Technology

Twitter Mistakenly Disables Video Of A GOP Candidate Doing A Pushup Challenge For PTSD Victims, Offers No Explanation

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Twitter moderators mistakenly disabled a video of House Republican candidate Rich McCormick doing push ups with his sons for PTSD awareness, a company spokesperson said Friday without providing an explanation for the error.

Users were unable to watch the Thursday video, which contained a “sensitive content” label, if they were not logged into Twitter or were otherwise not following McCormick. People who followed the military veteran or were already logged in had access to the video, which shows McCormick and his sons doing pushups outside in the rain.

A Twitter spokesman told the Daily Caller News Foundation that McCormick’s video was flagged in error and is being corrected. He did not provide a reason for speaking anonymously, but Twitter’s press office often requests anonymity when speaking to journalists.

McCormick, a physician and candidate for Georgia’s 7th congressional district, is participating in an online challenge in which he must do 22 pushups per day for 22 days in support of soldiers who suffer from PTSD.

“Day 6 of the #22pushupchallenge with my sons….in the rain,” he wrote in a tweet accompanying the video, adding:”#PTSD is not something to be ashamed of. To all my #veteran brothers and sisters out there you are loved!! If you are having a problem reach out!”

McCormick posted five other tweets on his account that include videos of him doing pushups, none of which were censored.

“While this instance may be an error, Twitter has become increasingly hostile to political speech by conservatives in America while giving a free pass to radicals in Iran and communists in China. This needs to change,” McCormick’s campaign spokesman John Simpson said in a statement to the DCNF.

Other conservatives have criticized Twitter’s moderators for targeting them for political reasons.

The social media giant immediately took action after President Trump suggested in a in a May 29 tweet that the “THUGS” rioting in Minneapolis are “dishonoring the memory of George Floyd,” a black man who died in Minneapolis police custody after an officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes, according to video of the incident.

Twitter concealed the tweet under a banner that read: “This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.” The company also placed a “fact check” label on a Trump May 28 tweet in which he alleged that California’s mail-in ballots would be “fraudulent.”

The president signed an executive order the day the company fact-checked him calling for social media platforms to lose their protection from legal liability of user content if they engage in censorship.