Politics

Twitter Shuts Down GOP Rep’s Pro-Life Political Ad

Youtube screenshot/Marsha Blackburn For Senate

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Jack Crowe Political Reporter
Font Size:

Twitter blocked GOP Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn’s Senate campaign announcement ad Monday, over concerns that the ad’s pro-life message might offend some viewers.

Blackburn, who previously chaired a House panel investigating the sale of fetal tissue by Planned Parenthood, claims in the ad to have “stopped the sale of baby body parts.” A Twitter representative informed Blackburn’s vendors Monday that the ad was blocked because Blackburn’s reference to fetal tissue was “deemed an inflammatory statement that is likely to evoke a strong negative reaction.”

WATCH:

The ruling prohibits Blackburn’s campaign from paying to promote the video on Twitter, but does not prevent users from linking to the video on YouTube or other platforms. The Twitter representative informed the campaign that it could run the ad if the inflammatory reference to fetal tissue was removed.

Blackburn’s official campaign Twitter account responded to the censorship Monday afternoon, asking supporters to join her in “standing up to Silicon Valley.”

The incendiary claim refers to Blackburn’s tenure as the chair of a Republican-led House panel, created in response to a 2015 hidden camera video depicting Planned Parenthood officials describing how the organization provided fetal tissue to medical researchers.

The panel urged Congress to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood at the conclusion of the probe, while Democrats argued that the investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing, pointing out that the practice is legal, as long as the organization did not profit from the transfer of tissue.

Blackburn, who is running to claim GOP Sen. Bob Corker’s seat, touts her Second Amendment bona fides during the ad, and vows to support President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda.

Blackburn lambastes Senate Republicans in the ad for their failure to enact make meaningful legislative progress, despite their majority in both houses of Congress.

“I stand for hundreds of millions of of honest Americans who work hard and play by the rules. I stand for the greatest country the world has ever known,” Blackburn said in the ad. “I stand when the president walks in the room, and yes, I stand when I hear the Star Spangled Banner.”

Twitter and Facebook representatives recently appeared on Capitol Hill to provide testimony related to their respective roles in disseminating political advertising. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have begun targeting the tech giants as possessing undue political influence, warranting increased government regulation.

Follow Jack on Twitter

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel