Conservatives are blaming #Resistance bro Brian Krassenstein for MAGA meme-maker Carpe Donktum’s 12-hour temporary suspension from Twitter on Tuesday.
Carpe Donktum, a conservative whose work has been retweeted by the president in the past, photoshopped President Donald Trump into a spaghetti western movie scene where he slaps around a bad guy who was depicted as CNN journalist Jim Acosta.
After Carpe Donktum posted the clip to Twitter, Krassenstein, co-founder with his twin brother of the liberal blog Hill Report, called on his followers to report it, claiming that Carpe Donktum made a video where the president shot a member of the media.
This is the top Tweet under Trump’s reply right now. This account, retweeted by Trump in the past, posted this meme of the President shooting @Acosta and other press.
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) May 8, 2019
Please REPORT this to @Twitter
No wonder why “Conservatives get banned” from social media. https://t.co/fP4QgmAmHH
Replies to Krassenstein’s post show dozens of followers saying they had subsequently reported the meme. Soon after, Carpe Donktum’s Twitter account was suspended. Ali Alexander, a colleague of Carpe Donktum’s at pro-Trump media outlet Culttture, explained that the creative was being asked to either delete the tweet or be banned from the social network entirely.
https://twitter.com/ali/status/1126182881322307584
The incident coincided with actions throughout the past week by Facebook and Instagram to permanently ban multiple right-wing figures like Laura Loomer, Milo Yiannopoulos, and Alex Jones. In the past couple of days, several right-wing Twitter users, like activist David Horowitz, have also faced suspensions in what some conservatives are calling a purge. Twitter had reportedly claimed Horowitz’s suspension was a glitch, yet after reinstating his account he was once again suspended.
https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1125883841833504768
Some on the right believe that the banning of influential conservative figures across platforms is part of a wider “Big Tech” strategy or conspiracy to “hamstring” Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign.
In a bid to fight back in this instance, conservatives are demanding that Krassenstein be suspended from Twitter for encouraging users to mass-report Carpe Donktum’s tweet.
https://twitter.com/ali/status/1126185816596914177
https://twitter.com/heartofawhale/status/1126164871480004608
https://twitter.com/billybattspinky/status/1126164251607957505
On his return to Twitter, after deleting the tweet in question, Carpe Donktum also blasted Krassenstein for asking followers “to fraudulently report.”
https://twitter.com/CarpeDonktum/status/1126136543406698496
The Daily Dot contacted Twitter about the suspension and Krassenstein’s call for coordinated mass reporting but did not receive a response before publication.
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