Twitter reinstated Mike Davis, the founder and president of the Internet Accountability Project (IAP), Thursday following a brief suspension of the anti-Big Tech activist for publishing a post demanding prosecution for those who engage in political terrorism.
“Federal, state, and local law enforcement must *never* tolerate *any* political violence,” Davis wrote Wednesday. “Prosecute *all* of them — not just based upon their political views. … Lock ’em up.”
Federal, state, and local law enforcement must *never* tolerate *any* political violence.
Prosecute *all* of them — not just based upon their political views.#BLM and #antifa — #WokeQaeda — domestic terrorists have been terrorizing American cities for 8 months.
Lock ‘em up. https://t.co/piussHsQs0
— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) January 28, 2021
Twitter promptly suspended Davis, later reinstating his account following online backlash in what’s become routine fashion. Twitter explained Davis’s suspension came as a product of the company’s spam filter mistakenly flagging the post for removal.
“We have systems that find and remove multiple automated spam accounts in bulk, and yours was flagged as spam by mistake,” the company wrote.
Below is @Twitter's (bogus) explanation for my suspension.
In reality, Twitter reversed its decision to censor me — the leader of @The_IAP, a critic of Twitter's censorship of conservatives — after it got flooded with inquiries from the media, Congress, and social influencers. pic.twitter.com/aBztaOkQW9
— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) January 28, 2021
The company’s explanation following public outcry follows a trend of one-sided censorship that’s reached new heights this month after the Capitol riots, as the nation’s all-powerful tech oligarchs have demonstrated unchecked power over the digital public square, exploiting the crisis to implement a progressive purge.
Conservative users with large followings have reported staggering drops in their follower counts in the riot’s aftermath. Twitter said two weeks ago that the drops in followers were explained by the company removing accounts deemed associated with QAnon conspiracies. Twitter removed 70,000 accounts by Jan. 13.
“Make no mistake: Twitter targeted me for my work to hold Big Tech accountable and defend conservatives from being censored,” Davis said in a statement Thursday. “Twitter only backtracked when members of the media, grassroots activists and conservatives in Congress pushed back. Twitter’s excuse that my suspension was only a mistake is laughable. This ‘mistake’ only ever happens to one side.”
