The Twitter account for Fox News has gone into a virtual hibernation. It hasn’t tweeted in 23 hours, and posted just a handful of tweets since Wednesday night.
That’s incredibly unusual, if not unprecedented, for a major news operation that regularly posts hundreds of tweets a day, and has racked up more than 400,000 tweets on its page. The Twitter account for Fox Business has been equally dormant, posting just one tweet in the past 24 hours.
A source at Fox News told Mediaite the network’s social media shut-down is a response to the protestors that mobbed the home of Tucker Carlson on Wednesday night.
“[This] is a conscious decision in light of what was done to Tucker,” the source said. They suggested Twitter was fostering a dangerous climate and was not responsive to requests to remove content that targeted the Fox News host.
The protestors, apparently aligned with an anti-fascist group, chanted “Racist scumbag, leave town” outside Carlson’s home in Northwest Washington on Wednesday. They spray-painted an anarchy symbol on his driveway and banged on his front door. Carlson wasn’t home, but he told the Washington Post that his wife, thinking it was a home invasion, hid in a pantry and called the police. According to the police report, she said she heard “loud banging and pounding on her front door.”
The protests Anti-fascist group Smash Racism D.C., which accused Carlson of putting “fear into our homes,” posted videos of the protests on Twitter. The account was subsequently suspended.
Fox News did not immediately respond for comment Thursday night.
In a statement issued Thursday, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and network president Jay Wallace denounced the protests:
“The incident that took place at Tucker’s home last night was reprehensible,” Scott and Wallace said in their statement. “The violent threats and intimidation tactics toward him and his family are completely unacceptable. We as a nation have become far too intolerant of different points of view. Recent events across our country clearly highlight the need for a more civil, respectful, and inclusive national conversation. Those of us in the media and in politics bear a special obligation to all Americans, to find common ground.”
[Photo by Rich Polk/Getty Images]
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