Conservatives on Twitter are up in arms about the social media platform’s decision not to promote tweets with the words “illegal aliens,” or “criminal aliens,” saying those phrases violate the company’s hate speech policy. Twitter later reversed the decision, saying it was made in error.
Conservative personalities, including Tomi Lahren and Charlie Kirk, tweeted content including the words “illegal aliens” in protest.
Kirk, the leader of the conservative student group Turning Point USA, posted a tweet repeating the phrase, “illegal aliens should be deported.”
Just in:
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) September 13, 2018
Twitter is blocking posts that use phrase ‘illegal alien’ as ‘hateful content’
Illegal aliens should be deported
Illegal aliens should be deported
Illegal aliens should be deported
Illegal aliens should be deported
Illegal aliens should be deported
Lahren, the conservative media personality, posted a tweet with the words “ILLEGAL ALIEN” repeated several times. She also expressed the sentiment that, “Americans come FIRST in our own country.”
ILLEGAL ALIEN. ILLEGAL ALIEN. ILLEGAL ALIEN. Americans come FIRST in our own country. Period. ILLEGAL ALIEN. ILLEGAL ALIEN. ILLEGAL ALIEN.
— Tomi Lahren (@TomiLahren) September 13, 2018
The tweets come in response to Twitter declining to promote tweets from the controversial nonprofit Center for Immigration Studies, which is designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The SPLC qualified CIS as a hate group in 2016, after ”its repeated circulation of white nationalist and antisemitic writers in its weekly newsletter and the commissioning of a policy analyst who had previously been pushed out of the conservative Heritage Foundation for his embrace of racist pseudoscience.”
It was founded by John Tanton, who promotes white nationalism.
The phrase “illegal alien” has fallen out of favor in recent years because it is considered dehumanizing. Many activists and immigrants prefer terminology like “undocumented immigrants” when referring to people who live in the U.S. without proper documentation.
The original tweets in question were submitted as promoted ads on Sept. 11, according to a press release from CIS. Twitter didn’t accept them, citing their hateful content policy. The decision was reversed and the ads accepted on Sept. 13.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) jumped in, too, criticizing the decision by quoting federal law text, as did the Center for Immigration Studies.
Does Twitter now ban the plain text of federal law? 8 U.S. Code § 1252c is entitled “Authorizing State and local law enforcement officials to arrest and detain certain illegal aliens.” It authorizes the state or local arrest of illegal alien felons. https://t.co/VOnyhcTaqV
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 13, 2018
1/ Twitter is not allowing us to promote any tweets including the phrase “illegal alien(s)”, citing it as Hateful Content. However, the phrase “illegal aliens” has been used in both federal law and by the Supreme Court.
— Center for Immigration Studies (@CIS_org) September 11, 2018
Actor James Woods tweeted about the decision, as well, as did FOX News employees.
Twitter now says calling illegal aliens “illegal aliens” violates some regulation they have. #IllegalAliens Yet that is the official usage by none other than our federal government. Example: https://t.co/DRwOfCzG5R
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) September 12, 2018
https://twitter.com/toddstarnes/status/1040030872278323200
People in this country illegally are either “illegals” or “illegal aliens.”
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) September 13, 2018
And, oh by the way, illegal alien is the term used by our federal government and the United States Supreme Court. https://t.co/pxgf8Xaf1q
As the conversation about censorship online increases, the only certainty is the complaints will get louder.
This article has been updated.
