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Ghostbusters actress and SNL cast member Leslie Jones has been the victim of an online harassment campaign, during which, over the past few days, she’s been bombarded with a flood of vitriolic and violently racist messages. Now, the leader of that campaign, infamous conservative columnist Milo Yiannopoulos, has been banned from Twitter.
If you’re not familiar with Yiannopoulos, he’s a tech editor over Breitbart, an obnoxiously loud voice in the whining, wailing crowd that is the new “alt-right” movement, and a valiant knight leading the charge for the anti-PC fight.
@Nero I'm hearing this guy is a columnist how sad. Is this how he gets his readers thru supporting hate? I'm acting like a victim? Nice job
— Leslie Jones 🦋 (@Lesdoggg) July 19, 2016
“People should be able to express diverse opinions and beliefs on Twitter. But no one deserves to be subjected to targeted abuse online, and our rules prohibit inciting or engaging in the targeted abuse or harassment of others,” Twitter said in a statement to Buzzfeed News. “Over the past 48 hours in particular, we’ve seen an uptick in the number of accounts violating these policies and have taken enforcement actions against these accounts, ranging from warnings that also require the deletion of Tweets violating our policies to permanent suspension.
“We know many people believe we have not done enough to curb this type of behavior on Twitter. We agree.”
So, in the spirit of doing more, the company has permanently suspended Yiannopoulos’ account. They say it isn’t an issue of free speech, but because Yiannopoulos repeatedly violated their terms of service.
“With the cowardly suspension of my account, Twitter has confirmed itself as a safe space for Muslim terrorists and Black Lives Matter extremists, but a no-go zone for conservatives,” wrote Yiannopoulos in response. “Twitter is holding me responsible for the actions of fans and trolls using the special pretzel logic of the left. Where are the Twitter police when Justin Bieber’s fans cut themselves on his behalf? Like all acts of the totalitarian regressive left, this will blow up in their faces, netting me more adoring fans. We’re winning the culture war, and Twitter just shot themselves in the foot.
“This is the end for Twitter. Anyone who cares about free speech has been sent a clear message: you’re not welcome on Twitter.”
Because Mr. Yiannopoulos was obviously absent that day in civics class, freedom of speech means that the government cannot arrest you for whatever you want to say. It doesn’t mean that people, or privately owned companies like Twitter, have to listen. And, most importantly, free speech does not mean consequence-free speech. Yiannopoulos is simply facing the consequences of his actions.
Welcome to the real world, dude.
