Republicans Won’t Buy Twitter Ads Over ‘Inexcusable Targeting’ Of Mitch McConnell
The Republican National Committee, Trump campaign, and two Republican congressional committees all said Thursday they will not advertise on Twitter after the social media site locked Mitch McConnell’s campaign account for posting a video drawing attention to an activist condoning violence outside the senator’s house earlier this week.
On Wednesday, Twitter acknowledged temporarily suspending the McConnell campaign’s account, @Team_Mitch, for posting the video, which was taken from the Facebook live feed of Black Lives Matter activist Chanelle Helm.
Helm is heard saying in the video that she wished someone would “just stab” a voodoo doll of McConnell “in the heart,” seemingly to provoke an injury in the Republican.
Helm also said on the video that she wished McConnell would suffer a stroke, heart attack, or break his neck. Around 40 activists gathered outside McConnell’s home in Louisville to protest mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton.
A Twitter representative told The Daily Caller News Foundation on Wednesday that the McConnell account was locked, and the video removed, because it violated the company’s “violent threats policy.”
The spokesperson said that the policy is in force even when accounts are calling attention to threats of violence, rather than promoting them.
Republicans accused Twitter of anti-conservative bias over the decision. Some noted that Twitter allowed the hash tags “Massacre Mitch” and “Moscow Mitch” to trend over the past several days.
Now, the Republican National Committee, Trump campaign, McConnell campaign, National Republican Senatorial Committee, and National Republican Congressional Committee all say they will withhold ad spending on Twitter until the company addresses the alleged anti-conservative bias.
Richard Walters, the RNC’s chief of staff, said on Twitter that the future ad spending “has been halted until they address this disgusting bias.”
https://twitter.com/rww_gop/status/1159490987493904384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Kevin McLaughlin, the executive director of the NRSC, echoed “not spending $ until this is adequately addressed.”
#MassacreMitch trended on @Twitter for a full day, and they did nothing. Someone threatens to stab the Majority Leader, @TeamMitch posts the video and THEY get locked out. @NRSC is not spending $ until this is adequately addressed. https://t.co/PeliVzz1hU
— Kevin McLaughlin (@KevinMcLaughlin) August 8, 2019
Parker Hamilton Poling, the executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee said the group will “halt all spending with @Twitter until they correct their inexcusable targeting” of the McConnell campaign.
I have directed the @nrcc to immediately halt all spending with @Twitter until they correct their inexcusable targeting of @Team_Mitch. We will stand firmly with our friends against anti-conservative bias. https://t.co/j2dhIkmWvb
— Parker Hamilton Poling (@parkerpoling) August 8, 2019
None of the committees have paid to advertise on Twitter this election cycle, according to the latest Federal Election Commission filings. Democratic presidential candidates and the Democratic National Committee have made up the vast majority of ad spending on the site.
During the 2016 cycle, the Trump campaign spent $300,000 on Twitter ads. The RNC spent over $63,000 on advertising and consulting services, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Republicans’ plans for an ad boycott.
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