Twitter says Trump’s ‘go back’ tweet doesn’t violate its rules

by Harper Neidig - 07/15/19 5:28 PM ET

Twitter says that President Trump’s tweets over the weekend telling four progressive lawmakers to “go back” to their home countries did not violate its content policies, despite being widely condemned as racist, even by some members of the president’s own party.

A Twitter spokesperson told The Hill in an email that the tweets did not violate the company’s content policies against hate speech, meaning that Twitter doesn’t plan to label the posts under a new policy launched last month.

In a series of tweets apparently aimed at Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) — only one of whom immigrated to the U.S. — Trump lashed out at the lawmakers for their criticisms of his administration.

“Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done,” he wrote.

Twitter has been repeatedly criticized for not applying its rules on hate speech to the president’s more inflammatory tweets. Last month, the company announced it would add disclaimers to tweets that violate its policies from world leaders and other notable figures.

“We prohibit targeting individuals with repeated slurs, tropes or other content that intends to dehumanize, degrade or reinforce negative or harmful stereotypes about a protected category,” Twitter’s policy on hate speech reads.

A spokeswoman for Twitter declined to explain the company’s rationale.

Tags Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Ayanna Pressley Donald Trump Ilhan Omar Rashida Tlaib