While YouTube Was Punishing Conservative Comedian, Twitter Quietly Followed Suit
Sure, most of the heat regarding censorship on social media right now is being directed at YouTube, which decided to demonetize the channel of conservative comedian and pundit Steven Crowder after a campaign by a Vox writer.
However, while everyone was consumed by that and the #voxadpocalypse hashtag, Twitter decided to ban another parody account mocking Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Because, you know, why not?
According to Mediaite, @AOCOffice was the second major Ocasio-Cortez parody account to be shut down since the beginning of May.
The account, which had “Parody for Da Boss of NY-14 (Bronx + Queens)” as its bio, had 29,000 followers when it was deleted Wednesday.
BREAKING: Twitter has banned @AOCoffice another popular AOC parody account pic.twitter.com/kzBz48t81T
— Jack Posobiec ?? (@JackPosobiec) June 5, 2019
It was unclear whether it was related to another Ocasio-Cortez parody account, @AOCPress, which was shut down last month after it had garnered over 85,000 followers.
However, the first tweet from the new account read, “Thanks for deleting me, @jack! It means so much that you won’t let people make fun of me!”
“Some had been fooled into thinking the account was the real thing, maybe because it used the same avatar photo or maybe, because, umm, it wouldn’t be wildly out of character for AOC to say things like this,” Mediaite reported.
While there was no reasoning given as to why @AOCOffice was shut down, @AOCPress was shuttered for “manipulating the conversation.”
There’s no rule against parody accounts on Twitter, mind you, and both accounts made it clear that they were parodies in their bios; @AOCPress’ had read “I’m the boss… you mad bro (parody).”
Also, it would be difficult to see it as anything other than a parody. Here were a few of its tweets, according to Mediaite:
- Not only am I Christian, I’m actually more Christian than Jesus was.
- In Venezuela they have hotdogs made from real dogs. Not some cheap knockoff like hear in the USA.
- If socialism doesn’t work then explain to me how Bernie Sanders has become a millionaire being a socialist.
As for the rule the account broke, according to The Wrap: “While you may use Twitter pseudonymously or as a parody, commentary, or fan account, you may not use misleading account information in order to engage in spammy, abusive, or disruptive behavior, including attempts to manipulate the conversations on Twitter.”
The owner of @AOCPress, Mike Morrison, also had his personal Twitter account deleted.
“I think Twitter banned AOC Press for the increasing amounts of attention it’s been receiving lately,” he told Human Events.
“In the past month and a half alone the account grew by roughly 50,000 followers. We’ve had tweets with over 30,000 likes on them, so I think Twitter decided it was time for [the account] to go. They didn’t like how popular an account created by their political opposition had become.”
Of course, perhaps it was just redundant. After all, Ocasio-Cortez’s real Twitter account can be pretty funny at times, like the time she lashed out at polls that didn’t paint her in a positive light as being somehow retrograde.
If you want to know what subconscious bias looks like, it’s a headline saying “AOC is underwater with every group EXCEPT women, nonwhites, and 18-34 year olds.”
So older, conservative white men are considered “everyone” and everyone else is discounted as an exception.
Cool ?? https://t.co/qkwTknMYhC
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 16, 2019
Censorship is not a good thing anywhere on social media, and with comedians and parody accounts being shut down, it seems that conservatives are not allowed to use humor online.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
