CV NEWS FEED // Twitter suspended Spanish politician Francisco Contreras’s account because of a tweet in which he argued against transgender ideology by stating that males cannot bear children.
“I’ve been blocked from Twitter for 12 hours for ‘hate speech,’” Contreras reported in a May 11 Facebook post. He explained that Twitter “forced” him to delete a tweet that stated: “A man cannot get pregnant. A man has no womb or eggs”.
“You can see this is already fascist biology,” Contreras wrote, referring to Twitter’s enforcement on behalf of the controversial and scientifically unfounded field of so-called transgender medicine. “Next time I’ll try 2 + 2 = 4,” he joked.
Contreras also posted the message Twitter sent to him notifying him of the suspension, which read in part:
Your account, @fjconpe, was blocked for breaking Twitter Rules.
Specifically, for the following reasons:
Breaking rules banning hate speech behaviors.
No threatening, harassing or fostering violence against other people on the basis of their race, ethnic origin, nationality, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religion, age, disability or disease is permitted.
Keep in mind that repeated defaults may lead to permanent suspension of your account. Go to Twitter now to fix the problem with your account.
Big Tech in Politics
Contreras’s Twitter suspension is the latest of many instances of social media companies intervening in politics. Commentators on both sides of the political aisle expressed deep concerns, for example, as companies like Twitter and Facebook suppressed posts by President Donald Trump in the leadup to the 2020 election, then finally removed his accounts altogether this year.
As CatholicVote has reported, the American public is increasingly in favor of regulations to curb the power of social media companies. A February Gallup poll found that 57% of the general public would favor more regulation, while 65% of Republicans have a “very negative” view of Big Tech.
Last month, Florida lawmakers passed a bill to forbid social media companies to ban elected officials from their platforms. Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-FL, has promised to sign the bill into law.