Rose McGowan has been one of Twitter’s most engaging and popular users for the past week, with the actress using the social media site to post her thoughts and comments on the accusations of sexual harassment and assault being made against Harvey Weinstein.
That all ended just before midnight however on Wednesday, when the powers that be at the company made the ill-advised decision to shut down McGowan’s account just as she launched a new attack on Weinstein and her former co-star Ben Affleck.
The sudden decision to terminate her feed left many of her followers livid, and it was not until after Twitter had reinstated the account that their employees revealed it took action over her decision to publish a private phone number.
This explanation was not good enough for Jessica Chastain however, who wrote: ‘Hey @Twitter let us know which of these rules @RoseMcGowan broke. Asking for multiple victims of sexual violence.’
Killed of: Twitter shut down Rose McGowan’s account on Wednesday night just before midnight, and did not reveal a reason for 12 hours (l to r: Jess Weixler, Rose McGowan and Jessica Chastain at a party hosted by Harvey Weinstein in 2012)
Tweeiting it out: ‘We want to explain that her account was temporarily locked because one of her Tweets included a private phone number, which violates our Terms of Service,’ tweeted Twitter
‘We have been in touch with Ms. McGowan’s team. We want to explain that her account was temporarily locked because one of her Tweets included a private phone number, which violates our Terms of Service,’ tweeted Twitter on Thursday.
‘The Tweet was removed and her account has been unlocked. We will be clearer about these policies and decisions in the future.’
The social media site then added: ‘Twitter is proud to empower and support the voices on our platform, especially those that speak truth to power. We stand with the brave women and men who use Twitter to share their stories, and will work hard every day to improve our processes to protect those voices.’
This attempt to diffuse the notion that it may have acted so swiftly because of who McGowan was attacking did not fly with a number of people, who called out Twitter for what they viewed as a hypocritical move.
Those individuals pointed out that President Donald Trump himself also tweeted out a private phone number when he shared Lindsey Graham’s cell in June of 2015, and there were no repercussions or consequences for him at that time.
Just before her account was shut down, McGowan posted a photo of an email sent by manager Evan Hainey to his then client Lindsay Lohan.
In that email was Hainey’s signature, which included his phone number.
McGowan not only posted the email, but also suggested in her attached tweet that both Hainey and Bob Weinstein were aware of the Weinstein’s harassing and assaulting behavior, but still helped him get young woman alone in hotel rooms.
And just before that she had tweeted: ‘f*** Ben Affleck.’
The shut down caused much anger from McGowan’s supporters, with one writing: ‘Were Rose McGowan’s tweets not newsworthy enough, @Jack? Were thy not entertaining enough, @biz? They not make enough $$, @TwitterSafety?’
<cGowan meanwhile just hopped over to Instagram ,writing: ‘TWITTER HAS SUSPENDED ME. THERE ARE POWERFUL FORCES AT WORK. BE MY VOICE. #ROSEARMY #whywomendontreport’