Twitter restricts tweet from Gaetz for glorifying violence

Twitter has restricted a Monday tweet from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), saying it glorifies violence, a move that comes after also cracking down on some of President Trump’s tweets last week. 

The Florida lawmaker and vocal Trump ally tweeted in response to Trump’s Sunday announcement on Twitter that anti-facist activists, or antifa, would be formally designated as a terrorist organization. 

“Now that we clearly see Antifa as terrorists, can we hunt them down like we do those in the Middle East?” Gaetz posted.

Now that we clearly see Antifa as terrorists, can we hunt them down like we do those in the Middle East?

— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) June 1, 2020

Twitter restricted the tweet, preventing it from being liked, replied to or retweeted. Before the social media platform’s action, the tweet had been retweeted more than 12,000 times, The Verge reported. 

A Twitter spokesperson told The Hill in a statement that the “public interest notice” was placed on the tweet because it was “in violation of our glorification of violence policy,” which forbids the threatening of violence against an individual or group. 

The social media platform placed warnings on some of the president’s tweets last week, including a couple containing “potentially misleading information” about mail-in voting. 

On Friday, Twitter accused some of Trump’s tweets of violating the glorification of violence policy by calling the protesters in response to George Floyd’s death “thugs” and appearing to threaten military intervention over the demonstrations that had turned violent. 

Antifa activists have grown in visibility since Trump won the election in 2016, but terrorism experts responded to his Sunday announcement by saying the decentralized movement is not an organization with defined leadership.