Former Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke declared victory Saturday after Twitter users reported his tweets for inciting violence against media reporters who wrote about the FBI search warrant executed on his email account.
Winning against LYING LIB MEDIA and Whiney SNOWFLAKES again. Like @realDonaldTrump said, we’ll win so much we’ll get tired of winning. Not yet however. Diaper wearing lefty didn’t like my metaphor reference to punching LYING LIB MEDIA in the nose. Twitter said no violation. Duh. pic.twitter.com/0drtWIEmMc
— David A. Clarke, Jr. (@SheriffClarke) December 31, 2017
The company apparently said that his tweets did not violate their rules.
In case you missed it, Clarke was set off over the weekend after news outlets, including Law&Crime, wrote about the FBI executing a search warrant dated in March. He was accused of misusing his authority as Milwaukee County Sheriff to bully a man after a plane flight. When we reached out to him for comment Friday, he told us he was no longer under investigation, and showed us a letter from federal prosecutors: Authorities said they were dropping the case against him due to lack of evidence. Usually, the story would die out, but Clarke lashed out on Twitter with tweets like this.
I am UNINTIMIDATED by lib media attempts to smear and discredit me with their FAKE NEWS reports designed to silence me. I will continue to poke them in the eye with a sharp stick and bitch slap these scum bags til they get it. I have been attacked by better people than them #MAGA pic.twitter.com/XtZW5PdU2b
— David A. Clarke, Jr. (@SheriffClarke) December 30, 2017
And this:
BREAKING NEWS! When LYING LIB MEDIA makes up FAKE NEWS to smear me, the ANTIDOTE is go right at them. Punch them in the nose & MAKE THEM TASTE THEIR OWN BLOOD. Nothing gets a bully like LYING LIB MEDIA’S attention better than to give them a taste of their own blood #neverbackdown pic.twitter.com/T2NY2psHCR
— David A. Clarke, Jr. (@SheriffClarke) December 30, 2017
“When LYING LIB MEDIA makes up FAKE NEWS to smear me, the ANTIDOTE is go right at them,” he wrote. “Punch them in the nose & MAKE THEM TASTE THEIR OWN BLOOD.”
Obviously, he was angry about reports about the warrant. At least one other Twitter user reported claimed online to have reported him for inciting violence with the tweets. Indeed, Clarke’s critics interpreted his posts as legitimately dangerous.
Here’s a post from former presidential candidate, conservative Evan McMullin:
Eventually, someone inspired by threats like this is actually going to take violent action against a journalist. Twitter needs to decide what role it wants to play in tempting that fate and jeopardizing our free press. https://t.co/b3kjY6izLO
— Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) December 31, 2017
Clarke defended his language by calling it a “metaphor.” According to him, Twitter didn’t think he broke the rules, and he put up a letter apparently from the company, which referenced the tweet about punching the “LYING LIB MEDIA.” Sure, the platform prohibits threats of violence, but it seems like they didn’t interpret the tweets this way.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a Law&Crime request for comment to clarify their rules. The company often catches flak for how it executes these policies. Critics, of all sorts of ideological stances, accuse the site of applying its harassment policy in inconsistent, or unfair ways. For example, right-wing pundit Ben Shapiro reported comedian Rosie O’Donnell, claiming he only wanted to to push back on the website being unfair to conservatives. Others, like Tablet magazine senior writer Yair Rosenberg, recently ripped the company for being soft on Nazi trolls using the platform.
Note: Twitter has since forced Clarke to take down the tweet.
[Screengrab via Fox News]
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