Twitter warns that election fraud tweet by Indiana attorney general may spur violence
Twitter has banned replies, retweets and likes on a Valentine’s Day-themed tweet from Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita that implied the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.
The social media giant took punitive measures against Rokita a day after the state’s top lawyer published a meme on his personal account with floating red hearts and the text “You stole my heart like a 2020 election.” Below the text is a cartoon-like portrait of Donald Trump.
A banner now appears towards the bottom of the tweet saying that the meme contains a disputed claim of election fraud, and that it can’t be responded to “due to a risk of violence.”
This is the image Indiana Attorney General Toddy Rokita posted on Twitter, with a “Happy Valentine’s Day!” message.
Last month, Rokita tweeted a remark suggesting he was challenging Twitter to see how it would respond.
On Jan. 8, two days after a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol building, Rokita published a tweet saying that he would always support Donald Trump’s presidency. He claimed that the tweet was a practice in freedom of expression after Trump’s Twitter account was banned.
“Private companies can control speech on their property, just as private citizens can. However, when those private companies are effectively monopolies, controlling the entire dialogue of a nation, and using that control to suppress certain speech, we are compelled as a people and as elected officials, through the democratic process, to uphold Constitutional protections on free speech,” Rokita wrote in a statement.
Indiana Democrats responded to Rokita’s tweet Monday morning with their own. They described the state’s top lawyer as “one very, very sad individual.”
“It once again proves how the (Indiana GOP) would rather swear allegiance to one person rather than our nation and our values,” the tweet said.
Trump has claimed he won the 2020 election despite offering no proof of widespread voter fraud. Courts in key swing states repeatedly rejected arguments made by Trump’s legal team.
Rokita in December urged the Supreme Court to hear a lawsuit Texas filed claiming that four states had unconstitutional election practices, claims that court ultimately rejected.
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