Twitter bans Florida candidate for urging gun violence against federal agents
A Republican legislative candidate in the US state of Florida has been permanently banned from Twitter after advocating legalization of gun violence against federal agents.
“Under my plan, all Floridians will be able to shoot FBI, IRS, ATF, and all other federal troops on sight! Let freedom ring!” wrote Florida House 20th District Republican candidate Luis Miguel in a Twitter post on Thursday that has reportedly been censored by the popular social media platform as of Friday.
The development came as several Republican political candidates supporting former US president Donald Trump faced major pushback after making incendiary rhetoric against US Attorney General Merrick Garland and federal agents following the FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
Miguel’s tweet violated Twitter’s hateful conduct policy, leading to the suspension of his account late Friday, a spokesperson for the company said in an interview with the local NBC News.
Miguel, however, defended his tweet in an interview with the same network, insisting that it did not endorse violence, but instead referred to legislation he would propose if elected.
He is appealing his suspension from the platform as his Instagram and Facebook accounts have also been suspended for a similar, separate post.
Since the FBI search on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, there has been an uptick in threats against federal government’s law enforcement, particularly on social media.
The US House of Representative’s Oversight Committee declared on Friday that it was investigating the threats. In a letter sent to eight social media companies this week, the panel demanded "immediate action to address any threats of violence against law enforcement" on their respective platforms.
The committee is also seeking information about the volume of threats the companies have identified since the search of Trump’s home earlier this month, as well as the companies' policies on threatening posts.
Miguel, meanwhile, is not the first Republican candidate to face a serious media backlash after calling for instigating potentially criminal actions against federal agents.
In Buffalo, New York, Republican House candidate Carl Paldino is also under scrutiny for insisting in an August 13 radio interview that “we have a couple of unelected people who are running our government, in an administration of people like [Attorney General Merrick] Garland, who should be not only impeached, he probably should be executed.”
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