Director, Commonwealth Policy Center

Tennessee Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn launched her campaign for Senate on Twitter—that is, until Twitter blocked her ad saying it was “inflammatory.”  Now, Blackburn is a pro-life champion and her ad mentioned Congress’ investigation into Planned Parenthood’s sale of fetal tissue. In fact, Blackburn chaired a House committee investigating this issue. Blackburn said in the ad “I fought Planned Parenthood and we stopped the sale of baby body parts. Thank God.” That was the line Twitter found offensive. Twitter eventually backed down and allowed the ad to run. But they still ban pro-life messages from other groups. Social media is increasingly influential in the political realm. But if social media platforms like Twitter interfere with messages they disagree with, they undermine the idea of free speech and they're ultimately doing a disservice to their subscribers.