Twitter verifies far-right group Britain First with gold tick

Twitter has given a gold check mark to Britain First, the far right political party, under Elon Musk’s shake-up of the social network.

The anti-immigration Britain First party, whose leader Paul Golding was previously convicted for religiously aggravated harassment against Muslims, has received an “official organisation” tag from Twitter.

A gold tick on the social network means the account is an “official business user”. Mr Golding has also received a Twitter verification blue tick. Both marks mean their posts will receive a visibility boost in conversations and users’ feeds.

On its Telegram channel, Britain First said the verification was “a massive step forward for Britain First”. In an email to supporters, the party said it was a “huge boost to our credibility”.

“We can finally reach the mainstream”, the party said, according to The Independent. “We are reaching millions of people across the world once again, and our follower count is growing fast.”

The email added: “This is only the beginning – soon we will have hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers again.”

Britain First currently has 12,500 followers on the platform, while Mr Golding has 45,200.

The social media pages of the group and its leaders were deleted by Twitter in December 2017 after the website’s rules were changed to ban what it claimed were “violent extremist groups”.

At the time, right wing groups accused Twitter of conducting a “purge” of accounts.

The ban on Britain First and its leaders was rescinded shortly after Mr Musk’s takeover of the social network. Last week, the official account for Britain First – @BFirstParty – received a gold verification badge from the social media company.

Billionaire Mr Musk has reversed hundreds of account bans since buying the company for $44bn (£35bn) last October.

Campaigners have said the reversals have led to an increase in hate speech and abuse on Twitter, a claim Mr Musk disputes.

Mr Golding’s account now reads: “The reinstated, authentic, verified account of Britain First leader Paul Golding.” The party has also received a customised logo, which appears next to its account on Twitter.

The group was deregistered as a political party in 2017 by the Electoral Commission, but regained party status in 2021.

The party’s policies include a “halt to any further immigration except in special cases” and making it treason for anyone to allow the settlement of “significant numbers of foreigners” in the UK.

Britain First’s website says it “rejects racial hatred in all its forms”.