Twitter announces crackdown after online abuse of 'Ghostbusters' actor

[uawchild]

Source: Reuters

Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) said Tuesday it had moved to permanently suspend a number of user accounts for abuse and harassment after Ghostbusters actor Leslie Jones on Monday drew renewed attention to the issue and announced she would quit the social media site.

Jones retweeted and shared several abusive tweets she received Monday before telling her 250,000 followers: "I leave Twitter tonight with tears and a very sad heart. All this cause I did a movie. You can hate the movie but the shit I got today... wrong."

Among those banned Tuesday was Breitbart tech editor Milo Yiannopoulos, who has been a controversial figure on the site and helped lead the abuse against Jones. Yiannopoulos did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Twitter has long come under criticism for not doing enough to police abusive behavior on the often-freewheeling messaging service. Other celebrities have taken issue with abuse on the site, including writer and actress Lena Dunham, who said in September she had hired someone to tweet on her behalf because it was no longer a "safe space" for her.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-abuse-idUSKCN1000C5

[uawchild]

1. Milo BUSTED! lol

"Among those banned Tuesday was Breitbart tech editor Milo Yiannopoulos, who has been a controversial figure on the site and helped lead the abuse against Jones."

ABOUT time, he's one hateful person. Charismatic, but hateful.

[NWCorona]

3. I don't find him charismatic but can see how others might. He comes off as smug to me

[tallahasseedem]

4. I don't understand...

how this person has so many supporters that were so outraged about his ouster.

I was reading through his posts and they were TERRIBLE!

[Iggo]

8. He's a pretty white boy and he's a dick to women.

What's not to understand?

[LynneSin]

2. Welcome to Trump's America (thanks to the Tea Party)

Don't get me wrong, racism has always existed. But in the past years it has only become embolden because under Trump which has arisen from the Tea Party - in the USA it's ok to say this racist shit and the rest of the world should just embrace it.

BTW, I think Leslie Jones is an amazingly talented actress and the main reason I'd see the new Ghostbusters

[Laser102]

5. Saw the movie last night. Loved it. Leslie Jones was great. Hearing what that piece of slime and

his followers did to her on Twitter makes me very sad. No one deserves that type of abuse. Hopefully there is a special place for this creatin and his minions.

[marble falls]

6. About time.

[Taitertots]

7. All the people cheering this will get banned when they tweet about....

Hating Trump
Hating the lion killing dentist
Hating.....

Who will be left to defend you?

[Cirque du So-What]

9. Fuck twitter

and the 🐎 it rode in on. I support a general boycott of their platform in its entirety. Never did like the limitation on characters posted, and making a marginal increase doesn't endear them to me in the least. To hell with twitter & all their shit.

[arithia]

10. you seem to have conflated

expressing dislike or hatred for a public figure with actual hate speech intended to abuse and cause harm.

There is a large difference.

[Taitertots]

11. The difference is only opinion. Your opinions won't be the standard they use.

[arithia]

13. Lawmakers, judges, psychologists, psychiatrists and sociologists disagree.

Which is why we have laws protecting people from those who abuse free speech to slander and harass. You know, all those laws against libel, stalking, encouraging people to kill themselves etc....

Saying "I hate Donald Trump" isn't an act of abuse. It does not degrade him in any way. It does not dehumanize him and likely causes no psychological harm. The things Leslie Jones were called *ARE* abusive. (I will not even repeat them here they are so disgusting.) These people intentionally abused and dehumanized her to cause her distress and harm.

Moral relativism isn't necessary in order to secure free speech. Expressing how you feel doesn't need to hurt, degrade, abuse or harass anyone else.

Words matter.

[Taitertots]

20. And when those people don't agree with you?

"Expressing how you feel doesn't need to hurt, degrade, abuse or harass anyone else."

You say that now. But you ignore how many people feel hurt, abused, harassed by liberalism. Those people will be determining whether or not YOUR posts violate the TOS.

Expressing how you feel without hurting people's feelings is ideological masterbation.

[LanternWaste]

21. Many rational people simply call it 'civility.'

"Expressing how you feel without hurting people's feelings is ideological masterbation (sic)..."

Many rational people simply call it 'civility.'

I understand your desire to conflate the two, though.

[Taitertots]

22. Many rational people don't. What's your point?

[LanternWaste]

16. Your faith-based prophecy is entertaining, regardless of its inaccuracy.

Your faith-based prophecy is entertaining, regardless of its inaccuracy.

[apnu]

17. Hate is hate and there is no place for it in a civil society.

That being said...

Twitter is a private network and can make whatever rules it wants. Suspending accounts for acceptable use violations is within their right as operators of that private space. No speech rights are violated if Twitter does this. Not when they shut down racist harassers like Milo and not if they shut down someone spewing Trump hate.

The only right of free speech, here in America, is the right to not be silenced by the government. If a private individual or organization prevents one from using their property or service because that do not like what is said, is 100% legal.

People are free to leave, ignore or otherwise not associate themselves with Twitter. There are plenty of places that will allow dirt bags a podium to throw shit at the world.

[RAFisher]

19. Defend from what? Twitter is a private for-profit company. Having celebrities leave Twitter is bad.

They want to make money and having someone attack celebs to the point they leave twitter is not good for business. I could go on Breitbart right now and go off how Trump is the second coming of the Hitler. I'd immediately get banned. People don't have a right to say what ever they want on private servers.

[rockfordfile]

12. Good it seems the right wing idiot was spewing racist crap

Was it with the loser conservative sleaze?

[awoke_in_2003]

15. She's a better person

than any of those asshats can even dream of being. I am not a big fan of rebooting movies, but no one deserves this type of hate.

[Calista241]

18. I like Leslie Jones

But I thought the movie wasn't terribly good.

I just wish Hollywood would come up with some new ideas. How many Xmen, Star Wars, Star Trek, Batman, Ocean's Eleven and other movies can they make? The original Ghostbusters was a classic. The new one is just another remake with a mostly female cast.

But Leslie Jones is just one of those actors or actresses that you instantly like. She seems way more genuine and like-able than the latest Bond Girl or whatever.