Twitter blasted for refusing to ban Arizona Republican Kari Lake for 'string of irresponsible tweets'

Twitter was called out by Arizona Republic media critic Bill Goodykoontz for refusing to suspend far-right gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.

"It took a literal insurrection to get Donald Trump kicked off Twitter. What will it take for Kari Lake? She's emulating him in every other respect on social media," Goodykoontz wrote. "Twitter banned Trump after the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, 'due to the risk of further incitement of violence.' Rather than run away from the former president's irresponsible behavior, some right-wing politicians have embraced it."

Goodykoontz explained that Lake's Twitter outbursts were part of a pattern.

"Kari Lake, the former Fox 10 Phoenix news anchor running as a Republican for governor of Arizona, is taking advantage of Twitter's inconsistency with a string of irresponsible tweets that have no business on Twitter or anywhere else," he explained. "Whether it's telling college students to defy mask mandates on their campuses, her support of the Arizona audit of the 2020 election or even something as silly as taking a sledgehammer to TVs showing CNN and saying, 'It's time to take a sledgehammer to mainstream media's lies and propaganda,' Lake isn't just taking a page from the Trump Twitter playbook. She's practically copying it word for word."

Goodykoontz said Twitter was being played by Lake.

"Maybe Lake is trying to compete in the ongoing Republican contest to get banned from Twitter for misleading tweets (hello, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene) and then complain about cancel culture to rile up supporters," he said. "Whatever her reasons, Twitter shouldn't allow it."

He noted Twitter does not allow users to flag tweets with pandemic misinformation.

"Lake is taking full advantage of Twitter's inaction," he explained. "Lake can espouse whatever harebrained theories she likes, and has every right to express them — as she has, having become a favorite of right-wing media. Checking her privilege to tweet potentially dangerous things to her 50,000 followers wouldn't be silencing her. It would be Twitter acting responsibly, in the interests of those followers and whoever else wanders across such tweets."