After President Donald Trump called for “designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization,” a GOP congressman was censored for demanding the group be treated as such.
Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL) tweeted after days of violent riots: “Now that we clearly see Antifa as terrorists, can we hunt them down like we do those in the Middle East?”
Twitter placed an interstitial, or a filter, over the tweet with a warning label that said:
“This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible. Learn more[.]”
According to POLITICO, a Twitter spokesperson told POLITICO in an email that “We have placed a public interest notice on this Tweet from @mattgaetz. The Tweet is in violation of our glorification of violence policy.” The spokesperson explained how thoroughly the platform would censor the content: “As is standard with this notice, engagements with the Tweet will be limited. People will be able to Retweet with Comment, but will not be able to Like, Reply or Retweet it.”
Gaetz reacted to Twitter’s censorship by asking: “Glorifying violence against terrorists, apparently?” He then mused: “Some of the same terrorists who organize unimpeded on twitter?”
Gaetz considered Twitter’s censorship a “badge of honor”:
“Their warning is my badge of honor.
“Antifa is a terrorist organization, encouraging riots that hurt Americans.
“Our government should hunt them down. Twitter should stop enabling them.
“I’ll keep saying it.”
He also defended his tweet by proclaiming that this is only a matter of common sense:
“We hunt down terrorists in the Middle East by having our government (not vigilantes) monitor their communications, freeze their money and stop them from committing attacks.
“American lives, businesses & property are more deserving of our strong protection than distant sand dunes.”
Gaetz also called out Twitter for censoring his post, but not a far left gun club which tweeted:
“All across the country, police are running out of crowd control ammunition and getting surrounded by protesters who outnumber them in magnitudes.
“Those police are finding out that there's a lot more of us than there are of them.
“Imagine if we were all armed.”
Gaetz observed “Twitter goes after me but not this.”
Conservative commentator John Cardillo appeared to echo Trump and Gaetz when he tweeted:
“It’s no longer civil disorder.
“They shot six cops and ran two more over last night.
“It’s now a deadly armed terrorist insurgence and a military response would be justified.”
