Twitter has — in general — gotten a lot better under Elon Musk. But there would still appear to be some issues and bugs in the system if we look at what happened to Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) on Tuesday.
Daines, the chairman of the Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, just was suspended by Twitter for allegedly violating its media policy against posting “graphic violence or adult content” in his profile picture. What did Daines do? He posted a picture of himself and his wife with an antelope that she just shot. That’s it. But now his fellow senators and GOP mates are coming to his defense and calling out on the attack on hunting.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX):
Ridiculous. My friend @SteveDaines is in @Twitter jail for posting this pic w/ his wife Cindy.
If you don’t like hunting, fine, don’t go. But don’t censor others who disagree.
And I’m pretty sure this is a formal job responsibility for a senator from Montana!#FreeSteveDaines pic.twitter.com/t6VdYNYe5u
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 7, 2023
Montant Gov. Ryan Zinke:
This is the family photo that got @SteveDaines put in twitter jail. Stop censoring our Montana way of life! Great shot, Cindy! pic.twitter.com/wXp0M53PeW
— Ryan Zinke (@RyanZinke) February 7, 2023
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) posted a hunting picture in his profile in support.
Hey @elonmusk – Why is Twitter putting @SteveDaines in Twitter jail? For his wife being a good shot? I guess since I’ve updated my profile picture, I better turn myself in. #FreeSteveDaines #NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/pCGQGDe2NJ
— Senator Mike Rounds (@SenatorRounds) February 7, 2023
What this likely means is that Daines was “gang reported” by leftist complaints to Twitter who didn’t like him hunting and that’s why they suspended his account for posting a graphic image as his profile picture or banner. However, his picture is not “graphic” at all, if you didn’t know, you’d think the antelope was just posing with him and his wife.
But what’s also problematic is when they suspend your account now, none of your tweets are visible — they all just show a notice that you violated the policy. So any political or campaign things he may have had up are now no longer visible.
— Dr. Nickarama (@nickaramaOG) February 7, 2023
This is wrong. It is ripe for abuse and potential election interference, which could be very problematic, for example in his case given his position.
“The Senator thinks it’s preposterous that a picture of him and his wife hunting — an activity that is engrained in the Montana way of life — would be against Twitter rules. Our team has reached out to Twitter, and we’ll be working to get this resolved,” Rachel Dumke, press secretary for Daines, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. [….]
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), which Daines leads as chairman, released a statement blasting the move by Twitter.
“This is insane. Twitter should immediately reverse this suspension,” said NRSC spokesman Philip Letsou.
Some noted that while Daines was taken down, there are other accounts that have hunting pictures in their profiles, including Sportsman accounts.
Twitter certainly needs to look into this and rectify this immediately in regards to Daines, but also as a general policy, it should not be targeting such pictures, and given Elon Musk’s stand against election interference, shouldn’t be employing a policy that could do exactly what he says he doesn’t want to do.
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