X, formerly known as Twitter, suspended the account of a conservative writer last weekend for publishing photos of pre-born babies who were aborted.
Victor Joecks, a syndicated columnist, had his account locked Saturday. X claimed the posts violate the company’s guidelines against “gratuitous gore.” Joecks had posted images of pre-born children killed in late-term abortions in response to Nevada lawmakers using euphemisms to describe the deadly procedures.
In May, abortion activists celebrated the submission of twice as many signatures needed to place a measure on the November ballot to enshrine full access to late-term abortion in the state constitution. Abortion advocates cheered the effort to legalize abortion on demand as “health care” although an overwhelming majority of Americans support an abortion ban after the first 15 weeks of pregnancy. Just roughly 1 in 3 Americans believe abortion should be legal under any circumstances, according to a Gallup survey last year.
“This is what they mean by ‘abortion rights,'” Joecks wrote in one tweet censored by X. Joecks linked to the images here (warning: link is graphic).
“The left hides behind euphemisms when they talk about abortion,” Joecks told The Federalist. “You want to talk about abortion, let’s talk about abortion… You can’t defend it, which is why they want to silence it.”
Joecks appealed the company’s censorship Saturday, but his request was denied. He appealed again Monday morning. When reached for comment, the platform’s contact email for media inquiries automatically responded Monday with “Busy now, please check back later,” then ignored a follow-up request Tuesday morning.
“Implicit in the claim,” Joecks said of X declaring his content “violent,” “is that there’s been violence done to a human being and I actually agree with that.”
“This is a picture that shows violence to another human being,” Joecks added. “I think it’s a moment of hypocrisy for the left.”
Tech billionaire Elon Musk acquired X with a hostile takeover in the fall of 2022 and stepped down as CEO in June last year. Musk had taken over the company with a pledge to reinstate free speech after Twitter censors aggressively suppressed dissident content through the 2020 presidential election and the coronavirus pandemic.
Musk’s company, however, is still engaged in rampant censorship of myriad topics nearly two years after the takeover.
