Responding to intense public criticism, Twitter released an official statement explaining its decision to block Rose McGowan’s account. The company says Rose’s account was placed on a brief lock because she had tweeted out a private number, not because of her tweets about Harvey Weinstein, as some outlets had suggested. “We have been in touch with Ms. McGowan’s team,” Twitter said in the statement. “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.”
Twitter has faced criticism for its lack of transparency and abuse reporting process in the past. The fact that the platform publicly explained the reason behind an account being blocked is noteworthy, as the company rarely does so.
When Rose found out that her account had been blocked last night, she took to Instagram to voice her frustration. “TWITTER HAS SUSPENDED ME,” she wrote. “THERE ARE POWERFUL FORCES AT WORK. BE MY VOICE. #ROSEARMY #whywomendontreport.” Rose has been one of the loudest critics of Harvey Weinstein since The New York Times published its exposé last week.
You can read Twitter’s full statement below:
“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 of 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.
“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.”