Twitter Bans Breitbart Editor Over Leslie Jones Abuse

Site is cracking down on 'targeted abuse'
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 20, 2016 2:32 AM CDT
Updated Jul 20, 2016 10:59 AM CDT
Twitter Bans Breitbart Editor Over Leslie Jones Abuse
Leslie Jones poses backstage during a Sony Pictures Entertainment presentation at CinemaCon earlier this year.   (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

Twitter has promised to crack down on "targeted abuse and harassment," and it appears to be serious about it: A conservative writer accused of leading a hate campaign against Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones was banned from the site Tuesday, BuzzFeed reports. Milo Yiannopoulos, Breitbart.com's tech editor, was accused of encouraging racist and sexist harassment of Jones, who said the online abuse made her feel like she was in a "personal hell." Twitter spokesman Nu Wexler says that after a rise in reports of targeted abuse, the company has "taken enforcement actions against these accounts, ranging from warnings that also require the deletion of Tweets violating our policies to permanent suspension," Bloomberg reports.

Wexler says Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey—who contacted Jones after she said the abuse had forced her off the site—has made dealing with abuse a priority. "We are continuing to invest heavily in improving our tools and enforcement systems to better allow us to identify and take faster action on abuse as it's happening and prevent repeat offenders," he says. Yiannopoulos, who had 338,000 followers, slammed the suspension as a "cowardly" act that shows Twitter "is a safe space for Muslim terrorists and Black Lives Matter extremists, but a no-go zone for conservatives." "Like all acts of the totalitarian regressive left, this will blow up in their faces, netting me more adoring fans," he predicted. Jones' supporters, meanwhile, have been tweeting encouragement under the hashtag #LoveForLeslieJ, reports the AP. (More Leslie Jones stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X