Actor James Woods, one of Hollywoods leading conservative voices, has been locked out of his Twitter account over a months-old tweet.
Woods was shut down on Thursday. The reason was a jokey July 20 meme he circulated that was claimed to come from Democrats and encouraged men not to vote in the upcoming mid-term elections. The meme said #LetWomenDecide and #NoMenMidterm.
Twitter claimed the meme could be considered material that would suppress votes or deliberately deceive, according to the Associated Press.
Twitter and its CEO, Jack Dorsey, have been accused of shadowbanning conservatives or axing their accounts. Dorsey has denied intentional discrimination but has admitted his company is left-leaning.
The tweet was posted July 20 included a hoax meme that said it came from Democrats and encouraged men not to vote in the midterm elections, which led the micro-blogging site to shut him down after it was considered to be material that would suppress votes or deliberately deceive, reports Associated Press.
Woods received an email offering to restore his account if he deleted the offending tweet. Woods declined.
“Free speech is free speech – its not Jack Dorseys version of free speech, Woods said.
Twitter told AP it doesnt comment on individual accounts for privacy and security reasons.
The irony is, Twitter accused me of affecting the political process, when in fact, their banning of me is the truly egregious interference, Woods said. Because now, having your voice smothered is much more disturbing than having your vocal chords slit. If you want to kill my free speech, man up and slit my throat with a knife, dont smother me with a pillow.
The thespian said if he deleted the tweet it wouldnt ode well for the future of free speech.
Woodss girlfriend, Sara Miller, used her account to send out a lengthy tweet from Woods.
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