Senator's Twitter account suspended for publishing a hunting photo *UPDATE*

Tom Williams, Pool via AP

Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) posted a photo on Twitter of a Montana antelope killed on a hunting trip with his wife, Cindy. The two pose with the elk in the picture, dressed in hunting clothes. His account was suspended on Monday night and the reason given was that the image violated the Twitter Terms of Service. How did Daines react to the news? He said, “My wife is a great shot. What can I say?”

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The hashtag #FreeSteveDaines was created. Some other elected officials weighed in on behalf of their friend and colleague, including Senator Ted Cruz.

You can see from the picture that there is nothing offensive about it unless a dead animal is offensive to you. There is no blood or even a bullet hole or anything like that. It’s a lot cleaner than many hunting pictures I’ve seen.

We’re talking Montana here. Hunting is considered a way of life for many. They eat the meat. It’s not “violence”.

One man said that Daines gifted his family with a whole elk one year.

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Daines is chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). NRSC spokesperson released a statement.

“This is insane. Twitter should immediately reverse this suspension,” said NRSC spokesman Philip Letsou.

His staff is working on getting Daines back on Twitter.

“The Senator thinks it’s preposterous that a picture of him and his wife hunting — an activity that is engrained in the Montana way of life — would be against Twitter rules. Our team has reached out to Twitter, and we’ll be working to get this resolved,” Rachel Dumke, press secretary for Daines, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

The crazy thing is that Twitter’s sensitive media policy states that hunting pictures are an exception.

Twitter’s sensitive media policy states that certain images may be subject to removal, including pictures or video “that depicts excessively graphic or gruesome content related to death,” including “animal torture or killing.” The guidelines also state that exceptions to the policy may include “religious sacrifice, food preparation or processing, and hunting.”

Whoever made this decision clearly isn’t familiar with how people live in some parts of the country. People enjoy the great outdoors. They hunt in various seasons, and they fish. It’s not unusual. I just checked his account as I write this and there is still a message in the bio space that reads, “@SteveDaines’s account is temporarily unavailable because it violates the Twitter Media Policy.” I’ll be surprised if it isn’t reinstated by the end of the day.

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In the meantime, Daines continues to receive support as his friends tag Elon Musk in their tweets.

Fellow Montanan made a point.

You get the point. As I said, I don’t expect it will last for long. If I were him, I’d post another hunting picture as my next post. Just to screw with the Twitter overlords.

*UPDATE*: And, he’s back. The senator looks to be back on Twitter again. It’s 12:30 p.m. Central time as I make this update. I noticed a tweet from Elon Musk and thought, hmm. Don’t know if it’s related but nonetheless, Daine is back on Twitter.

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Jazz Shaw 7:20 PM | March 18, 2024
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