Twitter has temporarily locked the account of LifeNews, an online pro-life news outlet, after it posted a picture of an aborted baby. SPUC has stated that “this appears to be yet another blatant example of the censorship of pro-lifers by Big Tech companies”.
On Monday, LifeNews’ Twitter account was locked after posting what it said was the image of an aborted baby found on the property of a pro-life activist who claims to have recovered aborted babies, allegedly killed at a Washington, D.C. abortion facility, from a medical waste truck driver.
Five bodies of babies were found on the property by police on 30 March. An investigation is ongoing.
Following Twitter’s disabling of the account, LifeNews said that Twitter was also threatening to permanently ban it. “This is the leftist censorship that has to stop”, stated LifeNews.
Twitter said LifeNews’ post constituted “gratuitous gore”, which is prohibited because, its guidelines state, such posts “may negatively impact an individual’s wellbeing”.
Regarding “gratuitous gore”, Twitter claims that “very limited exceptions may be made for gory media associated with newsworthy events”, and that “graphic violence” may be shared “provided that you mark this media as sensitive”, which LifeNews said that it did.
“We followed Twitter rules”, said the news outlet.
Twitter bias against pro-life accounts
Steven Ertelt, a LifeNews editor, has pointed out that other accounts that posted the same image have not been punished.
“The problem with Twitter is its enforcement policies are automated and inconsistent and they are biased against pro-life conservative accounts”, Ertelt said. “Meanwhile, Twitter takes no action against other accounts that routinely post hardcore pornography and no action against liberal media accounts that post graphic images about the war in Ukraine.”
Ertelt continued: “Liberal accounts harass and spam us every day, but when we report their harassment and threats of violence to Twitter it takes no action against them most of the time.”
Meanwhile, tech billionaire Elon Musk has offered to buy Twitter after initially investing in substantial stock.
Musk stated in a letter to Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor that, despite believing “in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe”, Twitter does not “serve this societal imperative in its current form”.
It has been speculated that Musk seeks to redress perceived Twitter censorship, which, as claimed by Ertelt and others, has been directed towards pro-life content.
“The truth must come out”
SPUC’s Michael Robinson, Executive Director (Public Affairs and Legal Services), said: “There is more and more evidence that Twitter and other social media platforms are censoring pro-lifers and looking for any excuse to permanently ban their accounts, even ‘cancelling’ large news outlets.
“In this case, it does appear that LifeNews, which apparently complied with Twitter’s own guidelines, has been targeted by a platform with an increasingly pro-abortion agenda.
“When overt action over one apparently ‘newsworthy’ image is only taken against pro-life accounts, such blatant inconsistency, in the end, cannot be seen as anything other than deliberate censorship.
“This is a real threat to free speech and the pro-life movement.
“If Elon Musk is successful in his attempt to buy Twitter, SPUC hopes that he does truly turn Twitter into a free speech platform for all, allowing pro-lifers to further expose the barbarous deeds of the abortion industry.
“The world must know what goes on inside abortion facilities. The truth must come out.”