Social nit-Twits ‘let looters plot’

Twitter allowed users to incite and coordinate looters targeting an upscale shopping area in Northern California over the weekend, according to a report, as protests continued to roil the country following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers.

“Let’s riot and raid Santana Row,” a user with the handle @4KHARI tweeted, according to screenshots posted by Breitbart News, referring to a shopping district in San Jose.

“It would be a shame if Santana Row was to get looted,” @jesusperezfrias tweeted.

“Loot and protest santana row. EAT THE RICH,” @jvlxvx wrote.

“Next looting stop; SANTANA ROW IN SAN JOSE,” another user reportedly wrote.

Breitbart said it alerted Twitter that the accounts appeared to be inciting criminal activity but the company has “taken no action.”

A Twitter spokeswoman responded, “We’re taking proactive action on any coordinated attempts to disrupt the public conversation around this issue.”

Last week, Twitter attached factcheck labels to two of President Trump’s tweets about mail-in voting. It was the first time the socialmedia giant had amended a tweet by the president.

And on Friday, Twitter censored a tweet by Trump warning protesters that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” with the company hiding the post behind a warning label and saying it had violated its policy against “glorifying violence”

A day before, Trump had signed an executive order directing federal agencies to review whether new regulations could be placed on social-media sites accused of censoring content.