McConnell gets Twitter account back after backlash – AOL
“Team Mitch” is back on Twitter.
The social media giant, which had locked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s campaign account Wednesday after it posted a video of a profanity-filled protest outside his home in Kentucky, made the announcement Friday.
“Going forward, the video will be visible on the service with a sensitive media interstitial and only in cases where the Tweet content does not otherwise violate the Twitter Rules,” the social media’s communications account said. (An interstitial is a warning message.)
After multiple appeals from affected users and Leader McConnell’s team confirming their intent to highlight the threats for public discussion, we have reviewed this case more closely.
The McConnell campaign posted a far less subdued response to the Twitter announcement.
“Victory,” the account tweeted. “Thank you to EVERYONE for helping #FreeMitch.”
The two-day Twitter tempest erupted after the company, citing its “threats policy,” hid the video and locked the account for posting the profane footage of the protesters, who were condemning McConnell’s refusal to allow the Republican-led Senate to consider bills passed by the Democratic-led House that seek to strengthen background checks for gun sales.
“The user was temporarily locked out of their account for a Tweet that violated our violent threats policy, specifically threats involving physical safety,” a Twitter representative said of the account freeze at the time.
McConnell’s campaign then accused Twitter of hypocrisy and criticized the “speech police in America.”
“Twitter locked our account for posting the video of real-world, violent threats made against Mitch McConnell,” campaign manager Kevin Golden said. “Twitter will allow the words ‘Massacre Mitch’ to trend nationally on their platform. But locks our account for posting actual threats against us.”
McConnell, who is running for re-election next year, was labeled by social media users as “Massacre Mitch” after the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, for blocking gun control legislation.
In recent weeks, McConnell has also been dubbed “Moscow Mitch”by critics on the platform for blocking stronger election security measures after Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election.
Golden celebrated the account’s restoration in a statement Friday.
“We are glad Twitter has reversed their decision to lock our Team Mitch account. It is still deeply concerning that Twitter would ban us from posting a video of threats made against us but allow Liberal Hollywood celebrities to post exactly what we did without suffering the same penalty,” Golden said.
U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), left, talked with United States Enrichment Corp. General Manager Howard Pulley during a media tour of the uranium-enrichment Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in the plant’s Central Control Facility (C-300) on Thursday, Aug. 12, 1999 near Paducah, Ky. A sealed federal lawsuit filed in June by the Natural Resources Defense Council and three plant employees alleges that thousands of unsuspecting workers were exposed to dust containing plutonium and other radioactive metals.
(Photo by Billy Suratt)
Senator Mitch McConnell (L) discusses Republican tax cuts as Sen. Patrick Moynihan looks on during NBC’s ”Meet the Press” August 1, 1999 in Washington, DC.
(photo by Richard Ellis)
Senator Christopher Dodd, left, and Senator Mitch McConnell punch the ‘first nails’ into a piece of wood during a nail-driving ceremony December 6, 2000 on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. Both senators participated in the ceremony to signify the beginning of construction of the 2001 Inaugural platform on the West Front Terrace of the U.S. Capitol.
(Photo by Alex Wong/Newsmakers)
Mitch McConnell R-Ky. holds a press conference on campaign finance reform.
(Photo by Douglas Graham/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images)
United States President George W. Bush signs nominations for 13 cabinet members in a ceremony in the President’s Room in the Capitol Building, in Washington January 20, 2001. From left to right are Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky), Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, (R-Ms), Vice-President Richard Cheney, Senator Strom Thurmond, (R-SC) and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-Il).
(STR New / Reuters)
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., talks to reporters after a news conference on his campaign finance bill.
(Photo by Scott J. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images)
Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell (R-KY) introduces his wife Labor Secretary Elaine Chao on the third day of the Republican National Convention in New York, September 1, 2004.
(Photo by Chris Kleponis/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, left, speaks with Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., after the Senate Luncheons.
(Photo By Tom Williams/Roll Call/Getty Images)
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) (C) and Senators Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (L) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) smile at a joint news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington July 28, 2005.
(REUTERS/Yuri Gripas YG/TZ)
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (C), flanked by Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) (L-R), Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and Senator John Thune (R-SD), talks to reporters about the senate’s passage of debt ceiling legislation at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, August 2, 2011. Congress buried the specter of a debt default by finally passing a deficit-cutting package on Tuesday, but the shadow lingered of a possible painful downgrade of the top-notch American credit rating.
(REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) walks to his office at the Capitol in Washington December 17, 2011. The U.S. Senate on Saturday passed a $915 billion bill to fund most federal agency activities through next September and avert a government shutdown.
(REUTERS/Benjamin Myers)
Incoming U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (C) (R-TN) attends a meeting with Republican leadership, Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell (L) (R-KY) and GOP conference chairman, Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) on Capitol Hill January 6, 2003 in Washington, DC. Frist was voted in as majority leader by his colleagues when former majority leader, Trent Lott, stepped down last month.
(Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaking, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., during a news conference on Miguel A. Estrada’s withdrawal of his nomination to be a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. From CQToday: In numerous news conferences and floor speeches throughout the day, Republicans castigated Democrats for ‘obstructing’ the nominations of Estrada and other judicial candidates; most Democrats said they were blocking an up-or-down vote on the nomination as part of their bid for memos and other work papers from Estrada’s time in the Clinton administration’s Office of the Solicitor General.
(Photo by Scott J. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images)
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) speaks about the stimulus package on February 2, 2009 in Washington, DC. Republicans are criticizing the Democrat’s near trillion dollar stimulus package and are asking for revisions before the Senate votes later in the week.
(Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
US Senator Mitch McConnell, R-KY, is sworn in by Vice President Dick Cheney (R) as his wife Labor Secretary Elaine Chao holds the Bible during a swearing in reenactment ceremony at the US Capitol on January 6, 2009 in Washington, DC.
(KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images)
U.S. Vice President-elect Mike Pence (R) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) wave as they walk before their meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., November 30, 2016.
(REUTERS/Yuri Gripas)
US House Minority Leader John Boehner (L)R-OH and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) make remarks to the press outside the West Wing after their meeting with President Barack Obama on January 23, 2009 at the White House in Washington, DC.
(TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (C) waves goodbye to reporters after a news conference with (L-R) Sen. John Thune (R-SD), Sen. John Barrasso (R0WY) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) after the weekly Senate Republican Caucus policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol May 8, 2012 in Washington, DC. Despite the Senate voting against opening debate on a bill to keep interest rates on federal Stafford loans from doubling from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent on July 1, 2012, McConnell said that both the GOP and Democrats agree on keeping rates down but need to find a way to pay for it.
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., makes his way to the senate luncheons in the Capitol.
(Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
From left, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, attend a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, in the Capitol’s rotunda, June 24, 2014.
(Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell testifies along with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (not pictured) during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on ‘Examining a Constitutional Amendment to Restore Democracy to the American People,’ focusing on campaign finance on Tuesday, June 3, 2014.
(Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) speaks about the election of Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential election in Washington, U.S., November 9, 2016.
