Supporters of the violent, extremist Antifa movement are already attempting to exploit Twitter’s new ban on the sharing of private photos to stop people sharing mugshots of far-left activists who have been arrested for engaging in violence, looting, and other acts of thuggery.
Antifa-supporting Twitter accounts are attempting to have independent journalist Andy Ngo, an editor at the Post Millennial, banned from the platform.
Ngo was hospitalized after a brutal Antifa attack in 2020, and was again violently assaulted by members of the extremist movement, who regularly call for him to be killed.
Antifa targets Ngo because he does not self-censor his reporting on protest movements to obscure acts of violence and criminality by Antifa. Ngo regularly posts news stories about Antifa members who have been arrested, including their mugshots, which are publicly available.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal (YouTube)
Beginning today, we will not allow the sharing of private media, such as images or videos of private individuals without their consent. Publishing people’s private info is also prohibited under the policy, as is threatening or incentivizing others to do so.https://t.co/7EXvXdwegG
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) November 30, 2021
Twitter says it will not allow the sharing of “private media” without consent, but does on to define this as “media of private individuals without the permission of the person(s) depicted.”
Police mugshots are not “private media” — they are owned by the police precinct and widely distributed to the public and the press. It is unclear if Twitter’s policy extends to publicly-available photos of people, or photos and footage captured legally in public places. The status of material that is covered by the public interest defense is also in doubt.
So far, Twitter has not clarified the policy. But its announcement does suggest that the company considers some groups to be more in need of protection than others.
“The misuse of private media can affect everyone, but can have a disproportionate effect on women, activists, dissidents, and members of minority communities,” says Twitter.
Breitbart News has reached out to Twitter for comment.
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. He is the author of #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election.