Account holders say hundreds of LGBTQ+ profiles on ‘X’ were seemingly removed and banned overnight
Hundreds of LGBTQ+ profiles were removed from 'X', formerly known as 'Twitter' over the weekend, according to Matt Skallerud, the President of Pink Media.
Pink Media is a national company that specializes in LGBTQ+ online marketing and social media. The company helped create and run dozens of accounts on 'X', until they were permanently banned last week.
"Everything got taken down all at the same time, just immediately," said Skallerud. "I got this flood of emails from my followers, and I'm like what is happening? At the end of the day, we still don't exactly know what's going on.”
He and several others, including Brad Fuhr, CEO of radio station KGAY and the Gay Desert Guide, say they were some of the many victims of this mysterious ban. Fuhr ran several accounts here in the Coachella Valley to promote a safe space for LGBTQ+ tourists, locals, events and businesses. He says he never received an explanation on the removal from 'X', only an email stating his accounts had been permanently banned.
"Our digital marketing agency Oasis Marketing Group, 'OMG PSP', that one was suspended," said Fuhr. "And then we noticed, of course, that the 'I Love Gay Palm Springs' account was also suspended. So in one fell swoop, those three that we rely on heavily here had all been had all been taken down.”
All of the accounts that were removed seemed to have one thing in common: they promoted LGBTQ+ content, creating safe spaces for the community to interact online.
The bans also came in the wake of Pride Month, which was in June.
"We've always kept it not only very positive, but very clean," said Skallerud. "And, you know, we keep away from adult content as well. We couldn't help but to think maybe it was just because we had too much visibility. In June, and it was Pride Month, and maybe it annoyed someone somewhere along the way that a didn't like LGBTQ content like that being amplified in that way."
Both Skallerud and Fuhr say they are trying to find answers, and fight for their accounts back.
"We've put through about 75 appeals for some of the profiles we have, and so far, nothing," said Skallerud. "And that's that's also unfortunate, because right now we're just kind of in the dark as far as knowing what triggered this. You know, where do we go from here?"
Although social media companies are allowed to create their own rules and regulation, Fuhr believes this sets a dangerous precedent going forward.
"There's certainly a sneaking suspicion on our part, that this has gone high up into the echelon of acts as a company,": said Fuhr. "And while we don't have any evidence of that, at this point, I think it's safe to say that anything with LGBTQ content is suspect for being censored in many ways today."
News Channel Three's Tori King did reach out to 'X', and have not heard back.
