Twitter losing Republican money after bias allegations
Many prominent Republican groups, including President Trump's campaign, pulled their advertising dollars from Twitter in retaliation for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's campaign account being locked.
McConnell's campaign account, @TeamMitch, was locked on Wednesday after a post showed video of protesters threatening him outside of his home. One protester is heard shouting "Just stab the m----- f----- in the heart, please" after another protester suggests making a voodoo doll of McConnell. McConnell's campaign tweeted that they called law enforcement after the protests escalated.
The tweet is now removed, and a spokesperson for Twitter said the account was temporarily locked because it violated its violent threats policy. Twitter's rules state users are not allowed to post anything that threatens violence, even if they are the victim of the threats. His campaign account has not sent any new tweets since the temporary account lock.
After Twitter's action, several major Republicans accused the social media platform of having a bias against conservatives.
"There is one person who has revived Twitter, that has made Twitter a household name, and that is President Donald J. Trump, and for them to arbitrarily apply a different standard to conservatives than they're doing to Democrats, to allow the hashtag 'Massacre Mitch' to continue and not allow Mitch McConnell to put out a video out of people protesting outside of his house, I think, is a total double standard, and we're going to hold them accountable," Ronna McDaniel, GOP chairperson, told Maria Bartiromo on FOX Business' "Mornings With Maria." "The RNC has also pulled ad funding which is a significant amount, and [Twitter needs] to come forward with how they're going to apply these standards and are they going to apply equally to Democrats and Republicans."
For [Twitter] to arbitrarily apply a different standard to conservatives than they're doing to Democrats ... is a total double standard.
Recently, Trump and other prominent Republicans have accused Twitter as well as Facebook and Google of being biased against the GOP. Trump also told FOX Business he was considering legislation to address the reported discrimination.
"We're big users of these platforms, and if they want to send a message that 'we don't want conservatives' and that 'we're going to be a monolithic platform for one voice for our progressive ideals,' then I don't think those platforms are going to exist," McDaniel said. "And so if they continue this type of behavior where they're shadow banning conservatives, like they did to me, suspending Mitch's account, then we're going to leave the platform. We'll find someplace else to go."
We'll find someplace else to go.
An Associated Press source said the GOP and the Trump campaign had planned to spend at least $300,000 in advertising to Twitter in August alone.
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McConnell is currently at home recovering after breaking his shoulder.