Over the past week, one of the conservative “causes” getting a lot of attention is the willful misreading of the First Amendment. Dumbasses like Matt Gaetz, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Nikki Haley and more have all been lamenting the nonexistent First Amendment issues of Twitter suspending Donald Trump’s account. To be clear, the First Amendment says nothing about how private companies are legally required to disseminate hate speech, terrorism, dangerous conspiracies and fascist propaganda. In fact, if the American government tried to mandate that Twitter *had* to publish all of those things, THAT is what would be a First Amendment issue. Plus, the First Amendment isn’t “freedom from consequences.” You can say whatever you want. You can verbally incite terrorism all day long. But you’re going to be arrested for inciting terrorism.
What’s interesting is that not only did Twitter suspend Trump’s account, they also suspended thousands of accounts which were spreading QAnon conspiracies and dangerous Nazi/fascist propaganda. Which meant that people like Matt Gaetz and Sarah Sanders saw their follower counts drop by the thousands. What made it worse/funnier is that both Gaetz and Sanders complained about it publicly, on Twitter, like children.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) wants you to know that he used to have way more followers. The Florida man spent the weekend live-tweeting his dropping follower count. On Saturday morning, he had 892,000 followers. By the end of the day, he was down to 842,000. As of writing, he’s at 835,300. “I wish I could lose weight as fast as I’m losing followers during this Twitter purge….” bemoaned Gaetz.
He’s not the only one concerned about their precipitous drop in followers. Mike Pompeo posted an image of the recent changes in follower counts of several prominent politicians. All of the Republicans had lost followers while all of the Democrats had gained new ones. “This is how you create an echo chamber” Sec. Pompeo tweeted. In response, Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted that she has lost 50,000 followers this week. According to social media analytics firm Socialblade, she’s actually lost closer to 70,000, all since Thursday. Before that, she was steadily gaining followers.
What could have possibly happened this week that is causing some of President Trump’s most ardent supporters to lose followers? Perhaps the storming of the capitol by a mob of Trump supporters has something to do with it. That insurrection led to the loss of at least one follower for Gaetz and Sanders — Donald J. Trump. On Friday, Twitter permanently suspended the outgoing president’s account.
As for the other hundred thousand or so, Twitter has a host of policies that, in light of Wednesday’s insurrection, might’ve led to the expulsion of additional users. Indeed, in a statement to NBC News, a Twitter spokesperson said “We’ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm, and given the renewed potential for violence surrounding this type of behavior in the coming days, we will permanently suspend accounts that are solely dedicated to sharing QAnon content.” Considering his warm embrace of QAnon conspiracy theories and candidates, it’s entirely possible that many of Gaetz’s followers were suspended for the reasons outlined in the statement above.
AOC made the point that all of the whining about losing followers is a self-own – Gaetz, Sanders, Pompeo and the rest of them are acknowledging that they had thousands of Nazis, white supremacists and QAnon people following them.
How is that Sanders is this f–king stupid? Even her high school teacher was in her mentions, telling her that this is not the way the First Amendment works.
I’ve lost 50k+ followers this week. The radical left and their big tech allies cannot marginalize, censor, or silence the American people. This is not China, this is United States of America, and we are a free country. https://t.co/Xupd0N1hea
— Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) January 9, 2021
We cannot live in a world where Twitter’s terms of service are more important than the terms in our Constitution and Bill of Rights.
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) January 11, 2021
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
Being more upset about Twitter than the armed insurrection at the Capitol? Yeah that tracks.
Sad upvote. Actually, angry upvote.
They’re dumb, and they suck. May they crawl off and be forgotten.
With some of these people, I think they know its not a first amendment issue and are just angling to the base (i.e. Josh Hawley whining about his book deal being canceled.) But with some of them, I really do think they might be that dumb.
Its kind of funny though that the party of “capitalism” and “free market” is mad that a private company has decided that it is in that company’s best interests to follow through with the terms of service and delete all these accounts. Lets make no mistake, Twitter knew about these accounts two weeks ago. But now thanks to the forces of public opinion, Twitter is deciding to do something about that. Isnt that exactly what Republicans want to happen – that companies do things because they want to , not because the government tells them they have to?
+1 — capitalism and state rights are awesome until they conflict with Republican goals.
Gaetz IS that dumb. So is Sanders.
Did anyone see the Swamp on HBO? Matt Gaetz is sort of the key figure in the story as it start off but he is so dump that he never realises along the way that the documentary ends up trolling him. He is an ass kissing proud boy.
They’re not dumb, they’re cruel and self-centered. They deliberately play up this divisive propaganda for financial rewards.
Agree with this. The thing that some conservatives are (rightly) banking on is that their base doesn’t really know what’s in the Constitution or what it means even if they know the language. So if they pearl clutch and shout “constitutional freedoms!”, it will rally conservative support.
They only know Amendments 1 and 2. And they don’t even understand them.
“With some of these people, I think they know its not a first amendment issue and are just angling to the base (i.e. Josh Hawley whining about his book deal being canceled.) But with some of them, I really do think they might be that dumb.”
I agree with this, though I don’t think they are really that dumb. they know what the first amendment says and what it doesn’t say, but they also know that their base is as dumb as a box of rocks so they perpetuate this BS to keep them riled up.
as for the second part of your comment…as someone on line said, “you want gov’t out of private businesses? meet karma, b*tches.”
My issue at this point is that I cant tell which ones are dumb and which ones are just playing to the base. Hawley – not dumb. Sanders? I dont think she’s dumb, but maybe? I think some legitimately do think that Twitter’s actions here are unconstitutional and a violation of free speech, since most people actually dont have a good understanding of the 1st amendment. But the lines are so blurred at this point that I cant tell which ones are which, and at this point, does it even matter?
It’s all about quantity not quality apparently. Shallow!
But but but the freedom of speech. Eye roll.
The absolute irony of people screaming into social media on their iPhones about CENSORSHIP IN BIG TECH! Just pretend your account is a gay wedding cake and Twitter is the bakery with “good Christian values”, assholes. Get it now? Except we’re fighting literally Nazis and you’re upset that other kinds of people *exist*
I’ve been thinking about this all week.
The Gaetz dude is now at 1.1mil followers on Twitter as of this morning. Did he buy them? That’s what, 200k+ more followers in a few days?
These idiots overlook that many of their followers closed their Twitter accounts when Trump was tossed and rushed over to Parler where they proudly announced they had shut down their Twitter accounts.
Glad they close their accounts.
They’ll cry about it when they can no longer follow their favorite athletes etc.
I have never seen Sarah Huckabee without a scowl, which I guess is what happens when you build your life around the family dog and pony show. What a miserable life she’s chosen.
I always want to call 911 and get her immediate medical attention for the stroke she always looks like she’s having. One of the first signs of a CVA is unilateral facial droop.
Just pony show. Her brother killed the dog.
I want to like your post so much. I almost spit my water out.
someone on facebook referred to her as “the Mucinex booger” and I can’t unsee it now.
Hahaha! That and the cover photo 😂😂😂 Nice to have something to laugh about today. Mr R got sent home today because someone in his testing group is positive (I don’t understand why they can’t be faster with who it is but maybe tonight or tomorrow he will find out if it’s him or not).
Websites, businesses etc have rules.
If you break them (repeatedly), be prepared to be suspended.
I always tell people to vote, even in small elections, but I think it’s also important to follow local politicians you like. Mamy of them try and they need to have that kind of support too.
Plus, they often mention local initiatives, many of which are easy to support.
I had a friend on Facebook all mad at me for posting (happily) about Trump betting suspended permanently. And how I shouldn’t be happy about free speech being curtailed and was I aware of the blood bath going on and how as a history lover I should be very concerned about this. I tried to respond as politely as I could but made clear I wasn’t having any of it. I usually curate my wall for political posts but this post slipped through to my general ‘friends’ setting and I was reminded once again why I curate it in the first place. Because just one post couldn’t go by unremarked on.
And it’s so ironic of them being so eager to get section 360 or whatever it is they harp on all the time revoked—the one that protects the tech companies from being sued for what is on there. Because if that protection wasn’t there, they’d crack down a HELL of a lot more. They’d be tossing accounts right and left.
My go-to comment is “Freedom of Speech is not freedom from consequence.” Just tell them to imagine that Twitter is a Christian bakery and Trump is a gay wedding cake and they’ll understand.
Oh I threw that line in there, believe me. Lol I don’t know what’s so hard to get. The 1st amendment applies to the GOVERNMENT. Says so right there and everything.
I wish the site had covered the trending whiny #1984IsHere by butt hurt conservatives. The snark and sarcasm in rebuttal was awesome and hilarious.
It’s Section 230, which I actually agree needs to be repealed but replaced with something more nuanced and powerful for exactly the reason you just mentioned – this wouldn’t have been allowed to go on for as long as it did if larger platforms were held responsible. It is hilarious, however, that they seem to think that’s the answer to their problem when it is exactly how the Internet became centralized and allowed Trump’s rise in the first place.
Social media and the ability to post on the internet is not a right. It’s a privilege. Abuse it, you lose it.
yeah, you’re entitled to free speech.
what you’re NOT entitled to is a platform, a talk show, a book deal, or a social media account. you’re also not entitled to face zero consequences. for what you DO say.
Deleted- double
I was going to say are these people really complaining that they lost white nationalist followers?! Good to know
Republicans have lost control of their party. They thought they could control the racists because racists aren’t very bright. But now Big Business is pulling out, and what is a Republican without Big Business? Broke.
They thought they could control Trump – they found out the hard way that you can’t control someone like him.
He’s not done burning GOP down.
It’s okay to infiltrate government buildings and murder, vandalize and alarm . It’s okay to take away a woman’s right to her body. It’s okay to put children in cages. It’s even okay to say a baker can refuse to serve LGBTQ (private business y’all). However, it is not okay to silence hate, ignorance and lies and, most importantly, affect follower totals. 😐 Got it.
Every time I see sarah h.s. I’m reminded of my aunt who mistreated/abused me while I was in her care when I was 6 years old-13 years old, all because my parents couldn’t be bothered to take care of me while they went off abroad with my younger sister.
I suspect sarah and my aunt have got the same traits, mean, cares only for their own self interests and poor excuse of a human being.
On another note, someone reported that mike pompeo was spotted meeting with the head of Mossad in Italy last week, wonder what diabolical plans they have.
I read that the Cambridge’s account lost 6000 during the purge.
Random observation Sarah Sanders looks like she would make an excellent Miss Trunchbull.
Ya. She’s the one I think about when I hear the phrase “you get the face you deserve”
I find it hilarious that these politicians are whining about losing Twitter followers like a bunch of white girl influencers. You’re supposed to running our country and writing legislature–don’t you have anything better to do?!
Such a self own- They are purging MY FOLLOWERS! Censorship!!!
Um, they are purging bots, and nazis who threatened violence and encouraged the overthrow of the United States government.
If those are your followers- maybe you shouldn’t be shouting it from the rooftops.
Also, the pretending to not understand the difference between actual go to jail for free speech government censorship (like what is actually happening in Hong Kong), and the free market capitalism of consequences for “unpopular” actions- makes me want to smack them all in the head.
Kaiser, your picture game: *chef’s kiss*