| Dear Friend, This morning Trump used Twitter to amplify a lie about Rep. Ilhan Omar — a Black Muslim woman — which, in her own words, puts her “life at risk.” The original tweet claimed that she was dancing on the anniversary of 9/11.
She was not.
The horrible lie features a clip of Omar dancing at a Congressional Black Caucus event on Sept. 13. The original poster eventually deleted the tweet, but not before the president retweeted it to his 64.4 million followers.
This isn’t the first time Trump has invoked Islamophobia toward Omar — and the risk here is severe. And Trump’s tweets have spurred other users to tweet that she’s the “most dangerous person to ever be elected to public office,”1 that she’s “in bed with terrorists"2 and that her “days are numbered.”3
Trump’s continued attacks on Rep. Omar and “The Squad” are more than partisan bickering — these are targeted racist attacks on women of color who were elected to check his power and who do so even as Trump continues to unleash his troll army on them.
This isn’t the first time, the 30th time or the last time the president has used Twitter to promote racism, sexism, xenophobia and Islamophobia to millions. And it’s not the first, 30th or last time Twitter has done absolutely nothing in response.
Twitter needs to take action before even more people get harassed, hurt or worse: We need to #StopRacistTwitter.
Back in June, Twitter said it would quarantine politicians’ tweets that violate its rules so that fewer users would see this content. But Twitter has completely failed to enforce this policy when it comes to Trump. This inaction tracks with Twitter’s refusal to ban white supremacists from the platform, reportedly because the company is worried about having to ban too many Republican politicians.4
Notorious white supremacists regularly use Twitter to normalize bigotry, plan violent rallies, fundraise and recruit. We’ve called on Twitter to ban these people — who have massive followings and actively advocate for genocide — and what have we heard?
Crickets.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and other top execs love to say that they want to foster “healthy conversations” on their platform — Twitter Director of Public Policy Strategy Nick Pickles did so just this morning before the Senate Commerce Committee. But there’s nothing healthy about tweets that endanger people’s lives. Tell Twitter to stop the B.S. and ban white supremacists from its platform.
Thanks for all that you do—
Candace, Jessica, Nilda, Collette, Heather and the rest of the Free Press Action team
freepress.net
P.S. Twitter has promised to protect the health and safety of its users. Urge the company to keep that promise: Demand that Twitter dump white supremacists.
1. Twitter user “Joey of the World,” Sept. 18, 2019: https://act.freepress.net/go/33933?t=8&akid=13364%2E10296224%2EX3qA5T
2. Twitter user “SYMMETRY_11,” Sept. 18, 2019: https://act.freepress.net/go/33934?t=10&akid=13364%2E10296224%2EX3qA5T
3. Twitter user “TechManBig,” Sept. 18, 2019: https://act.freepress.net/go/33935?t=12&akid=13364%2E10296224%2EX3qA5T
4. “Twitter Will Quarantine Politicians’ Tweets If They Violate Rules — Finally,” Wired, June 27, 2019: https://act.freepress.net/go/33970?t=14&akid=13364%2E10296224%2EX3qA5T
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