Over the course of the last couple months, Facebook (NASDAQ:$FB) has primarily been the online media company to receive a considerable amount of backlash. However, all of that seems to have changed as Twitter Inc. (NYSE:$TWTR) now finds itself in the hot seat.
After Twitter partially suspended actress Rose McGowan for violating its terms and policies, some Twitter users have started to call for a boycott of the service. On Thursday, October 12, McGowan posted on Instagram that her Twitter account had been suspended for violating the platform’s rules, which prevents her from tweeting, retweeting or responding to tweets. However, she was still eligible to read Twitter or send direct messages.
For those who don’t know, Rose McGowan had been tweeting in support of the woman who had come forward with claims that they had been sexually abused by Harvey Weinstein. The actress also called out other alleged Hollywood male sexual abusers.
Twitter addressed the ban later Thursday morning, saying McGowan was temporarily suspended because she included a personal phone number in one of her tweets.
“We have been in touch with Ms. McGowan’s team. We want to explain that her account was temporarily locked because one of her Tweets included a private phone number, which violates our Terms of Service. The Tweet was removed and her account has been unlocked. We will be clearer about these policies and decisions in the future,” the company said in a statement.
“Twitter is proud to empower and support the voices on our platform, especially those that speak truth to power. We stand with the brave women and men who use Twitter to share their stories, and will work hard every day to improve our processes to protect those voices,” the statement read.
Even though Twitter addressed the ban, large numbers of users are still calling for a boycott, and are asking fellow users to not use the service on Friday, October 13.
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