I Helped Get Roger Stone Banned From Twitter

Im not twitter savvy. I just rejoined this past January, mostly to keep tabs on the news, retweet interesting articles, and occasionally promote my own stories. I recently even discovered the trending section on Twitter! For a millennial, thats not impressive at all, I know.

So when I discovered Roger Stones hateful attacking tweets trending on Twitter Saturday morning, I thought little would come about my reporting them as offensive and blocking his account. Id never heard of @RogerJStoneJr or read his tweets before, but quickly learned that he was a vocal provocative Trump supporter, similar to Sean Hannity . If he had any of the power or influence of Hannity, I seriously doubted my reporting him would have any impact.

It wasnt his opinion and swearing that motivated me to block him, it was seeing the threatening language of punished and the all too obviously misspelled covksucker in his attacks on CNN reporter Don Lemon that crossed a line for me. Isnt [co*ksucker] what the Mooch Anthony Scaramucci got fired for calling Steve Bannon? If the U.S. press secretary stated ESPN reporter Jamele Hills comments calling President Trump a white supremacist on her personal Twitter account should lead to her being fired, I wondered if Stone could get away with these much more malicious comments and attacks without any similar retaliation. Not that thousands of crazy Twitter users dont get away with such things everyday, but because of his ties to Trump and the fact that he was trending on Twitter, I wondered if this time might be different.

I reported Roger Stone because I found his comments offensive, but also as a sort of experiment. Twitter hasnt been consistent with enforcing its rules on its range of users. Its often only caved to banning users after immense pressure to do so. But a Twitter suspension could be the ideal way to show the world that we as a nation (and as twitter users) do not tolerate threats or abusive language from bullies. I thought, if Twitter were to temporarily suspend Stones account, it could be a step in the right direction for uniting the country and encouraging constructive dialogue again. It wouldnt be a suppression of first amendment rights (Twitter is a private company) or free speech (Stone has several other professional accounts on twitter). But it could act as a warning, a sign of what is acceptable and what is not on the internet. Unfortunately, sometimes it feels like the standard of what is acceptable is always shifting, especially according to Twitter.

Several news sites have wondered since Twitter suspended Stone if that means the private company could suspend anyone for violating rules concerning abusive and intimidating behavior? Including the Presidents private Twitter account, estimated at worth $2 billion to the company ?

The thing is, the president getting suspended from his private account, even just temporarily, would be beneficial to both Democrats and Republicans . Think about how many times Trump has undermined his own administration and credibility through his indescretionary tweeting. Telling Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to give up on his negotiations with North Korea. Threatening war with North Korea. Lashing out and making rash attacks against perceived enemies like the mayor of San Juan in Puerto Rico . Attacking gold star family members as liars. Retweeting Neo-nazis. If I worked on Trumps public relations team, and thought it possible Trump could be banned or suspended from twitter, I would have the whole staff reporting some of his most offensive tweets. There are so many to choose from. In addition, many have realized that Twitter is one of the only avenues of power Trump solely controls, a destructive power when he promotes disunity, lies, and trivial distraction tactics while other more important news stories are occurring (see Mueller indictments ).

At the end of the day I was surprised to find out that Roger Stone got permanently banned from Twitter. I had not expected anything to happen, no repercussions against Stone besides a few deleted tweets. It made me realize that I wasnt the only Twitter user out there that was appalled or distressed by his remarks. That maybe there are others who hope for Twitter to become a platform that will no longer tolerate abusive behavior.

I felt like my vote finally counted. I dont know how many people reported or blocked Roger Stone this past Saturday, but I do know I was one of them. One of the people that helped get Roger Stone banned from Twitter.

Maybe @realDonaldTrump is next.