Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on August 10, 2020

GREENWICH An apparantly fake Twitter account that claimed it was associated with a local Republican candidate for the state Senate has been suspended.

Twitter suspended the account for @FazioPAC on Tuesday.

It had claimed to be for a political action committee backing Ryan Fazio, a Greenwich Republican running for the 36th Senate District. But a search of state records found no such organization associated with the Fazio campaign, and Fazio denied any involvement with a PAC or the Twitter account.

On Thursday, Fazio called it a deceitful and hateful fake account and said he was glad to put the issue behind him and prepare for the campaign ahead.

My focus has always been on improving the lives of people in the community, he said. He is challenging incumbent Democrat Alex Kasser for the Senate seat, which represents Greenwich and parts of Stamford and New Canaan.

Kasser put a spotlight on the Twitter account over the weekend in an email to followers and posts on her Twitter and Instagram accounts. In particular, Kasser pointed to a Tweet that said, Its time to save Connecticut from the infestation. A native son of Greenwich will lead us into the light.

Let there be no question about what this tweet means, Kasser wrote. The word infestation is the rhetoric used in Nazi Germany and the Rwandan Genocide. It is the dog whistle that President Trump uses to pit us against one another.

Fazio said he and his supporters had been trying for weeks to get Twitter to suspend the account, but they did not receive a response.

But after attention was focused on the account this week, it was taken down. The Fazio campaign credited the Connecticut Anti-Defamation League for that. A Fazio supporter was among those who reached out to the ADL.

The organization has set up the ADL Center for Technology and Society in Silicon Valley, which works to root out hate on the Internet, ADL Connecticut Regional Director Steve Ginsburg said Thursday.

The center determines what is real and what is fake in online content, looking for material that violates the terms of service for social media companies. It works closely with major companies including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and others to get hate off their sites, Ginsburg said.

Anybody can flag hate on Twitter and try to get it taken down, Ginsburg said. We probably have more of an expertise on how to get those comments and suggestions reacted to very quickly because we know exactly where the violations are.

Ginsburg was upset by the same tweet that Kasser pointed out.

Infestation is not just a dog whistle anymore, he said. We have a big concern that language like that is becoming mainstream from politicians and others. Its one of those terms that can be very broadly applied to spread negative stereotypes about groups and demonize people.

The Connecticut ADL is an independent organization and has no association with any political campaigns, Ginsburg said. He said he has not had any direct contact with Fazio, his campaign or with the Kasser campaign, although he said he sent an email to her state Senate address but has not heard back.

Twitters rules state that users of the social media platform may not impersonate individuals, groups, or organizations in a manner that is intended to or does mislead, confuse, or deceive others.

Fazio said he was truly thankful for the ADLs help.

The only communication Fazio said he received from Twitter was an email on Tuesday afternoon, saying the account had been reviewed and that it violated its rules.

Fazio said he became aware of the fake account shortly after it was created on July 16 and had been trying to have it taken down ever since.

I am disappointed that it took so long for Twitter to honor my repeated requests and those of my supporters to do so, he said in a campaign statement. I am more disappointed that my opponent used her position of power to amplify the voice of this malicious and obviously bogus account, with only four followers, in order to divide and deceive our community.

Fazio called on Kasser to donate to the ADL any funds her campaign received from her email and posts about the account.

Kasser did include a fundraising pitch in her social media posts.

This is what Im up against in this election, she wrote. There is no distinction between Trump at the top of the ticket and Republican candidates down the ballot.

Kasser did not return messages left Wednesday or Thursday.

On Monday, Kasser said that she never attributed the account or its Tweets to Fazio or his campaign. She said the point of her message was not about the origins of one Tweet but that the language of racism and bigotry is routinely used by Trump and the Republican Party, in Washington, Connecticut and Greenwich.

Republicans on the ballot with Trump have had four years to denounce his hateful actions and overt racism, Kasser said. Its a little late for them to start claiming moral outrage now.

Ginsburg said he was surprised when he saw Fazio was asking for the money to be donated to the ADL. It was not a request the nonprofit organization had made, he said.

kborsuk@greenwichtime.com

Continue reading here:
After Twitter suspends account, candidate calls it 'deceptive and hateful' - CT Insider

Category: Anti-Defamation League
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