Twitter Locks Candace Owens Out Over Tweet Telling Michigan Residents to Violate Lockdown, She Claims
Commentator and right-wing Twitter activist Candace Owens has been locked out of her account, she says, over a tweet instructing Michigan residents to violate the state’s lockdown orders issued by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and saying that the police won’t enforce the orders.
The tweet that was flagged by Twitter as having violated the site’s policies was shared on Saturday, after she sent it to several fellow prominent right wing accounts.
Apparently @GovWhitmer believes she is a duly elected dictator of a socialist country. The people of Michigan need to stand up to her. Open your businesses. Go to work. The police think she’s crazy too. They are not going to arrest 10,000,000 people for going to work.
The screenshot does not show any explanation from Twitter regarding a specific policy.
Owens subsequently sent a statement to the extreme far-right MAGA blog Gateway Pundit.
Twitter has locked me out of my account but has decided to omit which of their policies I have violated. Apparently, encouraging citizens to go to work is a violation, but Alexandria Ocasión Cortez encouraging workers to boycott and protest is not.
I stand by my statement about Governor Whitmer acting as a dictator. Both the Sherriff Departments and the citizens, and the state legislature of Michigan are in agreement with me. I will not kowtow to a socialist world order that seeks to limit my constitutional freedom of speech.
Other prominent pro-Trump accounts tweeted in support of Owens and against Twitter’s action. Actor Chuck Woolery even compared her, apparently as an intended positive, to Laura Loomer, who has been permanently banned by Twitter and is now running for office as a Republican in Florida.
So Laura Loomer and Candace Owens are not allowed to play on Twitters Beach anymore?
— Chuck Woolery (@chuckwoolery) May 2, 2020
RT it you stand with Candace Owens! Chinese Communist Party propaganda accounts reign free to tweet their garbage yet they ban @RealCandaceO.
Reinstate!
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) May 2, 2020
Candace Owens got suspended by twitter for a Pro-Freedom, Anti-Lockdown Tweet.
I assume it was declared as a “dangerous or harmful” tweet since Freedom is considered deadly now.
— Joey Saladino (@JoeySalads) May 2, 2020
?ALERT?
Candace Owens has been suspended from Twitter.
Candace tweeted that people in Michigan should go back to work.
What rule did she break?
Not even Twitter can say.Candace Owens tells people to work and gets cancelled but AOC can tell people *not* to work and all good pic.twitter.com/4tCH3ibUcW
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) May 2, 2020
Candace Owens just had her posting privileges suspended after telling Michigan residents that they should go back to work.
This is what happens when Twitter doesn’t agree with you.
They should unsuspend her immediately.
RT so they can’t ignore!#FreeCandace
— Ryan Fournier (@RyanAFournier) May 2, 2020
It’s so weird that @Twitter would suspend @RealCandaceO for her support of Rights granted to all of us by the Constitution.
It’s almost as if social media companies hate freedom.
— Carpe Donktum? (@CarpeDonktum) May 2, 2020
It appears that Owens appealed Twitter’s flagging of the tweet as a violation of their policies. It is not clear if she will be given access again to the account.
UPDATE: Twitter responds.
Twitter SPOX to The Daily Dot on Candace Owens' Tweet: "The tweet violated Twitter’s COVID-19 misinformation policy, specifically around heightened-risk health claims."
— Zachary Petrizzo (@ZTPetrizzo) May 2, 2020
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