FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information: Howie Hawkins, 315-200-6046, howie@howiehawkins.us
Twitter terminates account of Howie Hawkins, Green Party candidate for President
(Syracuse, NY, April 17, 2020) Howie Hawkins, who is leading in the primaries for the Green Party nomination for President, has been notified by Twitter that his campaign account is terminated.
Twitter terminated the account without any notice and said that there was no ability to appeal. Twitter said that the account violated its rule on impersonation.
Besides not providing any process to appeal the termination, Twitter provided no information as to why it concluded the Howie Hawkins’ president campaign account was impersonating Howie Hawkins or his campaign.
“How do I impersonate myself? Twitter’s explanation for its censorship makes no sense,” Hawkins said.
“Corporate America fights hard to make sure the public doesn’t get to hear about challenges to the status quo and the two corporate parties. The US has among the most discriminatory and unfair electoral systems in the world among the countries that hold elections. COVID-19 is already blocking our access to the ballot since street petitioning had to be suspended. We have enough problems with trolls and fake news without the corporate owners of social media trying to silence us,” said Hawkins, who has three times won enough votes as the Green Party candidate for Governor in New York to give the party official ballot status there.
Hawkins has seen a major upsurge in donations and followers on his Twitter account since Bernie Sanders suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed Joe Biden. Hawkins, a co-founder of the national Green Party, has also been nominated by the Socialist Party USA. Hawkins is a retired Teamster from Syracuse, New York.
This is an outrage. 45 and his minions can tweet lies and hate all day every day and they keep their accounts. You are gaining momentum and this is green suppression pure and simple.
That’s some straight up BS right there. I forwarded this press release to Jimmy Dore. Even though he’s been super critical of your campaign for your previous comments on Russia, he is a staunch advocate for free speech rights on social media. If ever there were a time to find common ground and reach his 700K subscriber base on YouTube, and thereby build up the GP, this would be it.
Just another day in Plutocracy. Well, any Green with a Twitter account can start tweeting, and perhaps a lawsuit can be launched. This could be the start of some additional fine publicity for the Howie Hawkins campaign, and the Green Party in general. I sure hope so! It certainly underscores the dire need for the Green Party and its candidates. Go Greens!
SAT. 1:45 PM. It looks like, hopefully, the Twitter account is back online. Seems to be.
https://twitter.com/HowieHawkins
That’s Howie’s older account. The one in question is @HowieHawkins20