The Babylon Bee, a popular right-leaning satire site, was locked out of its Twitter account Sunday night for “violating [Twitter’s] rules against hateful conduct,” according to CEO Seth Dillon.
"I just received this notice that we’ve been locked out of our account for 'hateful conduct,'" Dillon posted to his own personal Twitter account, along with a screenshot of the message his outlet had received from Twitter.
I just received this notice that we’ve been locked out of our account for “hateful conduct.” pic.twitter.com/udMriKcDr6
— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) March 20, 2022
The tweet that apparently upset the Twitter gods this time was a post with an accompanying article declaring Rachel Levine, a Biden administration official and biological male who identifies as a woman, as the Babylon Bee’s “Man of the Year.”
“Levine is the U.S. assistant secretary for health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he serves proudly as the first man in that position to dress like a western cultural stereotype of a woman,” The Bee says in the linked satirical piece. “He is also an admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. What a boss!”
But apparently, while USA Today can name Levine one of their “Women of the Year’ despite his being, well, not a woman, the Bee cannot declare him their “Man of the Year” even though he is, in fact, a man.
“You may not promote violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease,” Twitter chastised in their message to the Bee.
Dillon added that Twitter said the account would be restored within 12 hours, but only after The Babylon Bee deleted the offending tweet – something Dillon said the publication will not do, even if it means losing their 1.3 million-follower account.
“We're not deleting anything,” Dillon vowed. “Truth is not hate speech. If the cost of telling the truth is the loss of our Twitter account, then so be it.
We're not deleting anything. Truth is not hate speech. If the cost of telling the truth is the loss of our Twitter account, then so be it.
— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) March 20, 2022