Twitter has hard and fast rules about targeting one user for harassment, and they usually put a stop to it when they see it…if you’re on the right.

There have been multiple examples of right-leaning figures being banned from the social network due to the fact that their followers began piling onto users after being publicly put down. However, Twitter doesn’t seem to have a problem with this if the one doing the targeting is a celebrity or a displayer of said celebrities.

Brie Larson, recently famed for stepping into the role of Captain Marvel, has made her directorial debut on Netflix with a movie called “Unicorn Store.”

So excited to share the trailer for Unicorn Store, @brielarson's directorial debut and an absolutely charming, heartfelt, exploration of the things that drive us and the creativity that adulthood often tries to extinguish. pic.twitter.com/1nLqX8DJ3r

— NetflixFilm (@NetflixFilm) March 22, 2019

One Twitter user in particular named “Joe Gil” commented on the trailer, noting that it didn’t look all that interesting, and compared her debut to Jonah Hill who waited to debut out of respect for the medium. Gil surmised that Larson was riding Captain Marvel’s wave.

Netflix responded to Gil, posting Larson’s accomplishments with her history.

Brie Larson has:
58 acting credits
53 award noms
2 writing credits
2 short film directing credits
1 composing credit
1 producing credit
1 Oscar
1 feature directing credit
Been working since 1998
Worked with Apatow, Baumbach, Wright, Boden, Fleck, Abrahamson, and more.

— NetflixFilm (@NetflixFilm) March 22, 2019

This was followed up by Larson, who quote-tweeted Netflix with “NETFLEX,” causing the deluge to begin.

NETFLEX https://t.co/FsGSFzpoRO

— Brie Larson (@brielarson) March 28, 2019

This was then turned into a story by ET Canada, who celebrated Netflix taking down Gil.

.@netflix shuts down a Twitter troll who dissed @brielarson and the trailer for her directorial debut, #UnicornStore https://t.co/j5yPzesECB pic.twitter.com/zeMz0WqeY0

— ET Canada (@ETCanada) March 29, 2019

The end result was a deluge of people coming down on Gil, who had to take his account private thanks to the mob sicced on him by Netflix, Larson, and ET Canada.

This is something Twitter frowns upon.

“You may not engage in the targeted harassment of someone, or incite other people to do so,” it says in their rules page. “We consider abusive behavior an attempt to harass, intimidate, or silence someone else’s voice.”

This wasn’t lost on some, and others pointed out how wrong it is that a random follower on Twitter would get dogpiled by a major corporation and a celebrity simply because he’s not a Larson fan and expressed it.

Multi-billion dollar media conglomerate @netflix dunks on twitter user with 358 followers and sends 55k psychos his way so hard he has to lock his account for the sin of saying Brie Larson’s directorial debut looks “meh.” SLAYYY QWEEEEN

NOT targeted harassment 🤔 https://t.co/V1AoE0GNbF

— Adam Trahan (@AdamTrahan) March 29, 2019

https://twitter.com/NotSmug_/status/1111659384239730688

It’s despicable. I can’t believe Netflix is a part of this. Also, all of the pile on harassers. Sick.

— Daily Jen (@MeridithG1015) March 29, 2019

https://twitter.com/temilioco/status/1111665424750518272

Gil may have been ignorant about Larson’s past experience, but that’s not the point. Larson and Netflix are using their power to defend their product with intimidation tactics, siccing the mob on a Twitter user who dared voice his opinion.

This is not only a violation of Twitter’s rules according to Twitter both in writing and by example on how they enforce it, but it’s also unethical that a corporation should draw massive negative attention to something they consider wrong-think.

Targetted harassment isn’t okay, but it needs to not be okay for everyone.

(h/t: Bounding Into Comics)