https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/19/23313161/luis-miguel-florida-republican-twitter-ban-threats-fbi-irs-incitement

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Filed under:

  * Policy
  * Politics
  * Twitter

Twitter bans Florida Republican for encouraging the killing of
federal agents

New, 15 comments

Luis Miguel is campaigning in the GOP primary for a seat in Florida's
state legislature

By Russell Brandom Aug 19, 2022, 1:55pm EDT
15 comments / new

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[acastro_20] Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Twitter has banned a Florida Republican candidate from the platform
after a tweet that encouraged the killing of federal agents, as
reported by Florida Politics on Friday.

Luis Miguel is campaigning in the Republican primary to represent
Florida's 20th district in the state House of Representatives.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its
justification for the ban.

Miguel's threat comes amid intense GOP hostility toward the FBI and
IRS, spurred by the federal raid on Mar-a-Lago and Congress' recent
move to increase tax enforcement. But Miguel's tweet went beyond
criticisms of the agencies, calling for armed violence against their
employees.

"Under my plan, all Floridians will be able to shoot FBI, IRS, ATF,
and all other federal troops ON SIGHT," the message read. "Let
freedom ring."

Florida Politics found the same statement posted to Miguel's Facebook
and Instagram pages, although the posts have since been removed and
his profiles remain active. Facebook and Instagram did not
immediately respond to a request for comment.

Platforms have been under particular pressure to moderate
anti-government threats in the wake of an armed gunman's attack on
the Cincinnati office of the FBI. The gunman, who was killed by
police after a standoff, had made extensive threats against the
agency on Trump's Truth Social network.

On the same day as Miguel's ban, members of Congress requested
information from Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms on their work
countering the ongoing threats against law enforcement. Among other
questions, the lawmakers asked how many such threats had been
detected on the platforms and how many of those threats were
subsequently removed.

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