Florida Democrats decry Twitter for thinking it’s ‘OK to incite violence’

While the President’s fulminations against social media grabbed headlines last week, Democratic disquiet with the medium exists also.

On Monday, the Florida Democratic Party blasted Twitter, saying the social media network “may think it’s okay to incite violence.”

At issue were provocative tweets from state Rep. Anthony Sabatini, which were flagged by concerned Democrats over the weekend, but ultimately were deemed as not meeting the medium’s seemingly flexible criteria for censure, censorship, or “fact checking.”

The aforementioned Sabatini, a Howey-in-the-Hills Republican prone to populist right provocations, responded this weekend to riots throughout the state and the nation with a bellicose vow.

“Attention potential ‘protesters’ coming near Lake County, FL. This is an AR-15 — this will be a very common sight upon illegal entry at any Lake County business — FYI!”

Augmenting the chilling words of the text was a picture of the semi-automatic firearm, an inclusion which triggered Democrats.

Sabatini’s comments came after widely reported unrest, including violence and destruction of public property, in Miami, Tampa, and Jacksonville, among other Florida cities.

Democrats wanted Twitter to “remove this account for violence,” but the play failed.

Sabatini got a message from Twitter saying that, while the account was reported, Twitter could not “identify any violation” of the rules.

The House Republican previously had opined on how the civil unrest in the streets of Minneapolis should be handled on Friday night.

“Lock up every one of these disgusting, lawless thugs destroying the city of Minneapolis,” Sabatini counseled on Twitter before adding more legal advice.

“They should each be arrested and prosecuted to the FULL extent of the law,” he added. “Shame on the politicians that pander to this destruction!”

House Democrats responded on Saturday morning, with Rep. Shevrin Jones taking issue with Sabatini’s use of the word “thugs” in particular.

The South Florida Democrat linked to a news article that noted that white supremacist types were involved in the violent turns in protests in Minnesota in the days after George Floyd was killed by police.