Ann Coulter's Twitter account locked after 'Kyle Rittenhouse as president' post, author says 'it's total bs'
Bestselling conservative author Ann Coulter's Twitter account was locked, after she tweeted in praise of Kyle Rittenhouse. Her account was locked despite the platform informing her that the tweet did not violate the rules. Coulter adds that the platform also deleted the tweet on her behalf, without giving her a chance to appeal the decision, and says 'it doesn't make sense'.
"I want him as my president,” Coulter had said about Rittenhouse, the 17-year old who allegedly shot three people in Kenosha, killing two and injuring one. “I decided to appeal it. I’m on vacation until after Labor Day anyway. But by appealing, that means I can't tweet until they decide my appeal. So I’m guilty until they rule,” said Coulter in a comment to Breitbart News.
“This makes no sense in as much as they’ve already removed that tweet, so why not let me tweet in the meantime? It's clearly total bs. In as much as ANOTHER twitter administrator expressly ruled that the precise tweet that got me suspended violated no twitter policies. SEE YOU ON INSTAGRAM!” concluded Coulter. The screenshot provided to Breitbart by Coulter shows that her tweets were not violating Twitter’s policies.
"We have investigated the reported content and could not identify any violations of the Twitter Rules or German law,” says the message. The 'German Law' is in reference to Germany’s practice of forcing Twitter to comply with its hate speech law, with potential penalties of 50 million euros if the platform fails to comply.
In a statement to Breitbart news, Twitter confirmed that it had indeed taken action on the offensive tweet. "The tweet glorified violence, specifically condoning violence that maybe replicable by a villain," said a Twitter spokesman. "It will need to be removed by the account owner before they continue back to Twitter."
Protests erupted in Wisconsin after an officer shot Kenosha resident Jacob Blake seven times in the back while his children watched from his car. Blake was paralyzed as a result of the shooting. In fury, people marched, chanted, demanding action against systemic racism. However, things took a turn for the worse when Rittenhouse, with a long gun, scuffled with people near a car dealership and began to fire. He allegedly killed two people and wounded a third, according to the criminal complaint. Even as police and emergency vehicles headed to the scene, the videos of the fatal encounter on social media showed, Rittenhouse walked past a group of officers.
He was arrested 30 miles away in Antioch, Illinois. Rittenhouse is facing charges for allegedly killing Anthony M Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum. Before the shooting, he told a journalist who was trailing him that he was a trained medic. In a brief video hearing on Friday, August 28, an Illinois judge agreed to postpone a decision on whether Rittenhouse would be extradited to Wisconsin until at least September 25. Rittenhouse was not seen at the hearing, which lasted only a few minutes. According to his attorney, "his client was acting in self-defense when he opened fire."