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N. 10 special advisor Dominic CummingsTolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images

Dominic Cummings’ name blocked by Twitter anti-porn filters

Boris Johnson aide’s name falls foul of digital censors.

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The lockdown trip by Boris Johnson's top adviser may have dominated headlines for days, but a lot of Twitter traffic on the subject has been blocked by the social media giant's filters designed to stop pornography.

According to research by the Guardian, the correct spelling of Dominic Cummings' surname has fallen foul of the filters, meaning that a number of misspellings have instead been trending, including #cummnings, #dominiccummigs and #sackcummimgs. Oddly, the hashtag #cumgate has also trended, having seemingly not been stopped by the censors.

As a default, the site blocks all photo and video results containing search terms it believes may contain sensitive content.

On Monday, Cummings delivered a statement in the Downing Street garden and insisted he had no regrets about his more than 400-kilometer drive during the coronavirus lockdown. He said he "behaved reasonably," adding: "I do not regret what I did."

Twitter declined to comment to the Guardian on the filtering.

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