced the curtain call on their "fundraiser to replace equipment stolen by police" on GiveSendGo, an American crowd-funding website that has been criticised for platforming far-right extremists.
"Victoria Police under orders from the Chinese consulate and Jewish lobbies raided members of our organisation and stole cameras, laptops, phones and other accessories used for our online political promotion," the pair claimed.
"These raids are an attempt to instil fear in the wider community and to stop white people from promoting and protesting for their racial interests." The pair had spruiked the drive on Telegram across the past few months, with other NSN supporters promoting the campaign on X.
Mr Hersant recently thanked his followers for the donations, saying it would allow him and other NSN members to continue their "work".
"We received the money without being deplatformed," he said.
"Now we can continue to spread the hate with our new gadgets.
White power! Hail victory!" Opposition home affairs spokes man James Paterson warned against any Australian fin ancially supporting neo-Nazi groups and urged law enforcement to probe the fundraising.
"No one in Australia should facilitate or contribute to neo-Nazi fundraisers for any purpose, but especially not to engage in incitement to violence," he said.
Speaking before Tuesday's X account suspensions, Ms Inman Grant said tech companies needed to actively enforce their policies and protect communities.
"A policy is only as good as its enforcement is consistent; it is almost inevitable that any social media platform will become more toxic and less safe if you combine significant reductions to safety and local public policy personnel with thousands of account re instatements of previously banned users," she said.
It comes after South Australian police arrested and charged 16 NSN members during an Australia Day protest in Adelaide that allegedly included Nazi symbols.
