On Twitter this week, among many thousands of abusive and threatening tweets direct at the NRA’s Dana Loesch, one in particular stood out as vile and, more importantly, seemingly impermissible. Nevertheless, that tweet (quoted below), was not even considered a rules violation by Twitter until after public attention was focused on it, says Chris Loesch, Dana’s husband and manager. Loesch told Mediaite that Twitter has ignored or left unpunished other threats in the past but that, “somehow after we went public, they suddenly decided to suspend an account.” Loesch is referring to an article about the threat, and the subsequent emails from Twitter, published at the Daily Caller. The tweet in question is only available by screenshot now, since after the account was temporarily suspended, it was deleted. While the user, @MilanLegius, was temporarily suspended, the account is now active again. Initially, Twitter found no violation of the rules in the murder tweet. Chris Loesch provided Mediaite with the original email (click to view the full screenshot): After the Daily Caller’s initial article was posted, which featured a tweet from Loesch, another email came from Twitter, this time stating they’d changed their minds. Dana and Chris Loesch did not submit a new inquiry in that interim. The second email states that if “the account owner complies with our requested actions and stated policies, the account will be unlocked.” The user’s account is currently unlocked. Amid controversy over the Twitter account of Alex Jones, Twitter announced recently they were going to take steps to further action against “hate speech”. Here’s an email I sent Twitter employees today with more context around our thinking and our policies. pic.twitter.com/GMkDpKgf5S — Del Harvey (@delbius) August 8, 2018 This is a recent blog post about their evolving rules. Alex Jones was given a temporary suspension by Twitter earlier this month for a period of one week for “abusive’ behavior. That one week suspension was mocked as trivial or inadequate punishment on CNN. The user who said that the Loesch children “need” to be murdered wasn’t even gone 48 hours. President Trump and other prominent conservatives and Republican officials have questioned the company’s ability and efforts to enforce rules fairly across the ideological spectrum. In answer to that attention, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has made some recent rare media appearances, notably telling Fox News’ Sean Hannity that they do not make decisions based on ideology and telling CNN’s Brian Stelter that he full admits the company is left-wing, but arguing that it does not affect their ability to be fair in the application of rules. In this case there is an open question as to whether their public statements reflect any actual changes in practice. Mediaite requested a clarification and comment from Twitter regarding the two separate emails regarding the threat against Dana Loesch’s children, and the continued active account for the user who made the threat, but did not receive a reply. Loesch is also reaching out by Twitter. Hey @Twitter and @jack, why is this person still allowed to come back after saying my and @DLoesch ‘s children need to be murdered? How is advocating murder of children OK to you? I hope congress asks these questions. https://t.co/sKdOAh5pYD — Chris Loesch (@ChrisLoesch) August 28, 2018 If, as CEO Jack Dorsey states, Twitter is “studying” the “health” of conversations on Twitter, perhaps “someone needs to murder your kids” is a good place to start looking. [Featured image via screengrab] — Follow Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) on Twitter Have a tip we should know? [email protected]<doc-sep>NRA spokesman Dana Loesch’s husband reported a tweet by a man saying their children needed to be murdered, assuming the site would enforce its rules against such threats. He was wrong. After Twitter user Milan Legius criticized Loesch on Sunday for her pro-Second Amendment views and said the murder of her children "needs to happen," Twitter responded to her husband’s report by absolving Legius of wrongdoing. "We have reviewed your report carefully and found that there was no violation of the Twitter Rules against abusive behavior," Twitter wrote in an email to Chris Loesch. Legius’ now-deleted tweet reads in full: "The only way these people learn is if it affects them directly. So if Dana Loesch has to have her children murdered before she’ll understand, I guess that’s what needs to happen." Twitter’s rules state: "You may not make specific threats of violence or wish for the serious physical harm, death, or disease of an individual or group of people." Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said earlier this month that the platform was planning to crack down on "hate speech" due to employees’ disappointment over the decision not to ban right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. In another statement, Dorsey admitted the company has a leftward bias it seeks to correct. Dana Loesch said about the reported threat, "I know several conservatives who have been suspended for far less." Apparently this doesn’t violate @TwitterSupport TOS. I know several conservatives who have been suspended for far less. cc @jack pic.twitter.com/xwKVFxtx8x — Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) August 27, 2018 Chris Loesch called Twitter’s decision "disgusting." Anti-NRA activists have employed a plethora of tactics to hit back at the organization and its defense of gun rights, including attempts to get the NRA kicked off online platforms and pressuring financial organizations to restrict its business.<doc-sep>
Twitter and other social media platforms made headlines recently when they took a bold stance against InfoWars’ Alex Jones, suspending (or in some cases blocking) him due to violations against their rules against hate speech; what apparently didn’t violate Twitter’s rules is a death threat against the children of National Rifle Association spokeswoman Dana Loesch. Sunday night, Loesch tweeted two screenshots: one, of a message from earlier that evening directed at her and her family, and the other of a response from Twitter after the message was reported. Loesch claimed that there’s a double standard for conservatives. As per the first screenshot, the message dated August 26 and 6:32 p.m. said, “The only way these people learn is if it affects them directly. So if Dana Loesch has to have her children murdered before she’ll understand, I guess that’s what needs to happen.” Loesch shared what appears to be Twitter’s response after the message was reported. The message, referencing the Twitter user who posted the threatening tweet, says, “We have reviewed your report carefully and found that there was no violation of the Twitter Rules against abusive behavior,” including a link to those rules. Twitter’s rules do address threats of violence, saying, “You may not make specific threats of violence or wish for the serious physical harm, death, or disease of an individual or group of people. They also say, “You may not engage in the targeted harassment of someone, or incite other people to do so. We consider abusive behavior an attempt to harass, intimidate, or silence someone else’s voice.” Loesch lamented that fellow conservatives she knows have been suspended from Twitter over messages less offensive than this. Apparently this doesn’t violate @TwitterSupport TOS. I know several conservatives who have been suspended for far less. cc @jack pic.twitter.com/xwKVFxtx8x — Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) August 27, 2018 In response to Loesch’s post about this, other users tweeted at Twitter Support and said they went on to report the threat, which now appears to have been taken down, either by Twitter or the user. Despite this, the user who posted it still has an active profile, so they don’t appear to have been suspended. [Image via CNN screengrab] Have a tip we should know? [email protected]