Twitter locks McConnell campaign account after it posts video of protester threats

FAN Editor

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s campaign blasted Twitter on Thursday after its account was locked for sharing a video of protesters making threats against McConnell outside his home.

“The users were temporarily locked out of their accounts for a Tweet that violated our violent threats policy, specifically threats involving physical safety,” a Twitter spokesperson told ABC News.

The McConnell campaign Twitter page on Tuesday posted a video showing protesters outside the Kentucky senator’s home. The video included Black Lives Matter Louisville leader Chanelle Helm cursing and stating that she wished the GOP leader had “broken his little, raggedy, wrinkled-ass neck” instead of injuring his shoulder last weekend. The video, which was originally posted by Helm, has since been removed from Twitter.

McConnell’s campaign manager Kevin Golden attacked Twitter’s decision, saying that this represents a problem with “the speech police in America today.”

“Twitter will allow the words ‘Massacre Mitch’ to trend nationally on their platform. But locks our account for posting actual threats against us,” Golden told ABC News. “We appealed and Twitter stood by their decision, saying our account will remain locked until we delete the video.”

The McConnell campaign statement is in line with previous remarks made from President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers who claim social media websites such as Twitter are biased against conservatives. Twitter has denied these accusations.

The Republican National Committee’s chief of staff, Richard Walters, tweeted Wednesday that, “The @GOP and @TeamTrump stand with the @Team_Mitch and the @NRSC. Any future ad $ either organization was planning to spend with @Twitter has been halted until they address this disgusting bias.”

Both the Trump campaign and the RNC have confirmed to ABC News that they’ve indeed stopped future Twitter ads.

“Twitter has a clear bias against conservatives and Republicans. The hashtag associated the disgusting threats against Mitch McConnell was allowed to trend for days. But McConnell’s posting of video of the threats themselves got his own account suspended. It is ludicrous bias in the extreme,” Tim Murtaugh, the communications director for the president’s campaign said.

The Trump campaign tells ABC News they had planned on spending as much as $500,000 in the month of August.

“Here’s what it means from the campaign: It’s not a set amount because it depends on the performance of the ads, but our team was forecasting $300,000 to $500,000 for August,” Murtaugh said.

Free America Network Articles

Leave a Reply

Next Post

Broadcom acquires Symantec's enterprise business for $10.7 billion

U.S. President Donald Trump jokes with Broadcom CEO Hock Tan as he announces that Broadcom would be moving back to the U.S. in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on Nov. 2, 2017. Nicholas Kamm | AFP | Getty Images Chipmaker Broadcom formally announced its acquisition of […]