Former MP George Galloway has threatened to sue Twitter after it labelled his account “Russian state-affiliated media”.
The controversial ex-politician and talk radio host denied he worked for Russian media and threatened legal action against the social media giant unless the designation was removed.
Since 2019, Galloway has been the presenter of The Mother of All Talk Shows on the Russian-owned Radio Sputnik channel.
He has also regularly contributed to Kremlin-linked Russia Today, which was rebranded as RT and presented 'Sputnik: Orbiting the world with George Galloway' each week with his wife Gayatri
In the midst of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Galloway continued to appear on and create content on these platforms.
In a statement, he said the invasion of the country was not “what I wanted to see”, but blamed it on “pumping Ukraine full of Nato weapons”.
However, last month Ofcom revoked the broadcast licence RT, amidst 29 ongoing investigations by the watchdog into the impartiality of the broadcaster's coverage of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The regulatory body found that it was not "fit and proper to hold a licence in the UK", due to the tight links between RT and the Russian Federation.
Dear @TwitterSupport I am not “Russian State Affiliated media”. I work for NO #Russian media. I have 400,000 followers. I’m the leader of a British political party and spent nearly 30 years in the British parliament. If you do not remove this designation I will take legal action.
— George Galloway (@georgegalloway) April 6, 2022
Former First Minister Alex Salmond also had a regular programme on RT since 2017.
However, the Alba party leader suspended his show following the start of the conflict, stating the suspension would last until "peace is re-established" in Ukraine.
Reacting to his Twitter bio label, Mr Galloway, Tweeted :”Dear @TwitterSupport I am not “Russian State Affiliated media”. I work for NO #Russian media. I have 400,000 followers.
“I’m the leader of a British political party and spent nearly 30 years in the British parliament. If you do not remove this designation I will take legal action.”
He later removed links to RT’s twitter page and to those of Sputnik.
However, other users were quick to point out his previous backing for the channel and his own shows.
You literally have your Russian state funded TV show listed in your profile description... pic.twitter.com/PPzImLp5HR
— Adam Schwarz (@AdamJSchwarz) April 6, 2022
George Galloway threatened Twitter because they added a "Russian state-affiliated media" badge to his profile.
— Adam Schwarz (@AdamJSchwarz) April 6, 2022
I replied that he lists his Russian state-funded TV show @RT_sputnik on his profile.
Seconds later, @georgegalloway deleted his description.
Here's the original 👇 pic.twitter.com/3v5qXh4z4G
George Galloway’s last foray into Scottish politics ended in failure when his anti-inpedendence All For Unity party failed to pick up any seats at the Holyrood election last year.
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