JAKARTA - Twitter has banned the Florida Republican candidate from their platform after making a tweet encouraging the assassination of a federal agent. This was reported by Florida Politics on Friday, August 19.
Luis Miguel campaigned in the Republican primaries to represent Florida's 20th district in the state House of Representatives. Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the ban.
Miguel's threat comes amid the GOP's intense hostility towards the FBI and the IRS, spurred by the federal raid at Mar-a-Lago and recent Congressional moves to improve tax enforcement. But Miguel's tweet went beyond criticism of the agency, as it called for armed violence against their employees.
When I say that political extremism is dangerous, THIS is what I'm talking about. The men and women who serve this country as federal agents are patriots … unlike Luis Miguel. We cannot let them prevail. pic.twitter.com/rfgpdEigqU
— Evan McMullin (@EvanMcMullin) August 20, 2022
"Under my plan, all Florida residents will be able to shoot the FBI, IRS, ATF, and all other federal forces ON SIGHT," the message reads. "Let freedom ring."
Florida Politics found the same statement posted to Miguel's Facebook and Instagram pages, although the post has since been deleted and his profile remains active. Facebook and Instagram did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Verge on this report.
Twitter has come under particular pressure to moderate anti-government threats following an attack by a gunman on the FBI's Cincinnati office. The gunman, who was killed by police after a standoff, has made extensive threats against the agency on former US President Donald Trump's Truth Social network.
On the same day as the ban on Miguel's Twitter account, members of Congress requested information from Twitter, Facebook and other platforms about their work in countering ongoing threats to law enforcement.
Among other questions, lawmakers asked how many such threats were detected on the platform and how many of those threats were later removed.
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