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Women boycott Twitter to protest Twitter’s treatment of women

By Robin Lempel

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Women are joining the Women Boycott Twitter protest to raise awareness about harassment and the hypocritical ways Twitter employs its free speech policy.

Women are taking part in Women Boycott Twitter in a protest against Twitter today. Here’s why:

Celebrities, activists and journalists joined in the Women Boycott Twitter protest after Twitter suspended Rose McGowan’s account on Wednesday.

McGowan, who reached a $100,000 settlement with Harvey Weinstein after an incident in a hotel room at the Sundance Film Festival in 1997, has been very vocal on Twitter by calling out people like Weinstein and Ben Affleck, supporting the women who have come forward, and more. Then her account got locked.

Twitter explained that they suspended McGowan’s account because one of her tweets had a personal phone number, which broke its privacy rules. The tweet was removed and McGowan’s account was unlocked.

However, many saw McGowan’s account being locked as just another example of a woman being silenced. All this led to the idea of #WomenBoycottTwitter. Software engineer Kelly Ellis appears to have been the first to suggest the boycott, and celebrities like Chrissy Teigen, Anna Paquin, and more have joined in.

Of course, the boycott isn’t without its criticism. Many have pointed out that it’s a huge problem that Rose McGowan being suspended is what finally woke people up to this problem.

Meanwhile, a lot of women have also noted that women of color are often silenced and don’t receive nearly the same kind of support McGowan is getting, including Ellis herself by citing Jemele Hill. This helped lead to the #WOCAffirmation hashtag.

Others also criticized the hashtag because they don’t want to silence women in order to protest the silencing of women. So they, and women who haven’t joined the boycott, are using the #AmplifyWomen hashtag in order to speak out.

Check out some tweets below:

Next: Everything you need to know about the Harvey Weinstein story

Are you participating in #WomenBoycottTwitter?