More Big Tech Election Meddling: Twitter Blocks Cali. GOP Candidate’s Ad
IMAGE CREDITS: YOUTUBE.
A campaign ad for a California Republican congressional candidate was banned by Twitter Thursday, in what is being seen as a deliberate act of midterm election meddling.
Twitter cited “obscene” content for blocking Elizabeth Heng’s ad, which discusses her family’s struggle fleeing Cambodia following the rise of Pol Pot and the brutal Khmer Rouge communist regime.
In a press release obtained by Breitbart, the Heng campaign said they attempted to appeal Twitter’s decision, but the company answered back saying the video was banned due to “offensive” material.
“In recent attempts to advertise Elizabeth Heng’s campaign video on Twitter, the campaign has received a message from the company stating that upon review, the ad is ‘ineligible to participate in the Twitter Ads program at this time based on our Inappropriate Content policy.’ Twitter defined inappropriate content as ‘that which is offensive, vulgar, or obscene,’” the press release stated.
After the campaign appealed the ban, Twitter sent back another message, bolding the word “obscene”:
“When the campaign reached out for clarification on the exact content in violation, Twitter responded with the same message they had sent previously, highlighting the word ‘obscene’ in bold. The campaign pressed to resolve the issue, but was sent a final message from the Twitter Ads Support team saying they had reconfirmed that the ad was not eligible to run on Twitter and that they could ‘no longer assist or support any further requests.’”
Facebook had also banned Heng’s ad just 10 days earlier, however the social media giant came to its senses and reversed its decision, saying there was nothing “shocking, disrespectful, or sensational” about it.
“Upon further review, it is clear the video contains historical imagery relevant to the candidate’s story. We have since approved the ad and it is now running on Facebook,” Facebook officials clarified.
In Facebook’s case, they had initially claimed the ad’s depiction of images from the Cambodian genocide violated a policy on content intended to “shock or scare.”
It remains to be seen whether Twitter will act accordingly and reverse their decision.