Los Angeles (KNX) - According to a Tweet sent out Tuesday by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's (LADA) office, they will no longer share content on Twitter.
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While the tweet provided some insight into the reasoning behind this decision, L.A. District Attorney George Gascon explained to KNX News the specific events that led up to it.
In recent months, the DA's office noticed a significant rise in hate speech on Twitter, including on their own page. However, the final straw came over Pride weekend.
Gascon stated that the DA's office had officially joined the Pride festivities in West Hollywood for the first time this year. Unfortunately, this prompted a barrage of sexually explicit posts directed at the DA's Twitter page.
LADA office at WeHo PrideLADA
Gascon told KNX News, "When we posted some of the photos of the parade, immediately we started to see very sexually explicit postings that were pictures and images of mutilated genitalia, both men and women."
There was a substantial amount of hate speech and images containing Swastikas, he added.
The DA's office attempted to follow proper procedures by requesting that Twitter remove the content, but 24 hours later - no response.
That's when Gascon and his team determined in order to avoid 'propagating' this hateful information, they needed to archive the page.
Gascon clarified that the DA's office respects the First Amendment but, "This is not legitimate political speech."
He emphasized upholding justice, fairness, and equality for all, includes the many LGBTQ community members within his office and the county they serve.
The DA's office hopes that Twitter will eventually resume moderating content. In the meantime, Gascon stated that he will continue to improve access to his office through the various other social media platforms available.
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