Wounded Army vet, GOP candidate outraged when Twitter censors picture of his scarred face ‘sensitive content’
A former U.S. Army captain who was burned and disfigured by an IED explosion in Afghanistan in 2008 is railing at Twitter for marking a photo he posted to celebrate Independence Day last weekend as “sensitive content.”
Sam Brown, who is running as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Nevada next year challenging Democratic incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, posted a photo of himself saluting in a combat uniform along with the phrase, “Freedom isn’t free.”
“On July 4, 1776, America was born. On July 4, 2021, we’re still the best country on this planet,” Brown, a Purple Heart recipient, added.
But the social media giant’s editorial staff marked the picture: “The following media includes potentially sensitive content.”
That led Brown to clap back at Twitter as he pondered whether his political affiliation may have had something to do with the warning.
“Hey @Twitter, I didn’t realize my face was ‘sensitive content,'” he tweeted Wednesday night. “Ironic considering I only have 3 tweets & just filed to run for U.S. Senate only hours ago.”“Was it my scars or the fact that I salute the flag? Regardless, neither are going away – and neither am I,” he noted further in a post that also contained a screen grab of the labeled tweet.
One user responded, “Thank you for your service and welcome to Twitter’s Sensitive Content Club! For the mere audacity of identifying as conservative, many of us find ourselves in the club without ever knowing which tweet(s) confirmed our membership.”
“So your [sic] saying his scars, his service and his love for this country are all lies and should be removed from Twitter, the man almost died so you have the freedom to make a stupid comment like that, you should show some respect and delete your lie,” another wrote in response.
“WTF, this just justifies Trump’s class action lawsuit,” said another, a reference to former President Donald Trump’s announcement Wednesday he has filed a suit against Twitter, Facebook, and Google alleging all three platforms discriminate against conservatives and censor their content.
In a statement to Fox News, Brown continued his criticism of Twitter and other big tech platforms and again accused them of censorship.
“While I was ready to lay down my life in order to protect freedom of speech for my fellow Americans, Big Tech today decided that they know better, censoring me and deeming my comments regarding this great nation ‘Sensitive Content,'” Brown said.
“These egregious and un-American actions come mere hours after I took steps to file and establish my candidacy for the United States Senate in Nevada, reinforcing my belief that ‘Big Tech’ is working against conservatives and trying to silence our voices.”
He went on to say, “Everyday I wear the scars of my service and I am still proud to call myself an American. If Twitter thinks they can censor my military service, my love for this country, or the flag it represents – they are sorely mistaken.”
The network went on to report that a Twitter spokesperson said sensitive settings are enabled or disabled based on a user’s individual account settings.
Brown retired from the U.S. Army in 2011 after serving for five years on active duty, according to his website. The “about” section notes further that he and his wife operation a business that “provides critical services to our veterans when the VA needs a private company to assist in urgently accessing medication outside the federal system.”
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