[guest post by Dana]
As you recall, Team Mitch was locked out of their Twitter account on Wednesday, and told it would be unlocked when they removed a video that Twitter claimed violated the company’s “abusive behavior policy”.
Here is the original video that caused the suspension, now restored to the account (NSFW):
Last night, an angry left-wing mob of Amy McGrath supporters stormed Senator McConnell’s Louisville home screaming obscenities and hoping someone would ‘just stab the motherfucker in the heart.’ pic.twitter.com/Ygo1mbQSk5
— Team Mitch (@Team_Mitch) August 6, 2019
Today, Twitter unlocked the account:
“Several Twitter users, including U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s campaign account, were temporarily locked out of their accounts for Tweeting a video that violated our abusive behavior policy. The video contained a violent threat directed at Leader McConnell, a clear violation of the Twitter Rules,” Twitter’s communications team said.
“After multiple appeals from affected users and Leader McConnell’s team confirming their intent to highlight the threats for public discussion, we have reviewed this case more closely,” they added. “Going forward, the video will be visible on the service with a sensitive media interstitial and only in cases where the Tweet content does not otherwise violate the Twitter Rules.”
It’s not difficult to see why Twitter has reversed course:
Republicans on Thursday launched a widespread boycott of ad spending on Twitter TWTR, -1.05% until the social media giant unlocks Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s campaign Twitter account.
President Trump’s re-election campaign, the Republican National Committee, the House and Senate GOP campaign arms and the Senate Leadership Fund all announced a suspension of ad spending, citing anti-conservative bias.
Depending on how long the boycott lasts, hundreds of thousands of ad dollars on Twitter could be at stake.
Trump’s re-election campaign alone had forecast between $300,000 and $500,000 in Twitter spending for August, the campaign told The Post.
Team Mitch responded to the good news:
In a statement Friday afternoon, Golden said, “We are glad Twitter has reversed their decision to lock our Team Mitch account. It is still deeply concerning that Twitter would ban us from posting a video of threats made against us but allow Liberal Hollywood celebrities to post exactly what we did without suffering the same penalty.”
He added, “It shouldn’t have taken an avalanche of outrage across the country to stop Silicon Valley from launching an effort to silence conservatives like the Majority Leader of the United States Senate in the first place. We look forward to learning more about what steps Twitter will take to ensure that this egregious suppression campaign never happens again.”
–Dana