This week the internet went into a frenzy after outspoken conservative writer, and all around troll, Milo Yiannopulos was banned from Twitter. This occurred after Milo had tweeted about the new Ghost Busters film. The tweet was aimed at one of the stars Leslie Jones, then many of Milo's followers continued to troll her for hours. This led to twitter to banning him permanently citing their harassment policy, which, according to the social media site, has been broken multiple times. The action to ban Milo has caused quite a stir among many on both sides of the issue, even starting the hashtag #FreeMilo to trend on Twitter.
Twitter has faced a lot of heat over the permanent ban of the outspoken journalist. Though they are a private company and can do what they want, the banning of Milo seems quite hypocritical for the company that wants to be the free speech kings. Twitters GM was quoted as saying, “ We are the free speech wing of the free speech party”. It seems as though the heads of the company do not practice what they preach. They banned a man who is a known troll and provocateur but not the many ISIS Twitter accounts that are used by actual terrorists. The inconsistency of their “free speech” is unbelievable .
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If they were consistent, neither Milo or ISIS would be on their site, but if they did the right thing, both would be allowed on the site no questions asked. The issue is that you can't allow things like the Klan or ISIS, and then ban people for things that are so insignificant. He never posted a video of himself beheading a Kurdish fighter or his annual lynching live on Twitter. He never threatened to kill anyone, but he pokes a little fun at someone. Yes, many took it too far, but he, as a single person, cannot control what others say.
It seems that Milo himself has either by chance or by design been in the middle of a battle for free speech. Whether it is on college campuses, or on the internet, Milo is championing free speech in the digital age. This Twitter banning gives rise to what him and his followers believe, which is that the left is out to censor and alienate anything or anyone who says something they do not agree with. Twitter, by silencing the Breitbart tech editor, may have made him a star and a martyr for free speech. This has propelled Milo into a new found fame- no more is he just known by SJW's and alt right. At the RNC this week in Cleveland, the banning of Milo was almost as big as Trump accepting the nomination. All in all, Milo the internet troll has a big win against Twitter, probably the most popular form of social media at this moment in time.
