A vitriolic, anti-LGBTQ-filled account on X, formerly known as Twitter, that appears to belong to the 27-year-old who fatally shot a California business owner over a Pride flag last week does not violate the company’s rules, according to an email obtained by NBC News.
On Monday, police named Travis Ikeguchi as the person responsible for the death of Laura Ann Carleton, 66, who was shot on Friday at her clothing store in Lake Arrowhead, Southern California. Ikeguchi was “yelling many homophobic slurs” about the store’s Pride flag before the shooting, police said.
An X account that appears to belong to Ikeguchi has posted years-worth of anti-LGBTQ and antisemitic messages and remains publicly viewable. After fleeing Carleton’s store, Mag.Pi, by foot, Ikeguchi was killed in a shootout with police.
While authorities said they have not confirmed Ikeguchi’s social media accounts, the X account that appears to belong to Ikeguchi includes his full name and at least one post included a California location, which corresponds with the suspect’s known state of residence.
Alejandra Caraballo, a trans activist and clinical instructor at Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic, said she reported the shooter’s apparent account to X on Tuesday. The company replied to her on Wednesday, saying that the account does not violate its rules.
“After reviewing the available information, we want to let you know TravisIkeguchi hasn’t broken our safety policies,” the email, which appears to be automated, reads.
The email, signed off by the social media site, also lists a summary of “what isn’t allowed on Twitter,” which includes: “threatening violence against someone or a group of people,” “threatening or promoting terrorism or violent extremism,” and “promoting violence, threatening, or harassing people because of their identity (like race or gender).”
Typically in the aftermath of hate-fueled killings — and particularly mass shootings — social media sites will almost immediately remove the accounts of suspects to prevent extremist ideas from spreading. A spokesperson for the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department previously told NBC News that the Friday killing is being investigated as a potential hate crime.
“At minimum it signals ‘we don’t really care about the violence that’s incited on our platform’ to essentially an endorsement of it,” Caraballo, who has researched hate speech against the LGBTQ community, said. “I don’t know how clearer Twitter could be at this point that there’s no level of anti-LGBTQ hatred that they won’t tolerate.”
Representatives for X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Many of the tweets from Ikeguchi’s apparent account include references to Christianity and anti-LGBTQ sentiments dating as far back as 2018. In some of the account’s more recent posts, the anti-LGBTQ comments appeared to become more graphic and violent.
On June 13, during Pride Month, the account posted a photo of a burning Pride flag with the text: “What to do with the LGBTQP flag?” The “P” added to the LGBTQ initialism appears to refer to “pedophile,” a trope that has resurfaced in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric over the last two years. Caraballo said she cited the tweet with the image of the burning Pride flag in her report.
Since taking over Twitter in October, owner Elon Musk has criticized the company’s previous enforcement around regulating hate speech and has been condemned by civil rights groups for loosening the restrictions. In April, Twitter received backlash after some users noticed that it had removed a policy that explicitly protected transgender people from harassment on the social media platform.
In June, on the first day of Pride Month, Musk said on Twitter that he would allow users to openly misgender trans people on the social media site without facing consequences. The tech billionaire also faced criticism in July for liking a post containing the image of a burning LGBTQ Pride flag.
An article in 2020 claiming that Musk doesn’t support transgender people led him to tweet in response,” I absolutely support trans, but all these pronouns are an esthetic nightmare.”
Ari Carleton, the daughter of the slain store owner, could not be reached for comment on Wednesday afternoon, regarding the X account that appears to belong to Ikeguchi. on Tuesday, she told NBC News in a direct message on Instagram, “We want this to be about her.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
