Fox News rebukes Twitter by going dark on its Twitter account

By Thomas Lifson

Twitter seems impervious to criticism of its blatant political bias, especially as reflected in who and what gets banned, and who and what is tolerated. Following Twitter’s publication and refusal to ban tweets giving out Tucker Carlson’s home address, even though the Fox News host’s home was assaulted by Antifa demonstrators and his wife (home alone at the time) terrorized as the front door was pounded so hard that it cracked, the network took a step no one has before: it took its Twitter account dark.

Joe Concha of The Hill writes:

The official Twitter account for Fox News has not tweeted since Thursday, reportedly in protest of the social media company's lack of responsiveness regarding content associated with a protest outside of host Tucker Carlson's home.

Tribune Media content manager Scott Gustin is tweeting about the implicit boycott:

The @FoxNews Twitter account has been silent for over 24 hours. A Fox News employee tells me Fox is choosing to stay silent while protesting how Twitter handled posts targeting Tucker Carlson — specifically the ones that included his address. address.
— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) November 10, 2018

Business Insider reports:

Fox News has asked its employees not to tweet out theirs or any other Fox News stories from their business or personal Twitter accounts, according to an internal email obtained by Business Insider.

In the email, Fox News managing editor Greg Wilson told employees to "please refrain from tweeting out our content from either section accounts or your own accounts until further notice."

A source within the network who wished to remain anonymous told Business Insider that the email was sent to the entire digital team, which consists of approximately 140 people.

A spokesperson for the network did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Concha adds:

A source close to the matter confirmed to The Hill the decision to launch a protest against Twitter was due to its unresponsiveness to the network's requests to expunge content related to the Carlson protest, which it deemed dangerous.

The Fox News Twitter account, which has more than 18 million followers, has tweeted more than 418,000 times since joining the platform 11 years ago, or an average of more than 100 times per day. Fox Business Network has also not tweeted since Nov. 9.

Fox News has a size large enough that Twitter might just notice a falloff in its traffic. Even more significantly, it could potentially trigger a mass exodus of conservative sites from providing content to Twitter. Various other sites and apps are considered to be competitors, but I think that to be effective, there would need to be a mass exodus to a specific Twitter-like home that would not violate the intellectual property of that company.

Hey, it’s a start. I am glad that Fox News is taking this so seriously. They must see that if this wave of harassment is not stopped, it could become difficult to maintain their broadcast schedule. On-air personality Kat Timpf reports that she was harassed over the weekend in New York City:

Tucker returned to his show Monday night, after two days off while he presumably calmed and relocated his family. He refused to play the victim card, no surprise to anyone who has watched him the last few years.