Women boycott Twitter after Rose McGowan's account is suspended
A 24-hour boycott to protest the suspension of Rose McGowan’s Twitter account has begun.
McGowan, who has become central to the allegations of sexual assault surrounding producer Harvey Weinstein, had her account was temporarily shut down yesterday.
She took to her Instagram account to tell followers: “Twitter has suspended me. There are powerful forces at work. Be my voice. #Rosearmy.”
At midnight we RISE https://t.co/ihKLLczUww
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 13, 2017
Quickly gaining support, the hashtag #WomenBoycottTwitter emerged, with many famous Twitter users backing her up.
#IStandWithRose .@rosemcgowan and all the other victims. #WomenBoycottTwitter tomorrow. https://t.co/XTXtFMv2CM
— Anna Paquin (@AnnaPaquin) October 13, 2017
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
Ok ok Jesus, let me clear this up. #WomenBoycottTwitter will not silence us, but @Twitter will make much less $$ b/c of fewer clicks. I’m in pic.twitter.com/LPEbKJwpgM
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) October 13, 2017
Tomorrow we stand with @rosemcgowan & survivors of sexual assault, sexual harassment, & abuse. We join those choosing to boycott Twitter. pic.twitter.com/aoGogV8FNs
— Refinery29 (@Refinery29) October 13, 2017
Twitter has justified its suspension of her account, however.
“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 of our Terms of Service,” a representative for Twitter said in a statement.
“The Tweet was removed and her account has been unlocked. We will be clearer about these policies and decisions in the future.”
“Twitter is proud to empower and support the voices on our platform, especially those that speak truth to power. 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.”
But despite the breach, some are still accusing the site of suppressing McGowan.
Yesterday in a series of messages aimed at Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, she alleged that Harvey Weinstein raped her – the first time she has named Weinstein explicitly – and when she told Amazon Studios boss Roy Price, who was working with Weinstein on various projects, he rebuked her.
She then claimed that a script she had in development with Amazon was later axed, appearing to connect the two incidents.
1) @jeffbezos I told the head of your studio that HW raped me. Over & over I said it. He said it hadn’t been proven. I said I was the proof.
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 12, 2017
2) @jeffbezos I had already sold a script I wrote to your studio, it was in development. When I heard a Weinstein bailout was in the works
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 12, 2017
3) @Jeffbezos I forcefully begged studio head to do the right thing. I was ignored. Deal was done. Amazon won a dirty Oscar.
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 12, 2017
4) @jeffbezos I called my attorney & said I want to get my script back, but before I could, #2 @amazonstudios called to say my show was dead
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 12, 2017
5) @jeffbezos Be the change you want to see in the world. Stand with truth. #ROSEARMY #Amazon
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 12, 2017
Price is currently suspended from Amazon for a separate incident of alleged sexual harassment of a colleague at the studio.
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