Topline
Twitter reinstated the account of Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) on Tuesday, hours after the company suspended him over a violation of its policy against posting graphic media or adult content—which Daines blamed on a photo of him and his wife hunting.
Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) speaks during a news conference following a closed-door lunch meeting with … [+]
Key Facts
Twitter, without explanation, reinstated Daines’ account Tuesday morning, hours after the company disabled it and posted a link on his page to its policy outlining a ban on media “that depicts excessively graphic or gruesome content related to death” or “animal torture or killing.”
The policy states that exceptions can be made for photos of hunting, food preparation or religious sacrifice.
Daines, along with the National Republican Senatorial Committee Daines chairs, blamed the suspension on his profile photo, which shows him and his wife wearing hunting gear and holding a dead antelope: “This is insane,” NRSC spokesman Philip Letsou said.
The suspension prompted outcry among Republicans, including Rep. Ryan Zinke (Mont.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), who promoted the #FreeSteveDaines hashtag.
It’s unclear why Twitter reinstated Daines’ account, which as of Tuesday morning, still featured the photo in question.
In a statement Tuesday, Daines thanked Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk for restoring his account, adding that his original tweet “is no different than photos Montanans share on social media every day.”
Forbes has reached out to Twitter for comment.
Crucial Quote
“My wife is a great shot. What can I say?” Daines told Fox News Digital.
Key Background
The suspension comes after Twitter reinstated the accounts of several GOP figures who were suspended before billionaire Tesla owner Elon Musk acquired the company last year. Musk, who has increasingly leaned to the right in recent years and has declared himself a “free speech absolutist,” slashed Twitter’s content moderation staff and did away with its policy against Covid-19 misinformation. He swiftly ordered the company to unlock former President Donald Trump’s account, which was suspended in the wake of the January 6 Capitol riots after the company accused Trump of inciting violence and refusing to facilitate an orderly transition of power by tweeting false claims that he was the true winner of the 2020 presidential election. Trump has yet to tweet since his account was reinstated in November. Twitter also allowed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) back on the platform in January after she violated the company’s now-defunct policy against Covid-19 misinformation. Twitter has continued to suspend some accounts under Musk, however. In December, Musk ordered suspensions, then quickly reinstated, several prominent journalists’ Twitter pages, including those from The New York Times, Washington Post and CNN, after they shared Tweets from an account that tracked the location of his private jet—what Musk said was a violation of Twitter’s policy against sharing users’ live locations. Twitter also suspended white supremacist Nick Fuentes’ account in January after he shared a video that referenced an antisemitic tweet by rapper Kanye West, whose account is also suspended for a series of antisemitic tweets.
Tangent
The newly Republican-controlled House has made their claims that Twitter and other social media companies unfairly censor messages that appeal to their base a key target for the 118th Congress. The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed three former Twitter executives, Twitter’s former Chief Legal Officer Vijaya Gadde, former Deputy General Counsel James Baker and former Head of Trust and Safety Yoel Roth, to testify on Wednesday, where they will face questioning about the company’s decision to remove a 2020 New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop that suggested President Joe Biden had ties to a Ukrainian energy company his son did business with (something Biden has repeatedly denied). The GOP’s claims were bolstered by Musk’s release of the “Twitter Files” in December that revealed the company decided to remove the Hunter Biden story out of fears it was the product of Russian hacking scheme in violation of the company’s anti-hacking policy.
Further Reading
Twitter Suspends Accounts For Rival Mastodon And Several High-Profile Journalists (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2023/02/07/twitter-reinstates-gop-sen-steve-daines-account-hours-after-suspending-it-for-violating-policy-against-graphic-images/