A group of celebrities and social activists have joined hands to boycott Twitter, following the temporary account suspension of actress Rose McGowan. Fans of the actress also started a campaign to boycott the social media platform, which was joined later by a group of journalists.
Interestingly, Rose McGowan's account suspension came days after she alleged that Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein had sexually assaulted her.
A boycott move which shocked Twitter
The idea of boycotting Twitter was put forward by Kelly Ellis, a software engineer.
"#WomenBoycottTwitter Friday, October 13th. In solidarity w @rosemcgowan and all the victims of hate and harassment Twitter fails to support," tweeted Kelly.
Within no time, the hashtag #WomenBoycottTwitter went viral on the social media platform, and the move was given support by celebrities including Chrissy Teigen, Alyssa Milano, John Cusack and Mark Ruffalo.
Ladies. Let's do this. #WomenBoycottTwitter. Not because of hate but because I love this platform and know it can be better.
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) October 13, 2017
Tomorrow (Friday the 13th) will be the first day in over 10 years that I won’t tweet. Join me. #WomenBoycottTwitter pic.twitter.com/xoEt5Bwj5s
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) October 13, 2017
Tomorrow I follow the Women. #WomenBoycottTwitter
— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) October 13, 2017
The boycott began on Thursday midnight and lasted for 24 hours.
Even though the protest received positive reviews from many corners, some people criticized the campaign, stating that the protest was initiated just because of the fact that Rose McGowan is a celebrity.
Director Ava DuVernay tweeted that common women from a minority background have not received similar support when they were abused online.
Calling white women allies to recognize conflict of #WomenBoycottTwitter for women of color who haven't received support on similar issues.
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) October 13, 2017
Twitter clarifies reason behind suspension
Soon after the news of Rose McGowan's account suspension went viral, Twitter clarified the reason behind it. The social media giant clarified that one of Rose McGowan's tweets contained a private number which was against the platform's policy, and this finally resulted in the suspension.
"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 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," said Twitter in a statement.
The statement also added that Twitter always empowers and supports the voices in the platform.
"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," said Twitter.
