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Twitter suspends account of Trump ally Roger Stone
Twitter suspends account of Trump ally Roger Stone
Story highlights
- Stone's account was suspended
- The company's policy states that suspension can occur in response to threats or harassment
Washington (CNN)Twitter
suspended the account of President Donald Trump's longtime associate
Roger Stone this weekend following a series of derogatory and
threatening tweets from Stone to CNN personalities.
Following
a report from CNN that a grand jury approved the first charges in
former FBI Director Robert Mueller's special counsel investigation,
Stone sent irate messages to CNN anchor Don Lemon and contributor Ana
Navarro, among others.
After the tweets, Stone's account was suspended. He said on Facebook
that he was told he was under temporary suspension, but had learned
from press accounts that Twitter is banning him permanently.
Twitter declined to comment on "individual accounts."
The company's policy states suspension can occur in response to threats or harassment.
Stone
has known Trump for decades and is a reliable supporter of his
political movement. He has also frequently used his platform to go after
reporters and those critical of him and the President, Friday's insults
being the latest example.
For his part, Stone seemed to relish the attention the suspension got, writing, "I guess you have really arrived when your brief suspension on Twitter is national news."
Stone's
suspension comes more than a year after another high-profile Trump
supporter, Milo Yiannopoulos, was banned from Twitter. Yiannopoulos was
seen as an instigator of disparaging tweets directed at comedian Leslie
Jones.
Yiannopoulos, a
self-described provocateur, is known for making offensive statements and
railing against "political correctness."
Twitter
has grappled with how to police its platform for years. Like other
social media sites, its critics say, the company has struggled to strike
the right balance between allowing free speech and tamping down
harassment and hate speech. Earlier this month, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey
laid out new measures aimed at preventing the latter.
The
new policies came after an outcry over the brief suspension of actress
Rose McGowan's account. Twitter says she was temporarily booted from the
platform for violating policies against publishing private phone
numbers. But the suspension came as McGowan was a leading voice among women speaking out against Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced movie mogul whom McGowan accused of rape. Weinstein denies any accusations of sexual assault.
Many Twitter users decried the decision to suspend McGowan and sparked the widely used hashtag #WomenBoycottTwitter.
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