Latinos for Trump, an organization committed to expanding President Donald Trump’s vote share, claims political bias in Twitter’s recent decision to suspend accounts operated by its leaders and key operatives.
“Some wore it proudly emblazoned across their chest: Latinos for Trump ... A few forcefully emphasized that they were Hispanic, wielding it as if were a badge that proved they could not be racist.” the New York Times wrote on Sept. 18, the day after the Twitter bans.
“Seven members—four leaders and three members—were all suspended at the same time, Tuesday night,” Bianca Garcia, national president of Latinos for Trump, told The Epoch Times.
Garcia said four of her accounts were suspended, and seven other accounts belonging to six Latinos for Trump members were all suspended. Three of the accounts belonging to two members are still suspended.
Latinos for Trump counted more than 50 pro-Trump or conservative accounts that were suspended that were using the Power10 app that automatically retweets different accounts of the user’s choosing. However, Latinos for Trump was never told that using Power10 was against the rules, and five accounts belonging to four Latinos for Trump members weren’t using the app.
“We didn’t get any reason” initially, Garcia said. “I’ve never even gotten any violations. None of my people have gotten any notifications of violating the terms of service.”
Garcia said the White House instructed the group to formally appeal their suspensions to Twitter.
“Twitter has automated systems that find and remove multiple automated spam accounts in bulk. Unfortunately, it looks like your account got caught up in one of these spam groups because you retweeted an update that was originally posted by a spam account,” replied Twitter in an email to Garcia, referring to one of her accounts.
“We encourage you to use our official Retweet button for re-posting Tweets. This feature allows you to quickly share Tweets you like, and ensures that the original post will be properly attributed to its original author,” Twitter stated, with a link to a support page instructional.
“Your account is now unsuspended. Please note that it may take an hour or so for your follower and following numbers to return to normal.”
But Garcia isn’t satisfied.
“As Latinos for Trump, we will not be silenced. The more you try to silence us, the louder we get,” Garcia said. “If you’re going to put out a platform, it should be openly used by anybody, not suppressing one side over another. They need to be fair. I don’t want to see regulation, but something needs to be done.”
Garcia also pointed to suspensions and permanent bans for conservative commentators including journalist Laura Loomer as evidence of political bias.
Twitter didn’t respond to a request for comment about perceived political bias.
