Actress Rose McGowan’s Twitter account was
locked overnight, causing many to speculate that her tweets speaking out against Harvey Weinstein and his enablers were the impetus. Twitter explained that McGowan’s account was locked because one of her tweets included an email screenshot with a visible phone number, which violates the company’s privacy policy.
While it’s true that posting phone numbers should not be allowed, it’s unconscionable that McGowan was silenced while horrific examples of harassment and threats of violence that clearly violate Twitter’s policies have been allowed to remain on the site.Twitter needs to rectify this by evaluating both its privacy policy and terms of service, and how they are enforced.After Donald Trump threatened North Korea with nuclear war, a clear violation of Twitter’s terms of service, the company allowed the tweet to remain because it was “newsworthy.”
Neo-Nazis and white supremacists like Richard Spencer and David Duke regularly get away with tweeting hate speech.
And of course, the white supremacist crowdfunding site WeSearchr, which publishes personal information of those who stand against it and encourages its base to harass those people, has not only gotten away with doxxing, but has been granted verified account status.
Over and over again, it seems that Twitter requires victims of abuse and marginalized voices to strictly adhere to its policies, while overlooking, justifying, and legitimizing violations for racists, misogynists, and bullies.It’s time for that to change. Please sign and share this petition demanding that Twitter re-evaluate how it enforces its privacy policy and terms of service now!