Having the wrong politics gets you banned, death threats perfectly fine
As Twitter suspended the account of yet another conservative for the crime of having the wrong politics, an account called ‘Kill Donald Trump’ that advocates assassinating the Republican frontrunner is still active six months later.
The social media giant shut down an account belonging to conservative journalist Robert Stacy McCain on Friday night, the latest example of what some claim is a purge of voices on the political right.
The social media giant shut down an account belonging to conservative journalist Robert Stacy McCain on Friday night, the latest example of what some claim is a purge of voices on the political right.
Although no reason was given for the ban, McCain asserts that it was a reaction to his strident criticism of third wave feminism.
However, while Twitter seems keen to silence bloggers who challenge leftist narratives, it appears to be more apathetic about leftists themselves who openly advocate the assassination of America’s potential next president – Donald Trump.
An account entitled ‘Kill Donald Trump’ that was started in August last year is still active six months later. “Someone should kill Donald Trump already. EL CHAPO do your thing,” states the bio information for the account.
The account features retweets of numerous other Twitter users who have called for the assassination of Trump, as well as direct tweets from the account owner, including one that reads, “That bastard bitch #trump #Donald should fucking die. Anyone got any people? Go to his election and shoot him with a sniper.”
“Anyone know a person that can kill Donald Trump?” reads another tweet.
Despite representing an obvious violation of Twitter’s terms of service, which state that users must not engage in “Violent threats (direct or indirect),” the account has not been suspended.
Thousands of other Twitter users who have threatened to kill Trump or expressed a wish to see him assassinated have also not had their accounts suspended.
Twitter recently announced the creation of a new ‘Trust and Safety’ council under the guise of combating online abuse, but critics assert it will police free speech and censor conservative voices.
The council does not contain a single conservative group or organization that robustly defends free speech and is instead made up of groups like Feminist Frequency, led by Anita Sarkeesian, a woman who thinks disagreeing with a feminist is a form of “harassment”.
Although Twitter is a private company and can censor whoever it likes, social media platforms are increasingly beginning to resemble public commons where online speech has real world consequences.
With thousands of people being arrested for tweets every year, broadening the definition of what constitutes “harassment” and “abuse” threatens to set an Orwellian precedent where having the wrong opinion or challenging a dominant narrative can result in official oppression.
