Rep. Ilhan Omar spoke with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Tuesday to discuss the death threats against her that arose after President Donald Trump shared a video of her comments.
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Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey called Rep. Ilhan Omar on Tuesday to discuss the social network’s decision to allow a tweet by President Donald Trump that led to a flood of tweets threatening the life of the Muslim congresswoman.
The call focused on a tweet Trump shared earlier this month that included a video that purported to show Omar being dismissive of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The video coupled out-of-context comments she made during a recent speech in which she said “some people did something” with images of the hijacked airplanes striking the World Trade Center.
When Omar asked Dorsey during the call why Twitter didn’t remove Trump’s tweet, Dorsey told her Trump’s tweet didn’t violate the company’s rules, sources told The Washington Post, which previously reported the conversation. Dorsey also pointed out that the tweet had been shared beyond the site but conceded that Twitter needed to do a better job of removing hate and harassing content from the site, the Post reported.
A Twitter spokesperson on Thursday confirmed the conversation between Dorsey and Omar, which occurred the same day that Dorsey and Trump had an Oval Office meeting.
“During their conversation, [Dorsey] emphasized that death threats, incitement to violence, and hateful conduct are not allowed on Twitter,” the spokesperson said. “We’ve significantly invested in technology to proactively surface this type of content and will continue to focus on reducing the burden on the individual being targeted. Our team has also consistently been in touch with Rep. Omar’s office.”
Twitter came under increased scrutiny earlier this month after Omar said that tweets threatening her life have increased since Trump shared the video. Twitter typically removes tweets that violate its terms of service when they’re reported, but a source familiar with the matter said the social media platform temporarily left the tweets up to aid potential law enforcement investigation of them.
Some considered Omar’s “some people did something” comment to be disrespectful or flippant language to describe the terrorist attacks. But Omar’s comment quoted in the tweet actually came from a speech before the Council on American-Islamic Relations in which she was defending the rights of Muslim Americans.
With nearly 60 million followers, Trump is among Twitter’s most followed users, and his tweets can be controversial. Twitter has faced calls to boot Trump off the platform over allegations that he’s spreading hate speech or inciting violence. The social network takes into consideration the newsworthiness of Trump’s tweets.
Omar couldn’t immediately be reached for comment, and the White House didn’t respond to an earlier request for comment on the tweet.