For the past couple of years, there has been an increasing concern that tech giants, particularly social media giants, were making highly politicized decisions as to who they kicked off their platforms.
A conspiracy theorist like Alex Jones was kicked off Twitter (and deplatformed elsewhere) while anti-Trump conspiracy theorists continue to flourish on Twitter. Some conspiracy theorists apparently are more equal on Twitter.
When, in late November 2018, Laura Loomer was kicked off Twitter, this looked like another political move. Yes, she’s controversial because of her aggressive reporting style, but in the ocean of outrageous and offensive content on Twitter, she hardly was worse than so many others who remain. And while she aggressively confronted people she considered anti-Semitic, anti-Semitism does in fact flourish on Twitter.
One of the people Loomer confronted was then congressional candidate Rashida Tlaib (who was accompanied by then congressional candidate Ilhan Omar):
(As a side note, Tlaib would later become infamous for her pledge ‘We’re Going to Impeach the Motherf***er!’, referring to Trump. She also played the anti-Semitic dual loyalty and disloyalty cards against Israel supporters.)
We wrote that the spark that caused Twitter to boot Loomer was Loomer calling out then Congresswoman-elect Ilhan Omar for Omar’s 2012 offensive anti-Semitic tweet about Israel:
Loomer tweeted:
That was enough to get Loomer kicked off Twitter.
We covered the story on November 23, 2018, Laura Loomer kicked off Twitter for criticizing Congresswoman-elect Ilhan Omar:
The Twitter purge continues, but only of certain people.If you are an Islamist anti-Semite like Louis Farrakhan, Linda Sarsour, or Congresswoman-elect Ihlan Omar, you are safe. If you are the military wing of Hamas,[*] you are safe. If you are an unhinged anti-Trump conspiracy theorist, you are safe.If you are accused of being “far right” (regardless of whether that’s an accurate description), you are at risk.
[* The Hamas Arabic language military account later was suspended, but the Hamas English account still is live]
It was something of a mystery why Loomer’s tweet about Omar resulted in a ban considering the cesspool of hostile, fake, and defamatory accusations that flood Twitter every minute.
Now we know.
CAIR put pressure on Twitter to ban Loomer.
The Wall Street Journal reports (emphasis added):
Conservative Jewish activist Laura Loomer says she didn’t know until recently that outside groups and individuals had privately lobbied Twitter executives to remove her from the site in late November.In an email to Ms. Loomer, Twitter said she had violated its hateful conduct policy for a tweet calling Ilhan Omar, the Muslim congresswoman from Minnesota, anti-Jewish and supportive of Shariah law. In an interview, Ms. Loomer says she was referring to a 2012 tweet from Ms. Omar in which the congresswoman wrote, “may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.”Among the groups that had complained to Twitter was the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an advocacy organization.The council doesn’t often step in to advocate against other users, says Executive Director Zahra Billoo, but did so in the case of Ms. Loomer based on her previous comments about Muslims. In 2017, Ms. Loomer tweeted after a terror attack in New York City, “Leave it to Muslims to ruin everything. People can’t even enjoy #Halloween without those savages f**king everything up for everyone.”Other organizations, including the civil-rights organization Muslim Advocates, voiced similar complaints.Twitter’s email to Ms. Loomer didn’t mention the behind-the-scenes discussions. After her suspension, she handcuffed herself to Twitter’s New York headquarters in protest. Police cut her free from the handcuffs after two hours.Twitter’s Mr. Borrman says Ms. Loomer’s suspension “was the result of multiple, repeated violations of the same rules, it was not about any one tweet.” He added that many organizations and individuals contacted Twitter about her account over the years.Ms. Loomer says she didn’t post anything hateful or anything in violation of Twitter’s terms of service.
There you have it. Mystery solved.
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