Conservative author and media pundit David Horowitz, founder of the David Horowitz Freedom Center and editor of FrontPage magazine, was suspended by Twitter on Tuesday.
It is unclear why Horowitz’s account has been suspended. It comes just days after Facebook launched an unprecedented crackdown against right-of-center personalities including Laura Loomer and Paul Joseph Watson, in addition to its implementation of a blanket ban on anyone who links too often to InfoWars.
Horowitz, whose articles have often been published at Breitbart News, has been a major figure in conservative politics for decades. A radical left-wing activist in the 1970s, Horowitz publicly shifted his political position in the 980s, beginning with an endorsement of Ronald Reagan in a 1985 op-ed.
In addition to his published books, Horowitz has been published by Salon, the Washington Post, and frequently appears on C-SPAN and other mainstream networks. Nevertheless, he is a fierce critic of both left-wing and mainstream media, and has been a leading figure in the Hollywood conservative movement. He also organizes the annual Restoration Weekend conference, which typically features high-profile speakers from the right.
Horowitz has been the target of corporate censorship before. In August of last year, the Horowitz Freedom Center faced financial blacklisting, with Mastercard pushing its payment processor into withdrawing service from the think tank following a pressure campaign by the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center.
Suspension of credit card processing would have crippled the ability of Horowitz’s think-tank to receive donations, but its credit card processing was restored following coverage by Breitbart News, the Drudge Report, and other centers of conservative influence.
Breitbart News has reached out to Twitter about Horowitz’s suspension and is awaiting a response.
UPDATE:
According to Twitter, David Horowitz’s account was suspended by mistake and has since been reinstated.
Dave Rubin of the Rubin Report reported a comment from Horowitz stating that the brief suspension of his account occurred shortly after a tweet to Rep. Ilhan Omar.
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.