Twitter labeled Los Angeles City Council Republican candidate Brandon Saario’s website as “unsafe” a month away from an election, preventing users from tweeting out links to his site. The company only reversed course after public outcry and media attention.
RedState.com reports that just months ahead of Los Angeles City Council elections, candidate Brand Saario has found that Twitter is warning users that visiting his website may be “unsafe.” The issue was first highlighted by former State Assembly candidate Roxanne Beckford Hoge who noted that her attempts to post tweets about Saario or his website were being flagged by Twitter:
One user posted a screenshot of the warning they received when attempting to visit Saario’s campaign website:
Users attempting to post links to Saario’s website via the desktop also received a warning:
Breitbart News reached out to Twitter to determine why exactly Saario’s website was being marked as unsafe. Twitter responded by stating that the issue has since been fixed, directing Breitbart towards the site’s Help Center section relating to unsafe links. The Help Center page describes unsafe sites as “phishing sites that attempt to steal your login information and password, sites that download malicious software onto your computer, spam sites that request personal information, or sites associated with other violations of Twitter’s Terms of Service.”
One section of the Help Center page notes that if a user is a manager of a site that has been flagged as unsafe, they should reach out to Twitter about the issue. The Help Center states: “If you manage the website of a URL flagged as unsafe, contact Twitter Support. If the URL of the site you manage is being blocked, and you are completely sure that your site is not being used on Twitter for malware, phishing, spam or other violations of Twitter’s Terms of Service, you can contact our Support team by filing a case here. In the Problematic link field, please insert the extended URL of the link you are having issues with, rather than a shortened version.”
The California GOP and the Los Angeles County GOP have yet to comment on the issue. In a recent appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight, lawyer Harmeet Dhillon warned that conservatives need to take note of the threat of the Silicon Valley Masters of the Universe or “we will lose every election going forward.”
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com