Twitter Bans AOC Parody Account Even Though It Explicitly Followed Their Rules
Tom Pappert
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Twitter banned the parody account “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Press Release (parody)” late on Monday night, even though it explicitly followed Twitter’s rules for parody accounts.
The @AOCpress account was run by Twitter user @OfficeOfMike, who was also banned, and posted over-the-top and highly satirical tweets parodying the policies and beliefs of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It clearly marked itself as a parody both in the name of the account, and in the account’s bio area, with the sentence “I’m the boss… you mad bro? (parody)”.
Twitter is moving the goal post.
If Twitter can't suspend you, they make up new rules to do it. pic.twitter.com/4TLrbAQZQ0
— Mike (@FuctupMike) May 7, 2019
This type of self identification as a parody account would seem to be precisely what Twitter requires for such an account to exist on its platform.
According to the rules Twitter sent to the @AOCpress account’s email address, which the big tech platform claims the account broke:
“You may not register or create fake and misleading accounts. 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 spamming, abusive, or disruptive behavior, including attempts to manipulate the conversations on Twitter.
In other words, while Twitter allows parody accounts, it expects them to be clearly identified as parody accounts in the account information. Having the word “parody” in both the name of the account and its bio would appear to meet this criteria, but apparently was not enough to satisfy Twitter.
https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1125617863862169600
Strangely, the account was created in November of 2018 and rose to a reasonable level of popularity before it was banned Monday night.
Twitter added that the “account will not be reinstated.”
While President Donald J. Trump met with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to discuss the major issues facing the platform, it does not seem to have curtailed Twitter’s desire to systematically censor conservatives worldwide.
Just last week, the tech giant banned the account of British activist-turned-politician Tommy Robinson within 24 hours of its creation, showing it is unafraid of brazenly interfering with a sovereign nation’s political process.
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