Twitter reversed itself Thursday and unlocked the account of Homeland Security’s top border official 20 hours after censoring him for a post promoting the importance of border wall construction.
Hours later, the offending tweet itself was also unlocked.
Twitter had flagged acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan’s tweet Wednesday, where he said the wall can “stop gang members, murders, sex predators & drugs from getting into America,” as harassing or “hateful,” according to CBP.
Not only was the tweet removed by the social media giant, but Mr. Morgan was blocked from access to his account.
“This should outrage every American citizen,” Mr. Morgan said Thursday morning while touring the wall in McAllen, Texas.
He said the tweet was being censored at about the same time Twitter’s CEO was on Capitol Hill defending itself over its censorship policies.
Mr. Morgan said Twitter allows tweets from Iranian leaders advocating the destruction of Israel. But his own tweet, which he said is based on factual information from the agency he oversees. was flagged.
His Twitter account regularly shares press releases on murderers, gang members and sexual predators arrested at the border, which he said proves that building the wall works. It shapes where and how illegal immigrants can enter, and makes it easier to catch them.
A Twitter spokesman told The Washington Times on Thursday at about 2 p.m. that they did sanction the tweet, “but the decision was reversed following an appeal by the account owner and further evaluation from our team.”
More than an hour later, though, the tweet was still unavailable. It was finally restored about 4 p.m.
It’s not clear why it took that long after the reversal decision to restore the message.
Twitter’s message to Mr. Morgan said he had violated rules against “hateful content.”
“You may not promote violence against, threaten or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability or serious disease,” Twitter said in its sanction notice.
The policy does not mention illegal immigrants, and Mr. Morgan’s wall tweet did not appear to threaten or harass anyone.
Earlier this week, Twitter slapped a warning — but did not delete — a tweet by former Obama administration Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. telling voters that it was too late to vote by mail. Twitter quickly reversed that decision, saying it was an “error” because Mr. Holder’s advice was correct in some states, though not all.
Twitter did not admit to any “error” in the case of Mr. Morgan, despite the evidence he pointed to in own account of border threats.
“Twitter is out of control in their clear bias against this administration and their blatant censorship of anything that may go against the policies of those who sit in cubicles in Silicon Valley,” Mr. Morgan said in a statement. “America is going down a dangerous road if we do not stand up for free speech and free thought — regardless of our beliefs.”
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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