Neetu Chandak on January 21, 2019
Comedian Kathy Griffin’s Twitter posts calling to shame and identify the Catholic high school boys who wore Make America Great Again (MAGA) hats still remain on the social media site more than 24 hours later.
Ps. The reply from the school was pathetic and impotent. Name these kids. I want NAMES. Shame them. If you think these fuckers wouldn’t dox you in a heartbeat, think again. https://t.co/IS80wiaQ7v
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) January 20, 2019
“I want NAMES,” Griffin tweeted Sunday at 5:25 am. “Shame them. If you think these fuckers wouldn’t dox you in a heartbeat, think again.”
She made a similar call in a separate tweet at 7:25 a.m. on Sunday.
Names please. And stories from people who can identify them and vouch for their identity. Thank you.
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) January 20, 2019
“Posting a person’s private information without their express permission is a direct violation of the Twitter Rules,” a Twitter spokesperson said to The Daily Caller News Foundation over email.
Some have called on Twitter to remove Griffin’s post.
Conservatives have been banned from @Twitter for much less! Attempting to dox minors is surely a violation of twitter policy? @jack? https://t.co/o50GrnOQiX
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) January 21, 2019
Kathy Griffin is attempting to dox MINORS. This is a violation of Twitter Terms of Service. Her actions could be putting these kids in real danger. Will @Jack do anything about it? I sent this directly to his staff. If a Republican did this they’d be banned in a heartbeat. https://t.co/gJC5pd5gZ6
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) January 21, 2019
Promoting doxxing, however, does not violate Twitter’s policy.
Examples of private information include non-public personal email, personal home addresses and credit card information.
Twitter’s hateful conduct policy, however, says it is committed to “combating abuse motivated by hatred, prejudice or intolerance.”
Griffin’s tweets came after a video showing an encounter between Covington Catholic High School boys wearing MAGA hats and American Indian Nathan Phillips went viral. The initial video made it seem like the boys were mocking Phillips, but a full, unedited version shows Phillips approached the students.
Some people’s calls for leaking personal information on the boys led to efforts that misidentified the students.
1) Yesterday was supposed to be a day of celebration for my middle brother Alex, who got married last night. Instead my family had to deal with the fallout of my youngest brother #MichaelHodge being falsely accused for standing & smiling in front of an indigenous man with a drum
— Andrew Hodge (@PikePlaceTechie) January 20, 2019
Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), a non-profit focused on researching the results of legal and illegal immigration, could not promote tweets, which all contained the word “illegal alien.” One of the tweets included TheDCNF’s obtained video of trespassers crossing the southern border through a rancher’s farm. CIS received a notification from Twitter in September 2018 that their tweets were “Hateful Content,” though Twitter later said after media coverage that the action was done in error.
Twitter gave the same response when it banned conservative commentator Candace Owens for 12 hours. Owens was mimicking New York Times editorial board member Sarah Jeong’s anti-white tweets, but received a notification saying her tweet about Jewish people violated Twitter rules.
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