Twitter has shut down 33 accounts created by Connecticut Republicans because they impersonated local Democrats, including State House Speaker Chris Donovan, the Hartford Advocate reports. But the GOP will keep the 33 fake web sites associated with the accounts, claiming First Amendment rights.
Republicans used the Twitter handles, such as MeetRepDonovan, to tweet mocking remarks in the Democrat’s voice. Democrats complained. So Twitter, citing a policy against impersonation, shut them down.
But that hasn’t deterred the Republicans.
“I’m not quite sure what the issue is, other than that the Democrats were successful in stopping free speech,” said Chris Healy, the head of the state Republican party.
The party also created web sites that mock the same 33 Democrats, such as MeetVickieNardello.com and MeetMattLesser.com. The sites, which have headlines such as “Give me your taxes!,” have one mention of the Republican Party’s involvement — in small print, at the very bottom.
Republicans won’t remove them, despite Democrats’ complaints.
“They didn’t think of it first, so that’s why they’re whining,” Healy said.
Healy also contends that the Twitter accounts fall under parody, not impersonation.
“That’s silly,” Healy said. “That’s not impersonation; that’s satire.”
Not so much, says Twitter.
“Impersonation is against our terms unless it is a parody. The standard for defining parody is, ‘Would a reasonable person be aware that it’s a joke?'” a spokesperson said.
As the Advocate points out, Republicans are dramatically outnumbered in the Connecticut General Assembly: 114-37 in the House and 24-12 in the Senate. Healy’s own blog is titled, Make Blue Red.
