Republican groups threaten to boycott Twitter after Mitch McConnell’s campaign account is frozen

Donald Trump’s campaign and national Republican groups have vowed to stop buying Twitter advertisements until the social media platform unfreezes Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell‘s campaign account.

Twitter locked @Team_Mitch from further activity on Wednesday as punishment for sharing a video of protesters screaming obscenities outside the Kentucky Republican’s home.

The social media company said it will not unlock the account unless it agrees to remove the video.

Officials for the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee (RNC), and the Republican Senate and House campaign arms accused Twitter of bias and tweeted on Thursday that their organisations are withholding their advertising dollars until the issue is resolved.

“#MassacreMitch trended on Twitter for a full day, and they did nothing,” Kevin McLaughlin, executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a tweet. “Someone threatens to stab the Majority Leader, @TeamMitch posts the video and THEY get locked out. @NRSC is not spending $ until this is adequately addressed.”

Richard Walters, chief of staff for the RNC, shared McLaughlin’s post and added: “The @GOP and @TeamTrump stand with the @Team_Mitch and the @NRSC. Any future ad $ either organisation was planning to spend with @Twitter has been halted until they address this disgusting bias.”

The National Republican Senatorial Committee soon followed suit, as did Senator Ted Cruz, a frequent critic of the social media platform, who called the move “unbelievable even for Twitter”.

A Twitter spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr McConnell’s campaign manager, Kevin Golden, accused Twitter of employing a double standard.

“We firmly believe that if a platform allows #massacremitch to trend but locks our account because we posted threats made against him, there is something deeply wrong with that platform,” Mr Golden said, referring to a hashtag used by critics blaming Mr McConnell for blocking stricter gun laws.

In a radio interview on Thursday evening, Mr McConnell said his campaign is in a “major war” with Twitter.

“The point we wanted to make is, Twitter’s perfectly fine with carrying ‘#MassacreMitch,’ which is obviously an invitation to violence,” Mr McConnell said on Louisville-based station WHAS. “But when those kind of words are directed at me, they shut us down and locked our account down. So we’re in a major war with them and they haven’t, they haven’t given up yet.”

He added that the episode reveals the “left-wing tilt of these companies”.

Republicans have in recent years sharply criticised Twitter, Google, Facebook and other Internet companies, arguing that they have silenced the voices of conservatives.

The video that prompted Twitter to lock Mr McConnell’s campaign account shows a group of protesters gathered outside the senator’s Louisville home on Monday.

A woman, identified by the Louisville Courier-Journal as Black Lives Matter Louisville leader Chanelle Helm, is heard on the video mocking McConnell’s recent shoulder injury and saying he “should have broken his little, raggedy, wrinkled-ass neck”.

She then yells: “Just stab the motherfucker in the heart, please.” Someone also yells: “Die!”

A Twitter spokesperson told The Washington Post on Wednesday that Mr McConnell’s account had been frozen “for a tweet that violated our violent threats policy, specifically threats involving physical safety”. The social media company’s rules state that a tweet “may not threaten violence against an individual or a group of people”.

At the end of Thursday’s radio interview, Mr McConnell said he had a message for the protesters who have been gathering outside his house.

“I will not be intimidated by you people, not a chance,” he said. “Not a single thing you do is going to alter how I operate on behalf of my constituents or the country, for whom I have a significant amount of responsibility.”

The Washington Post