Mark Finchem, Arizona’s Republican candidate for Secretary of State, had his Twitter account temporarily suspended and then quickly restored after Elon Musk said he was looking into the incident.
#JustFollowTheLaw #AZSOS #VoteFinchemhttps://t.co/fNSlRYxtKB
— Mark Finchem #JustFollowTheLaw VoteFinchem.com (@RealMarkFinchem) November 1, 2022
Finchem wrote, “Twitter has blocked my account from speaking truth with one week left until the election. They are trying to put their thumb on the scales of this election. Tag Elon Musk and tell him to unban me right now. I am the Secretary of State nominee in a swing state running against the criminal Soros-funded candidate,” on his Truth Social Account in response along with a screenshot of the notice.
Former Trump adviser, Jenna Ellis, caught wind of the Twitter suspension and tagged new Twitter owner Elon Musk in a post that said, “@elonmusk this shouldn’t happen a week before the election!”
Finchem’s account is in “read-only” mode, so it looks like it’s still active, but he cannot tweet or retweet, apparently for up to a week or “ it could take longer.” Unclear what lead to the suspension. pic.twitter.com/OrH6O1El1N
— Jenna Ellis 🍊🦅 (@JennaEllisEsq) October 31, 2022
Musk replied simply, “Looking into it.”
The Washington Examiner wrote, about Finchem’s Twitter account, “Within an hour, the Republican said he was reinstated and thanked Musk for taking quick action.”
It is not yet clear why Finchem’s account was suspended, and for such a short period of time. Twitter policy states that “it will place an account in ‘read-only mode’ for 12 hours to seven days if it ‘seems like an otherwise healthy account is in the middle of an abusive episode.”
After his account was reinstated, Finchem tweeted, “We are back! Thank you @elonmusk for stopping the commie who suspended me from Twitter a week before the election. Twitter is much better with you at the helm.”
We are back! Thank you @elonmusk for stopping the commie who suspended me from Twitter a week before the election. Twitter is much better with you at the helm. Thank you @MediaRightNews1 @JennaEllisEsq @KariLake @Brick_Suit & others for spreading the word! #AZSOS https://t.co/TfdJNnnuIm
— Mark Finchem #JustFollowTheLaw VoteFinchem.com (@RealMarkFinchem) October 31, 2022
Since taking over the company, Musk has made it clear that he wants Twitter to be a forum for free speech, but free speech can be a slippery slope in the world of social media, but he also told advertisers that he does not want the platform to become a “free-for-all hellscape.”
Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints.
No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022
