Satanists: Twitter not playing fair – By Brian Dowling (bostonherald.com) / May 31 2018
Satanists are taking aim at Twitter for muzzling their social media accounts, pressing a claim that the online forum wrongly discriminated against them after a woman threatened to burn their Salem temple to the ground.
In a complaint filed with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, The Satanic Temple in Salem claims Twitter treated their religion as second-class by denying it a blue, verified check and by suspending their accounts when a woman on the social media platform said “a church like this should not exist.”
“Burn it! Blame Hillary I don’t care. It’s gotta go,” a woman, identified as from Woburn, wrote Jan. 10.
The message gained steam when it was retweeted by actor Corey Feldman — most recently of “Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No,” “The Zombie King” and “Six Degrees of Hell” — to his 150,000 followers and followed with claims the Salem satanists could possibly be sexually assaulting kids, the complaint states.
Lucien Greaves, co-founder of The Satanic Temple, responded on Twitter that the author should be reported for promoting the arson.
Soon after, Twitter suspended both Greaves’ account and the account for the Satanic Temple, claiming an alleged violation of the abusive behavior policy.
Greaves’ account was brought back online Jan. 15 after multiple appeals. The complaint states Twitter admitted no rules were broken by Greaves or the temple.
In the complaint, Greaves says Twitter’s actions were a “result of religious discrimination and unlawful retaliation.”
The temple is asking the commission to grant it a declaration that Twitter discriminated against it on the basis of religious creed then retaliated, attorneys fees, compensatory damages, punitive damages and — last, but not least — two blue verified checks for the organization’s Twitter accounts wronged in the saga.
The potentially damning indictment of the massive media monopoly goes to the heart of exactly how public a forum it is and what rights religious and other groups have to be treated equally.
Greaves — a pseudonym used by Douglas Misicko — told the Herald the discrimination was a slap in the face for his free-thinking, oft-misunderstood organization.
“My immediate thought was they wouldn’t treat any other religious group like this,” Greaves said. “For Twitter not to take our complaint seriously when someone is calling for action against us, it seems like Twitter judging our authenticity, rendering us second-class citizens at best.”
A spokeswoman for Twitter declined comment yesterday.
Days after the Twitter threat, a man showed up at the temple with a makeshift knife and was later arrested. “We have no idea” if it was connected, Greaves said.
Greaves said other groups should be worried if Twitter is picking and choosing which groups to protect with its policies. “It should be of great concern to people,” he said, “if terms are being applied differently for different groups.”
The Satanic Temple opened its doors in Salem in 2015. It “promotes benevolence and equality,” and supports common sense and justice.
Greaves said the temple’s Satanism is not a cult, but rather a group of people who value Satan as an “icon for the ultimate rebellion against tyranny.”
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/technology/2018/05/satanists_twitter_not_playing_fair
