WSJ: CAIR Lobbied Twitter to Blacklist Laura Loomer

The Wall Street Journal revealed that CAIR lobbied social media giant Twitter to blacklist outspoken conservative activist Laura Loomer from the platform over her remarks about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN).

In a recent article titled “Facebook, Twitter Solicit Outside Groups, Often on the Right, to Referee Political Speech,” the Wall Street Journal notes that social media firms such as Facebook and Twitter consult with outside groups in order to develop their policies surrounding political speech on their platforms. Although it appears the Silicon Valley Masters of the Universe have begun reaching out to some conservative groups for at least some semblance of ideological balance, the articles most illuminating revelation is about Twitter’s blacklisting of Laura Loomer.

The Journal Reports:

Conservative Jewish activist Laura Loomer says she didn’t know until recently that outside groups and individuals had privately lobbied Twitter executives to remove her from the site in late November.

In an email to Ms. Loomer, Twitter said she had violated its hateful conduct policy for a tweet calling Ilhan Omar, the Muslim congresswoman from Minnesota, anti-Jewish and supportive of Shariah law. In an interview, Ms. Loomer says she was referring to a 2012 tweet from Ms. Omar in which the congresswoman wrote, “may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.”

Among the groups that had complained to Twitter was the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an advocacy organization.

The council doesn’t often step in to advocate against other users, says Executive Director Zahra Billoo, but did so in the case of Ms. Loomer based on her previous comments about Muslims. In 2017, Ms. Loomer tweeted after a terror attack in New York City, “Leave it to Muslims to ruin everything. People can’t even enjoy #Halloween without those savages f**king everything up for everyone.”

Other organizations, including the civil-rights organization Muslim Advocates, voiced similar complaints.

The article states that when Loomer was suspended, she was not informed of the influence of these outside groups in her removal from the platform. A Twitter spokesperson stated that Loomer’s removal from the platform “was the result of multiple, repeated violations of the same rules, it was not about any one tweet,” and that multiple organizations had reported Loomer throughout the years.

Following her suspension from the platform, Loomer staged a protest outside Twitter’s offices in New York. Wearing a yellow star of David on her jacket, Loomer shouted: “I threw away the key, and I’m here for the millions of conservatives who have been censored by Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg.”

The tweet that resulted in Loomer’s suspension from the platform read:

Isn’t it ironic how the twitter moment used to celebrate ‘women, LGBTQ, and minorities’ is a picture of Ilhan Omar? Ilhan is pro Sharia Ilhan is pro- FGM Under Sharia, homosexuals are oppressed & killed. Women are abused & forced to wear the hijab. Ilhan is anti Jewish.

Loomer at one point rhetorically asked: “Why is it that I get banned as a Jewish conservative but Louis Farrakhan is still on Twitter?” Loomer was referring to Farrakhan’s comments about Jewish people in a video he posted to Twitter where he refers to them as “termites” stating:  “To the members of the Jewish community that don’t like me, thank you very much for putting my name all over the planet … I’m not mad at you, ’cause you’re so stupid.”

He continued to say: “So when they talk about Farrakhan, call me a hater, you know they do, call me an antisemite — stop it! I’m anti-termite! I don’t know nothing about hating somebody because of their religious preference.” Farrakhan was not banned from Twitter for this video.

Loomer was not charged for her protest outside Twitter’s offices and police left the scene shortly after arriving. Loomer remains blacklisted from Twitter.

Read the full article in the Wall Street Journal here.