Following today’s Breonna Taylor ruling — in which the court charged no officers directly with her killing, with only one officer indicted for “wanton endangerment” after blindly shooting 10 rounds into Taylor’s apartment, and implicitly deeming that the use of force by the other two officers involved in the incident was “justified” — Twitter exploded with a mix of reactions that included heartbreak, defeat, and justifiable fury. But among the mix of reactions were also several reports of tweets about Breonna Taylor disappearing from timelines, being blocked, or straight up deleted.
Users across Twitter are sharing screenshots and examples of how their tweets about the ruling seem to be disappearing, which is likely a result of Twitter’s practice of blocking “potentially sensitive content” — a default setting in Twitter’s privacy settings. That said, how expressing thoughts about the ruling on Breonna Taylor has come to be considered “sensitive content” is… a little confusing to a lot of users.
Tweets about Breonna Taylor are being deleted from twitter (REF: @iamjojo )
Today, her MURDERERS were cleared of murder. This… this is so fundamentally wrong, it makes me sick.
Who knows if this will be deleted, but never stop saying her name. Never stop fighting for justice. pic.twitter.com/YCNBWRiCk3— @iamjojo’s illluminati s*x cult (@RhysCM) September 23, 2020
anybody else tweets getting about breonna taylor getting deleted or marked “sensitive”
— nugget
(@quellacole) September 23, 2020
accounts are getting suspended and tweets are getting deleted for posting about Breonna Taylor and there’s STILL people who think that nothing corrupt is going on
— emily ☻ (@_emilycorbett) September 23, 2020
They’re really censoring Breonna Taylor tweets …… I’ve had 3 of my tweets deleted …. @jack wyd
— Jasmine (@JasmineeeOk) September 23, 2020
The “sensitive content” filter doesn’t explain why tweets are being deleted, which Twitter has sort of addressed in a tweet without making any mention of the Breonna Taylor ruling, tweeting “We’re seeing a number of accounts that have been locked or limited by mistake and not because they Tweeted about any particular topic.”
We’re seeing a number of accounts that have been locked or limited by mistake and not because they Tweeted about any particular topic. We’re working to undo this and get those accounts back to normal.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) September 23, 2020
To turn off Twitter’s “sensitive content” filter, head to your privacy settings and check the box that says “Display media that may contain sensitive content.”