ACTIVISTS STAGE BOYCOTT OF TWITTER

NEW YORK— Activists, celebrities and journalists were among those boycotting Twitter on Friday, after the social media platform suspended the account of actress Rose McGowan, a vocal critic of Harvey Weinstein’s conduct.

The boycott started at midnight Thursday in New York and was set to last all day. Many signified they were taking part in the action with the hashtag #WomenBoycottTwitter.

The idea was raised by Kelly Ellis, a software engineer, who tweeted that, in response to McGowan’s suspension, people should consider boycotting the platform.

“#WomenBoycottTwitter Friday, October 13th,” she wrote. “In solidarity w @rosemcgowan and all the victims of hate and harassment Twitter fails to support.” McGowan announced on Wednesday that her Twitter account had been locked over violations of the platform’s terms of service. Twitter initially did not explain its decision, but it later said it had temporarily suspended the account because one of McGowan’s tweets had included a personal phone number, in violation of its rules.

The company clarified that the offending tweet had been removed, and that McGowan’s account had been unlocked. Since her account was reinstated, McGowan tagged the chief executive of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, in a message on Twitter, saying she had repeatedly told the head of his movie studio “HW raped me.”

Twitter’s actions continued to draw scrutiny, and critics said they highlighted a wider issue of curbing abuse online, especially toward women.

Alyssa Milano, McGowan’s co-star in the TV series Charmed, was among those snubbing the platform, including model Chrissy Teigen and actors John Cusack, Debra Messing and Canadian-born Anna Paquin.

“I love this platform, but it’s time to do better. See you all in 24 hours,” tweeted Brianna Wu, a congressional candidate.