O’Rourke parody account, ‘Beto’s Blog,’ banned by Twitter

Twitter has banned a parody account mocking former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (Texas), a possible 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, drawing howls from conservative media members.

Fans of “Beto’s Blog” discovered late Tuesday that the account had been suspended. Twitter explained in an email shared by an unidentified woman behind the account that it had been permanently banned, due to deceitful impersonation.

{mosads}”It has come to our attention that your Twitter account is in violation of the Twitter Rules, specifically the policy on impersonation,” the email, which was posted by Twitter user @comfortablysmug, who has more than 110,000 followers, reads.

“Impersonation is pretending to be another entity in order to deceive, and is strictly prohibited,” it continues. “This account has been suspended and will not be restored.”

The decision by Twitter was criticized by some as going too far, while others accused the social media platform of selective enforcement of its terms of service, given that many other parody accounts exist for President Trump.

“Beto’s Blog” was launched on Jan. 17 and appeared to be a reaction to an online viral video that documented O’Rourke’s visit to the dentist.

That Instagram video was mocked by the left and right.

“Love me some Beto but this is self-parody territory,” tweeted progressive Ana Marie Cox, the founding editor of Wonkette.

“Beto is so desperate to seem relatable that he posted a video during his dentist appointment,” wrote former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

The Hill has reached out to Twitter for comment.

Tags Beto O'Rourke Beto O'Rourke Digital media Donald Trump Donald Trump Instagram Microblogging Operating systems Person Career Quotation Real-time web Social media Social networking services Software Text messaging Twitter

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