Live Action Urges Twitter To Reverse Advertising Ban After Company Censors, Then Allows Marsha Blackburn's Pro-Life Ads

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Lila Rose, the founder and president of Live Action, a leading pro-life organization, today issued the following statement in response to Twitter's decision to temporarily block a pro-life political advertisement submitted by Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a candidate for U.S. Senate:

"Twitter's suppression of the pro-life viewpoint flies in the face of their claim that 'Fighting against censorship and for free expression is ingrained in Twitter's DNA.'[1]

Twitter realized it was inappropriate to censor Rep. Blackburn's ads, and eventually did the right thing. Now, it's time for Twitter to lift its unprecedented ban on Live Action's life-affirming advertising. Some of the Live Action content that Twitter objected to was identical to the content in Ms. Blackburn's now-permitted advertising, so there's no longer a rational basis for it to ban Live Action's ads.

The First Amendment guarantees the right of free expression to both political candidates and nonprofit human rights advocacy groups. With the ability to reach hundreds of millions of people each day, social media sites have as much or more potential than television and radio to sway public opinion and the outcome of Democratic elections. Social media sites that claim to foster freedom of expression should not be suppressing pro-life speech and then misleading the public about their suppression."

Earlier this year, Twitter refused to accept advertising from Live Action unless Live Action deleted content from its own website – including content calling for the defunding of Planned Parenthood. Lawyers for Live Action have urged Twitter to reverse that ban under both California and Federal law.

Ms. Rose said Twitter's censorship is unfair and shows extreme bias, considering that Twitter for many years has accepted advertising from Planned Parenthood, which receives most of its funding from the federal government and commits more than 328,000 abortions a year.

[1] https://about.twitter.com/en_us/values/pac.html 

About Live Action
Live Action is a 501c(3) human rights nonprofit dedicated to ending abortion and inspiring a culture that respects and protects life.

Live Action's groundbreaking news coverage and compelling videos reach several million people weekly, with millions of supporters and volunteers throughout the United States. Join the movement at liveaction.org

SOURCE Live Action