Milo Yiannopoulos鈥� Twitter Account Suspended, Reinstated Amidst Orlando Press Conference Controversy, Anti-Islam Rhetoric
The Twitter account of conservative commentator and blogger Milo Yiannopoulos was suspended and reinstated in short order yesterday, hours before Yiannopoulos was scheduled to host a press conference in Orlando, Florida.
The press conference, titled 鈥淎BSOLUTELY HARAM: Milo On Gays Vs. Islam鈥� was initially scheduled聽at the University of Central Florida鈥檚 Florida Cape Ballroom. School officials cancelled the event amidst security concerns, prompting the change of venue.
The new site chosen for the press conference is in close proximity to Orlando鈥檚 Pulse nightclub, the scene of a grisly attack by a lone gunman, which left 49 patrons dead and nearly 100 wounded in the early hours of Sunday morning. The gunman called into police shortly before the attack to pledge loyalty to ISIS. Speculation has swirled that the attack was motivated by anti-gay sentiment based on comments made by the shooter to family members and the reputation of the site itself, a prominent hub of that city鈥檚 LGBT community.
Yiannopoulos has posted extensively on Twitter and given numerous interviews following the attack. The tenor of his tweets and public remarks has been notably anti-Islamic, including a tweet stating: 鈥淥bama is right. There is nothing magical about the phrase 'radical Islam.'聽It鈥檚 just Islam,鈥� and an article on Breitbart.com, where Yiannopoulos works as Tech Editor, titled 鈥淭he Left Chose Islam Over Gays. Now 100 People Are Dead Or Maimed In Orlando.鈥�
Yiannopoulos鈥� Twitter account 聽earlier this year for rules violations, possibly for a of a 鈥渟ocial justice loser,鈥� user @ComfortablySmug. The incident resulted in widespread furor across the right-wing blogosphere, with critics decrying the move as another form of censorship.
Social media giant Facebook has been similarly criticized by right-wing commentators amidst that the platform has employed policies that allow聽staff 鈥渃urators鈥� to reduce the visibility of conservative-leaning posts, pundits, and stories.
In the immediate aftermath of Yiannopoulos鈥� brief Twitter suspension at approximately 10:00 EST, a similar backlash ensued, with users employing various hashtags like #FreeMilo. A Breitbart.com article regarding the incident stated, "Milo Yiannopoulos has been censored on Twitter. The pattern is clear.鈥�
Shortly afterwards,聽the suspension on the account was lifted with no public comment from Twitter. After declaring 鈥淚鈥檓 back!鈥� Yiannopoulos tweeted 鈥淲e're approaching Twitter for comment. Do we have to do it in Arabic, ?鈥�
Twitter has not commented publicly on the specific reason聽for Yiannopoulos鈥� brief ban, although there has been speculation that it relates to an he gave two days ago on Sirius XM鈥檚 Todd Shapiro Show, where he conflated the actions of the accused Orlando shooter Omar Mateen with Muslims worldwide by decrying 鈥渕ainstream Muslim culture鈥� as the 鈥渙ne threat to freedom in the West,鈥� and bashed 鈥渢he left鈥� for their placement of Islam 鈥渁t the top of your victimhood hierarchy.鈥�
When approached via email for comment on Yiannopoulos鈥� suspension and reinstatement, a Twitter spokesperson responded: "We do not comment on individual accounts, for privacy and security reasons."
Twitter has been inundated with on Jewish journalists, and to some, the service isn鈥檛 doing enough to address the often relentless threats and slurs directed at individual users. Jon Weisman, a New York Times editor, that he was quitting Twitter in the wake of a barrage of anti-Semitic Tweets 鈥� many threatening -- that he received after he retweeted an article that criticized presidential candidate Donald Trump. Weisman Tweeted last week that a colleague had collected the worst of the Tweets and submitted them to Twitter.
The response Weisman鈥檚 colleague got was, 鈥渨e see nothing here that violates our rules,鈥� though Twitter , 鈥淵ou may not incite or engage in the targeted abuse or harassment of others鈥� and 鈥淵ou may not promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease.鈥�
White nationalists and neo-Nazis also developed a system for use on Twitter and other social media platforms called 鈥溾�� that signal to others of like mind that a user is Jewish and thus allows tracking and harassment of that user. The 鈥渆choes鈥� appear as three sets of parentheses that enclose a user鈥檚 name and are virtually impossible to search.
