David Morgan went ‘full Nazi’ after being shunned by his family, his sentencing heard
A 24-year-old white supremacist with a big social media following has been jailed for 20 months over a torrent of racial hatred.
But the platform where he spread his bile, X, has allowed the posts to remain online for well over a year – finding no policy violation in posts glorifying the Nazi gas chambers and depicting black people as monkeys.
David Morgan, from Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taf, has 127,800 followers on an X (formerly known as Twitter) account titled with a Welsh flag and the words “David Morgan #StayFree”. His second account, New Right Rising, has 5,800 followers. Millions of people viewed his disturbing posts and some attracted tens of thousands of likes.
Morgan pleaded guilty to publishing nine posts – known as tweets – with intent to stir up racial hatred. Those are only a small portion of his racist tweets, which can still be viewed on X despite repeated complaints, including from an MP. The court also heard Morgan may have “monetised” his account, allowing him to profit from racist posts that got a high number of views.
The website is owned by Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, who is worth an estimated £378bn and has been accused of allowing racism to spread largely unchecked on X since his 2022 takeover.
Morgan advanced conspiracy theories that Jews are responsible for global economic instability and New York’s 9/11 terrorism attack. He also blamed black people for rising crime rates and claimed white people are being “eradicated”.
The nine tweets that landed him in Cardiff Crown Court were posted in September and October of last year. They included an image of a hazmat-suited figure with a Nazi armband spraying gas towards a caricature of a Jewish man, and one of a black man being visited in prison by a child portrayed as a baby monkey.
One image showed banknotes moving towards an oven, captioned: “Only antisemites understand this photo.” Others showed a man urinating on a menorah (a Jewish candelabrum), a train track heading into a gas chamber, a monopoly board implying all black people should be in prison, and Holocaust victim Anne Frank saying: “Gas me outside.”
Morgan was reported to police by Caroline Ost, a Jewish user of X, who said she had become aware of Morgan after his online activity won glowing praise from another “Jew hater” on the social media platform.
“At that time Morgan’s posts consisted of anti-vax and 5G conspiracy theories with a smattering of racism, so I ignored it as the nonsense it was,” she told the court.
“But when I checked again at a later date, I was horrified by what I saw. He had gone full Nazi. Every post was blaming Jews for anything and everything. I reported him to X, which determined there was no violation, so he was able to continue, egged on by a huge number of followers.
“My MP spoke to X and got the same response: no violation of its terms and conditions. In desperation I reported him to the police.”
Ms Ost said she then learned another Jewish user of the website, Adam Morris, had been “doggedly fighting” for South Wales Police to act on Morgan’s racism for more than a year.
Mr Morris told the court: “He was verified on X, which meant he was allowed to monetise his posts, and I would not be surprised if he profited financially given the metrics of his account. Absurdly, X considers the posts acceptable under its terms and conditions.”
South Wales Police initially did “absolutely nothing”, according to Mr Morris, who said an officer advised him “not to look at the posts and not to get wound up by online jokes”. He also claimed the force had thought it sufficient to send an officer to Morgan’s house “advising him to behave”.
“This, sadly, is the experience many in the Jewish community had when reporting David Morgan to South Wales Police,” he said, adding that there was finally a prosecution after Counter Terrorism Policing Wales became involved in the case.
Ms Ost noted that “it only takes one lunatic to be incited to commit violence”. She said she had come across “loners” like Morgan before. “He makes the mistake many others do – his followers are not his friends. They will not be there for him in a crisis.”
Morgan, of Dare Road in Aberdare, had no previous convictions. He showed no emotion as the details of his racist posts were read out.
The court heard he was “an isolated young man” who had been “shunned” by his family because he had rejected their Jehovah’s Witnesses faith.
His barrister Hywel Davies said: “Ms Ost’s description of him as a person is extremely accurate. He was pandering to racist stereotypes in the hope of gaining some shallow popularity to fill his otherwise empty life.” At this, Morgan nodded in the dock.
“He has had significant bereavements, leading to social isolation and a deeper and deeper spiral into the cesspit of this side of social media,” Mr Davies went on.
The barrister argued a prison term would be particularly difficult for his client because of type one diabetes which means he has to inject himself with up to 10 shots a day.
He also said Morgan, who receives £1,000 a month in universal credit, feels remorse, has stopped drinking, and has been engaging with mental health services.
Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke described Morgan’s words as “appallingly prejudiced” and “disgracefully antisemitic and racist”. She told him: “Your posts caused very serious hurt and increased the risk to the safety of Jewish and black people in this country… Those posts remain on X to this day.
“It is said that you are remorseful but I also take into account what the probation officer stated in the pre-sentence report – although you offer an apology, it is unclear what you are apologising for.”
Because of his “entrenched and extreme” views, and the probation service’s assessment of him as posing a high risk of serious harm, Judge Lloyd-Clarke said only an immediate jail term could be justified.
Morgan lowered his head and nodded. As the judge imposed a jail term of one year and eight months, he clasped his hands and brought them to his face. “Thank you,” he told the judge as a security guard led him down to the cells.
When we put Mr Morris’ criticism to South Wales Police, its spokeswoman said: “[The force] received a report in 2023 about the content of Morgan’s online posts. The complainant did not support a criminal investigation and asked for Morgan to be spoken to be warned about his conduct online. Following enquiries, Morgan was located and spoken to.
“An additional report by a second person was made in 2024. this was investigated as a hate crime prior to an investigation by Counter Terrorism Policing Wales, resulting in his conviction for terror offences.”
X has been approached for comment.
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