Radio 2 host Jeremy Vine was temporarily suspended from Twitter for breaking its ‘hateful content’ rule after he named a woman who was campaigning against a cycle lane.
The BBC broadcaster had his account locked after he was reported over the row with the woman, who runs an anti-cycling group in Chiswick, West London.
The disagreement focused on a cycling lane that runs down Chiswick High Road and has been described as “dangerous”.
Vine, a cycling enthusiast, regularly posts footage taken from his helmet camera and is openly critical of motorists.
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But his anti-car stance is reportedly causing concern amongst bosses at the BBC, with some fearing he could be at risk of breaking the corporation’s impartiality rules.
A source told the Daily Mail that his controversial social media activity could be compared to that of Match of the Day Host Gary Linekar, who was taken off the air earlier this year for saying that the Government’s Rwanda refugee policy “reminds us of the debate in Germany in the 1930s”.
A BBC insider told the Mail: “[Vine] hasn’t been reined in but it is becoming an issue and has certainly been noted by some of the executives. The view is very much ‘watch this space.'”
Twitter said that it had suspended Vine from the platform “for breaking our hateful content rule”.
The social media company added: “We found they broke our hateful content rule through different reports we received about their behaviour.”
The banning came after Vine accused a woman who runs anti-cycling group ‘One Chiswick’ of allowing abuse to take place on her social media.
The group is seeking the removal of the cycle lane on Chiswick High Road that Vine often uses.
Twitter’s terms of service state that an offending tweet must be taken down in order for the account to be unlocked.
Vine said on Thursday that “all my tweets comply with Twitter’s rules” and that “none of them has been removed”.
“The whole thing is a bit of a mystery,” he added.
