On Wednesday, reports surfaced that Twitter had placed an alert on the link for the Conservative Political Action Conference. Clicking on the link yielded this message:
Warning: this link may be unsafe
http://www.CPAC.org
The link you are trying to access has been identified by Twitter or our partners as being potentially spammy or unsafe, in accordance with Twitter’s URL Policy. This link could fall into any of the below categories:
malicious links that could steal personal information or harm electronic devices
spammy links that mislead people or disrupt their experience
violent or misleading content that could lead to real-world harm
certain categories of content that, if posted directly on Twitter, are a violation of the Twitter Rules
What happens when you click on https://t.co/wPhO2gCmFZ? Will Twitter put you through? Or do you get an alert?
— (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) February 24, 2021
Mmhmm: https://t.co/jBalZ20heq
— (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) February 24, 2021
As The Daily Wire reported, on Tuesday, Twitter temporarily suspended conservative commentator Steven Crowder from his Twitter account for posting a video in which he discussed potential voter fraud linked to what he described as dozens of “non-existent voter addresses.”
Crowder fired back: “Okay, Big Tech wants to play? Today I present dozens of non-existent voter addresses that I’ve verified MYSELF. From Michigan to Nevada. Empty lots etc. I’ll include pictures and a current newspaper as confirmation. It goes down today.”
In a follow-up post, Crowder wrote: “DOZENS of voter names, addresses, and pictures proving they don’t exist. Period.”
On Wednesday morning, Crowder notified his followers that he was restricted from his account on Tuesday over the voter fraud-related posts. “Was blocked from Twitter for the VERIFIABLE evidence of voter fraud posted yesterday,” he wrote. “BUT I’M BACK!”
Earlier this month, Twitter permitted mocking phrases and hashtags to trend following the death of conservative radio icon Rush Limbaugh, who had died from cancer.
“We, the Limbaugh family, are deeply saddened to announced that our beloved Rush has died,” Limbaugh’s wife, Kathryn Adams Limbaugh, said in a post on her husband’s Facebook account. “Rush Hudson Limbaugh III will forever be the greatest of all time, a courageous, brilliant gentle giant and radio pioneer. Our entire family is so thankful to everyone who prayed and cared for Rush, especially the audience he adored. Rush’s love for our country, and for all of you, will live on eternally.”
Shortly following the news of Limbaugh’s passing, Twitter allowed phrases like “Good Riddance,” “Rot in Hell,” and “Rest in Piss” to trend on their platform.
Also this month, Twitter permanently banned the account of the James O’Keefe-founded undercover journalist group Project Veritas for allegedly sharing “private information” without consent.
O’Keefe later said in a video that Twitter highlighted the apparently rule-violating post from Project Veritas as a video showing the Facebook Vice President of Integrity Guy Rosen being questioned outside his home.
“The tweet in question arose when asking for comment from Facebook’s VP of Integrity about censorship,” the group said from their Telegram channel. “Project Veritas is appealing this decision, as no privacy was violated.”
“Twitter also confirmed that O’Keefe’s personal account had been locked temporarily for violating the same policy, and that O’Keefe would be required to remove the violative content before regaining permission to tweet,” CNN Business reported. “In an emailed statement to CNN Business, O’Keefe again said it was ‘false’ that the video contained private information and claimed Twitter told the group it could have its account reinstated if it deleted the tweet containing the video.”