American blogger Pamela Geller named as world's top Islamophobe
The writer, who produces anti-Islamic website The Geller Report, has an audience of two million social media followers.
A controversial American blogger has been accused of being the internet's most virulent Islamphobe by researchers.
Pamela Geller, 59, was named by not-for-profit Hope Not Hate as a major figure in a growing network of far-right social media influencers.
The writer, who produces anti-Islamic website The Geller Report, has an audience of two million social media followers. Geller has been banned from the UK owing to her outspoken attacks against Muslims.
Geller was instrumental in a organised protest against the 'Ground Zero Mosque' in 2011. Geller said that the proposed Islamic Cultural Centre, situated just a few blocks from the 9/11 site, was akin to a monument built on a "conquered land".
Geller is also the president of Stop Islamisation of America, a pro-Israel group that paid for a number of controversial advertisements on New York public transport which likened Muslims to "savages" and "jihadists."
Meanwhile, researchers say they are concerned with a 117% increase in followers of right-wing, anti-Muslim Twitter profiles between March and November of this year.
Patrik Hermansson, for Hope not Hate, said: "The growth among Twitter accounts and websites spreading anti-Muslim hate is alarming. In such a key area of public interest, it is an indication of increased interest in these views and, as each account or site grows, more people are exposed to deeply prejudiced anti-Muslim views."
Hope not Hate believes the reach of these far-right accounts is amplified by fake bots which automatically tweet posts by bloggers. The report suggests that Geller's own account is magnified by 102 bots that are set up to retweet or auto-tweet her content, an allegation which she has strongly denied in a recent blog post.
Earlier this year three people were arrested in connection with a plot to behead the conservative blogger. David Wright and his conspirators are accused of distributing pro-Islamic State videos and threatening to kill Geller.
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