Twitter imposes a lot of rules that decide what content is allowed on its platform, but its rule against doxxing is apparently not important enough to enforce.
Actors Tom Arnold and Billy Baldwin both appear to have violated Twitter policy with regard to doxxing in recent posts on the platform. Arnold shared the purported cell phone number of Counselor to the president Hope Hicks hours after news broke that she tested positive for COVID-19, according to Fox News. Baldwin, meanwhile, urged Twitter users to dox an individual in a retweet who was identified by the tweet as a “Violent Trump supporter.” The widely viewed video depicted a man allegedly assaulting someone.
News broke the evening of Oct. 1 that Hicks had tested positive for the coronavirus after traveling with the president to campaign events earlier in the week. In the now-deleted tweet Arnold implored his followers to reach out to Hicks directly because she needed to hear their “thoughts & prayers” firsthand, according to Fox News:
"‘Silent thoughts & prayers aren't enough for national treasure Hope Hicks,’ the 61-year-old actor wrote. ‘She needs to hear them.’"
He then shared a phone number, which he claimed to be the personal cell phone of Hicks.
Twitter policy states you can not publish, threaten to publish or incentivize others to publish someone else’s private information without “express authorization and permission.”
A Twitter spokesperson told TechWatch that the tweet “does not currently violate Twitter rules.” They added that it had been deleted but not by Twitter.
Baldwin also clearly violated Twitter policy on personal information, yet his tweet remains on the platform and his account has not been suspended.
In June, Twitter temporarily suspended the account of a major New York City police union after it posted the arrest report for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s daughter, which contained her personal information.
Critics have taken to Twitter to slam Arnold for his doxxing of Hicks, according to Town Hall, but no one should be surprised by Arnold’s tweet. Arnold has a history of outrageous tweets, including one that said conservative activist Candace Owens was “campaigning to suck racist monkey d*ck,” in response to her support for Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
The washed up actor claims to have a history with the president, including business deals and venturing to the Playboy mansion with him at one time. Nevertheless, Arnold declares moral superiority over Trump, and his supporters for that matter, even though he says himself that he ran in many of the same circles as Trump for “30 years.”
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