Twitter mistakenly suspended and later reinstated the account of Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, on Saturday.
On Saturday morning, Farrakhan's Twitter timeline disappeared and was replaced with a message saying his account had been suspended for violating the Twitter rules.
However, Twitter later reinstated Farrakhan's account in the afternoon. A Twitter representative confirmed to the Washington Examiner the initial suspension was an error, saying that "the account was caught by our spam filter in error and has been reinstated." After being reinstated, Farrakhan's account did not immediately display his correct follower account. The representative said an account's followers take time to replenish after being reinstated.
In May 2019, Facebook banned Farrakhan for anti-Semitic and homophobic rhetoric. "We've always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology," a Facebook representative then told CNN Business. "The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive."
On several occasions, Farrakhan has faced widespread criticism for using racist and homophobic rhetoric. In 1990, Farrakhan said, "The Jews, a small handful, control the movement of this great nation, like a radar controls the movement of a great ship in the waters … The Jews got a stranglehold on the Congress,” during a speech. In 2018, he tweeted, "I'm not an anti-Semite. I'm anti-Termite."
Farrakhan was once praised by former co-chairwoman of the Women's March Tamika Mallory, a black gun-control and feminist activist. She, along with Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian American activist, stepped down from the organization after Mallory was accused herself of anti-Semitism.
Article (archive)
Now..
call me crazy, but I'm just a little skeptical that a 9 year old Twitter account with 330,00 followers, which hasn't posted in six months, was just automatically caught in a spam filter. But of course no reporter is going to ask the tough questions about that.
On Saturday morning, Farrakhan's Twitter timeline disappeared and was replaced with a message saying his account had been suspended for violating the Twitter rules.
However, Twitter later reinstated Farrakhan's account in the afternoon. A Twitter representative confirmed to the Washington Examiner the initial suspension was an error, saying that "the account was caught by our spam filter in error and has been reinstated." After being reinstated, Farrakhan's account did not immediately display his correct follower account. The representative said an account's followers take time to replenish after being reinstated.
In May 2019, Facebook banned Farrakhan for anti-Semitic and homophobic rhetoric. "We've always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology," a Facebook representative then told CNN Business. "The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive."
On several occasions, Farrakhan has faced widespread criticism for using racist and homophobic rhetoric. In 1990, Farrakhan said, "The Jews, a small handful, control the movement of this great nation, like a radar controls the movement of a great ship in the waters … The Jews got a stranglehold on the Congress,” during a speech. In 2018, he tweeted, "I'm not an anti-Semite. I'm anti-Termite."
Farrakhan was once praised by former co-chairwoman of the Women's March Tamika Mallory, a black gun-control and feminist activist. She, along with Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian American activist, stepped down from the organization after Mallory was accused herself of anti-Semitism.
Article (archive)
Now..
call me crazy, but I'm just a little skeptical that a 9 year old Twitter account with 330,00 followers, which hasn't posted in six months, was just automatically caught in a spam filter. But of course no reporter is going to ask the tough questions about that.
