Former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly says Twitter will ban users who are ‘on the right or not woke’

Former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly has slammed Twitter for the company’s decision to permanently ban Donald Trump from the platform.

Ms Kelly tweeted an NPR headline on the news and wrote: “If you’re on the right or not woke or want to raise Q’s about the integrity of our electoral system, you’re next.”

The president was permanently removed from Twitter on Friday with the company citing the risk that he would incite further violence, following a temporary suspension after Wednesday’s storming of the US Capitol building in DC by pro-Trump rioters.

Ms Kelly’s remark was met with stinging rebukes. Jesse Wegman, a member of the New York Times editorial board and an expert on the Supreme Court, responded to Ms Kelly: “I never realized ‘raising questions’ meant ‘burning down the Capitol’.”

Kyle Griffin, a senior producer for MSNBC’s The Last Word, wrote: “Please stop lying. You have a large platform. Please think of the possible consequences before you tweet obvious lies. Words matter, Megyn.”

Political scientist and president of the Eurasia Group, Ian Bremmer, replied: “This is a bad and dishonest take.”

He added: “Unless by Q you mean Q,” referring to QAnon conspiracy theories.

Ms Kelly responded: “Totally honest, actually. Would love for it to turn out to be wrong but I am deeply concerned.”

In earlier posts Ms Kelly described the Capitol riots as “wrong” and “shameful” and called for the arrest of all involved. 

On Thursday she retweeted the president’s video statement on the riots in which he said “the demonstrators who infiltrated the capitol have defiled the seat of American democracy” and that those who broke the law will pay.

The former Fox host wrote: “Good statement. Late, but, well - relieved he did it. I don’t know about you guys, but I feel a sense of melancholy.”

Since commenting on the Trump Twitter ban, Ms Kelly posted a statement from the American Civil Liberties Union, commenting: “Well looky here, folks who suggested it’s ‘dishonest’ to worry about a slippery slope of coming censorship, even your civil liberties god sees what’s coming”.

The ACLU statement reads: “We understand the desire to permanently suspend him now, but it should concern everyone when companies like Facebook and Twitter wield the unchecked power to remove people from platforms that have become indispensable for the speech of billions — especially when political realities make those decisions easier.”

Noting that the president has many other channels through which he can exercise his First Amendment rights to a wider audience, the ACLU notes that this is something not available to the vast majority of people.

“President Trump can turn to his press team or Fox News to communicate with the public, but others — like the many Black, Brown, and LGBTQ activists who have been censored by social media companies — will not have that luxury. It is our hope that these companies apply their rules transparently to everyone,” the statement continues.

Twitter has also banned the Trump campaign account “Team Trump” as well as some of Mr Trump’s allies like General Michael Flynn and lawyer Sidney Powell.

Ms Kelly left Fox in 2017 for a relatively brief stint at rival NBC, before parting ways with the network. She now hosts and produces a podcast.