It’s been a wild week on Twitter: Jesse Kelly was “permanently” banned with no option to appeal, but then had his account restored anyway. And of course, you know that Laura Loomer, who was banned after posting a tweet criticizing Sharia law, has handcuffed herself to Twitter’s headquarters to protest.
In the meantime, teen conservative CJ Pearson has had his account locked because Twitter says he’s under the age of 13 and therefore not allowed to create a Twitter account. (He’s 16.)
16 year old CJ Pearson's account removed from Twitter on the grounds that he is under 13 pic.twitter.com/QivN2lgfVI
— 9/11 No Planer (@911NoPlaner) November 29, 2018
Wow…. Twitter is seriously biased! CJ Pearson is a high school junior! Not 13 years old! pic.twitter.com/mkMaUolzTj
— ???Terrell Hannah??? (@turtle_hannah) November 29, 2018
CJ being banned is wrong. We shouldn’t be silencing voices and opinions. Not in America. I hope @Twitter reconsiders and reinstates him. pic.twitter.com/fGK9SJvLWT
— Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) November 29, 2018
Why was he banned? I love that kid!!
— Outrage Fatigue (@BiglyQ) November 29, 2018
If I knew they would turn out like CJ and Kyle, I'd have kids again.
— Richard (@GeekOnTheHill) November 29, 2018
Patrick Henry said: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,”
This applies to everyone including Laura Loomer, CJ Pearson, and myself.
CJ nor Laura should be banned, but that doesn’t mean I have to agree with everything they do.
— Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) November 29, 2018
First Laura Loomer. Now CJ Pearson. Hey @Jack, you will not silent all conservatives from your site. You lied to congress too. Admit you don't like conservatives pal pic.twitter.com/8ZCxQ9I5bS
— Patrick Withey (@KYPatrick721) November 29, 2018
BREAKING: CJ Pearson has been suspended from Twitter.
Yet another Conservative voice suspened simply for advocating for free speech.
Anyone saying this isn’t overt ideological censorship is lying to themselves. pic.twitter.com/9vEjybCqSz
— Baylor Cook (@j_baylorcook) November 29, 2018
Twitter just banned CJ Pearson. This is getting out of hand now, practically the most clean, polite and respectful conservative out there.
— Joseph (@JosephMylesmcr) November 29, 2018
Hi, we're @Twitter. We don't discriminate against conservatives. But we can't explain why all of a sudden you can't find @cjpearson, why @lauraloomer and @jessekelly were banned. It's all just a coincidence. #liarliarpantsonfire
— Karl Kling ⚾ (@CoachKling) November 29, 2018
#Twitter just banned CJ Pearson. Who is he? A conservative African American who is 16 years old. A kid that doesn’t say a thing that is hateful but rather gives his opinions. And he gets banned. Is this a joke? Is David Hogg next? I doubt it. #TwitterBanningConservatives
— Vince Pazienza (@vincepaz1230) November 29, 2018
Wow. So CJ Pearson got tweets deleted bc #Twitter thinks he tweeted when he was underage? Really lame of them.
— tayfan2 (@tayfan2) November 29, 2018
Twitter staffers are actually bullying CJ Pearson by using the 'age verification' nonsense to suspend him. Cowardly action.
— Colony of Germany (@EUFascismWatch) November 29, 2018
For what it’s worth, Twitter locked Pearson’s account back in June also, again citing the age requirement. (He was 15 then.) Here’s what Twitter said at the time:
We recently made product changes tied to new privacy laws (GDPR) and became aware of accounts that were set up by people when they were younger than 13. We didn’t expect this. 2/6
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) June 12, 2018
These accounts were automatically locked, and we created additional confusion by sending messages to people saying that they’re still under 13 (when many are now older) and need to close their accounts. 3/6
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) June 12, 2018
We apologize for the confusion and the inconvenience, and will continue to work to serve you better. 6/6
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) June 12, 2018
So back in June they accidentally locked out everyone they thought was under 13, so what’s the excuse this time?
* * *
Update:
Pearson’s back, but he’s lost a lot of followers:
I’m back.
I look forward to hearing from Twitter as to why my account was suspended following my defense of Laura Loomer.
The Left fears those they can’t control. The Left will NEVER control me.
— CJ Pearson (@thecjpearson) November 30, 2018
I've been knocked down to 400 something followers. Please RT this to allow for anyone who had previously followed me to follow me again!
Thank you to everyone who voiced their support of my reinstatement. #MAGA will win.
— CJ Pearson (@thecjpearson) November 30, 2018
Update:
Credit to Twitter for giving an explanation, although it’s the same explanation they gave back in June. Isn’t that fixed yet?
Our systems automatically locked CJ Pearson's account in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). As soon as we were alerted to the error, we reactivated it. It will take a couple of hours for the follower count to return to normal.
— Twitter Comms (@TwitterComms) November 30, 2018
Related:
So damn GOOD! CJ Pearson SCHOOLS WaPo writer asking ‘what’s up with black men’ voting GOP with just 2 words https://t.co/gRRUoSt0wu
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) November 25, 2018
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