First Donald Trump, now Hexham! Racecourse back in Elon Musk's good books after ban from X

Hexham is free! Like Donald Trump, the scenic Northumberland racecourse has been allowed back on X following a ban.

Hexham's account was blocked for 48 hours but has now been reinstated following a social media campaign and help from a local MP who took the issue to the very top of Elon Musk's online giant, which was formerly known as Twitter.

Hexham manager Robert Whitelock explained on Wednesday: "On Sunday night, Sean Tasker-Brown, who looks after our social media, found that X had blocked our site so we couldn't access it. And because it was blocked, we couldn't even email them, so we had a lot of difficulty getting in touch with the people at X to try to get it reinstated.

"I put something out myself on X on Monday morning to let people know and it escalated from there. Fergal O'Brien's X account launched '#FreeHexham' and it just kept going."

Such was the volume of support from numerous people across racing that #FreeHexham was trending on X at one point and Hexham's account was finally reinstated on Tuesday evening. 

"We were fortunate that Guy Opperman, our local MP, got us a contact who Sean was able to email," Whitelock said. "I think it was the second-in-command to the CEO, and he finally got us reinstated on Tuesday night and now Hexham is free!

"It has been very heartwarming to see the response and support we've had and how everybody got behind it. 

"I suppose it was all a bit of fun but there is a serious point. I am very critical of social media and I'm not a great fan of it, but it is a useful tool when you're trying to get a message out such as advertising racedays or our Cheltenham preview on March 6."

Hexham remains uncertain as to why the course was denied access to X, which allowed Trump back last year after originally blocking him due to concerns his words would incite violence.

Whitelock said: "We haven't quite got to the bottom of exactly why we were blocked, but I believe one reason is that they thought the person operating our site wasn't old enough to have an X account. But, in fact, Sean is 24."

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