Conservative figures reacted with outrage earlier today as Twitter suspended the official account of Unplanned during the pro-life movie’s week of release. The account was restored shortly after its suspension, which Twitter said was related to the ban of a different account.
Unplanned, directed by Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon and starring Ashley Bratcher, tells the true-life story of Abby Johnson, a Planned Parenthood director who becomes a pro-life activist after witnessing a fetus struggling for life during an abortion at thirteen weeks gestation.
The film was released in U.S. theaters yesterday with a R-rating, which drew accusations of political bias against the MPAA, which assigns movie age ratings.
Twitter suspended Unplanned‘s official account, @UnplannedMovie earlier today. The social media platform has been widely criticized for alleged discrimination against conservatives, right-wingers.
Conservatives activists began lambasting Twitter for its decision shortly after the suspension. Lila Rose, director of the pro-life media movement Live Action also pointing out that the platform has banned her organization from running ads.
In a comment to Breitbart News, Twitter said that the suspension of Unplanned was an error related to the ban of a different account.
“It wasn’t directly about this account” said Twitter. “When an account violates the Twitter Rules, the system looks for linked accounts to mitigate things like ban evasion. In this case, on a second review, it was clear the account should not be affected by the other account’s suspension.”
MyPillow founder and CEO Mike Lindell also criticized Twitter’s decision, and urged his followers to tell their friends to see Unplanned this weekend.
Other prominent conservatives also demanded answers from Twitter.
The account was unsuspended within an hour of its takedown, and thanked supporters of the movie for raising the alarm.
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter, Gab.ai and add him on Facebook. Email tips and suggestions to allumbokhari@protonmail.com.