George Galloway threatens to sue Twitter for calling him ‘Russia state-affiliated media’

Former British Member of Parliament George Galloway has threatened to sue Twitter after the social media giant labelled his account "Russia state-affiliated media".

"Dear Twitter Support, 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," he tweeted on Wednesday.

"If you do not remove this designation I will take legal action."

"It’s Kafkaesque really. When I did present on Russian state media I had NO Twitter designation. Now that I don’t, can’t, and would be committing a crime if I did I have been given the designation," he said in another tweet.

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

It’s Kafkaesque really. When I did present on #Russian state media I had NO Twitter designation. Now that I don’t can’t and would be committing a crime if I did I have been given the designation. Shome mishtake shurely @elonmusk

— George Galloway (@georgegalloway) April 6, 2022

Galloway and his wife have presented the Sputnik show on the Moscow-linked RT, formerly known as Russia Today, since 2013.

The channel was banned from airing in the UK since Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. A search on archive.is revealed that Galloway mentioned his Sputnik show in his Twitter bio until as recently as 28 March, nearly a month after Russia invaded its neighbour. 

The UK broadcasting Ofcom cancelled RT's licence on 18 March.

Twitter recently announced it will limit around 300 accounts it says are linked to the Russian government, which means they will simply not be recommended by Twitter’s algorithm.

Galloway has campaigned for Palestinian rights and against the 2003 Iraq war. He was a member of the Labour Party but was expelled in 2003 and later founded the Respect Party.

When the Syrian uprising broke out in 2011, he was criticised for comments deemed supportive of Russia's air campaign in support of Bashar Al-Assad.

He has also been slammed for working for Iranian state-owned Press TV and later Russian-affiliated media RT. 

His campaigning tactics in elections have been widely criticised, with Muslim MP Naz Shah saying that he ran "the dirtiest campaign this democracy has ever seen" after he stood against her in elections in Bradford West in 2015 and accused her of lying about her forced marriage.