Twitter suspended the account of Republican Montana Sen. Steve Daines Monday for a violation of its "sensitive media policy" by using a photo of hunting with his wife in his profile — but Twitter chief Elon Musk restored it a day later.
"You may not post media that is graphic or share violent or adult nudity and sexual behavior within live video or in profile header. List banner images, or Community cover photos," the Twitter policy states. "Media depicting excessively gory content, sexual violence and/or assault, bestiality or necrophilia is also not permitted."
The profile photo depicts Daines and his wife posing with a dead animal they shot while hunting, Axios senior political correspondent Josh Kraushaar said in a post on Twitter Tuesday.
"The account was suspended, according to Twitter, because his profile pic showed him hunting with his wife," Kraushaar said in a post.
"This is being fixed," Musk said in a tweet. "Policy against showing blood in profile pic is being amended to ‘clearly showing blood without clicking on the profile pic’. The intent is to avoid people being forced to see gruesome profile pics."
"I'm free! Thanks, @elonmusk," Daines tweeted.
Daines, chairman of the Republican Senatorial Committee, has a similar photo posted as a banner on his Facebook page.
"The Senator thinks it's preposterous that a picture of him and his wife hunting — an activity that is engrained in the Montana way of life — would be against Twitter rules. Our team has reached out to Twitter, and we’ll be working to get this resolved," Rachel Dumke, press secretary for Daines,
said in
a statement.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, defended his colleague on the social media platform Tuesday, using the hashtag #FreeSteveDaines.
"Ridiculous. My friend @SteveDaines is in @Twitter jail for posting this pic with his wife Cindy,” Cruz’s post said. "If you don’t like hunting, fine, don’t go. But don’t censor others who disagree. And I’m pretty sure this is a formal job responsibility for a senator from Montana!"
Billionaire Musk, who purchased Twitter for around $42 billion in October, vowed to end unjust suspensions and bans that he felt were taking place prior to his purchase of the company.
"The worst offender in U.S. government censorship and media manipulation is an obscure agency called [Global Engagement Center]," Musk posted on Twitter Monday. "They are a threat to our democracy."
According to the agency, its mission is "to direct, lead, synchronize, integrate, and coordinate U.S. Federal Government efforts to recognize, understand, expose, and counter foreign state and non-state propaganda and disinformation efforts aimed at undermining or influencing the policies, security, or stability of the United States, its allies, and partner nations."
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.