Make Detroit Great Again is my pro-Trump video showing what Detroit looks like today, along with audio of Trump speaking about inner cities. I was pleased to get covered on Truth Revolt.
Last night I bought an ad on Twitter to promote my video. Twitter promptly removed it, claiming it violates their Hate, sensitive topics, and violence policy.
Here's the advertised tweet. Do you think this is violent hate speech? Or is Twitter blocking right-wing political messages?
Trump will help inner cities and minorities! Democrats have destroyed great cities like Detroit. https://t.co/ezBMqgtwjZ
— Elliot Temple (@curi42) October 20, 2016
Twitter's hate content, sensitive topics, and violence policy covers:
- Hate speech or advocacy against an individual, organization or protected group based on race, ethnicity, national origin, color, religion, disability, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status or other protected status.Violence or threats of violence against people or animals
- Glorification of self-harm or related ads
- Organizations or individuals associated with promoting hate, criminal, or terrorist-related content
- Inflammatory content which is likely to evoke a strong negative reaction or cause harm.
- Offensive, vulgar, abusive or obscene content
As broad as this is, my ad doesn't realistically fit. There's no hate speech or violence in my video. Twitter does allow political ads (even though they can evoke negative reactions). And vigorous political debates are common on Twitter.
Twitter also specifically allows both "[n]ews and information" and "[c]ommentary", which do fit my video.
This is the notification Twitter emailed me:
(I have no affiliation with Donald Trump or his campaign.)
Update: I contacted Twitter to ask specifically what the "Hate, sensitive topics, and violence" was. I've now received the following reply, "Apologies for any confusion, you are now eligible to use Twitter Ads." That does not address the issue. I can now run the ad again.
Messages (5)
It could have been the sentence:
"Democrats have destroyed great cities like Detroit."
Its a loss for them. They won't make money.
#6966 you're so biased you're trying to justify a silencing that not even Twitter will uphold.
Twitter has hired a team that, while incoherent and disorganized, also hassles rightwingers way more.
It's not like the fuckers couldn't use more ad revenue:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-25/twitter-said-to-plan-hundreds-more-job-cuts-as-soon-as-this-week
Twitter to Cut 9% of Workforce as Revenue Growth Slows
http://www.wsj.com/articles/twitter-to-cut-workforce-as-revenue-growth-slows-1477566772