Social justice activists have consistently complained that social media platforms are selective about what they ban—seeming to often ban those who use the platforms to call attention to racial injustice. They’ve been unable to get changes made, but apparently Republican politicians can complain and receive redress almost immediately. At least that’s what happened when Rep. Marsha Blackburn pushed back against Twitter for banning her campaign video.
Twitter reversed its decision to block Rep. Marsha Blackburn’s (R-TN) campaign video from being promoted on the social media outlet Tuesday, saying there is “room to refine our policies” around this issue, according to Politico.
On Monday Twitter told Blackburn’s Senate bid campaign that a line in the announcement video, that bashed Planned Parenthood saying Blackburn stopped them from selling “baby body parts,” was inflammatory and against its rules for promoting advertisements. Blackburn was still able to tweet the share the video on Twitter, it just wasn’t allowed to be promoted.
This move gave Blackburn all the fuel she needed to fan the flames of hatred that Republicans have against liberals. She galvanized her base—using the decision to prove that “Silicon Valley elites” for trying to “impose their values.” Twitter, responding to the pressure, decided later to reverse its decision.
“After further review, we have made the decision to allow the content in question from Rep. Blackburn’s campaign ad to be promoted on our ads platform.”
“While we initially determined that a small portion of the video used potentially inflammatory language, after reconsidering the ad in the context of the entire message, we believe that there is room to refine our policies around these issues.”
While Twitter may believe there is room to refine policies around language, it might be worth asking them where they stand on outright lies. Blackburn’s line about Planned Parenthood selling “baby body parts” is simply untrue. She was behind the congressional investigation into the video that alleged that Planned Parenthood doctors were selling fetal tissue. Not only did that turn out to be untrue, the anti-abortion activists behind it were eventually charged with 15 felony counts of unlawfully recording people without permission and conspiracy.
So while Blackburn gets to peddle her lies on social media and gets Twitter to change its policies, black and brown activists who promote racial equity continue to get their accounts suspended for posting “inappropriate content.” Does this sound fair to anyone? This tells us everything we need to know about Silicon Valley’s priorities. Money and politics can move policy. Lies about baby body parts are okay but racial justice is a no-no.