A veteran badly burned in an Afghanistan IED blast has slammed Twitter claiming it flagged his July 4 post of him saluting in uniform as ‘potentially sensitive content’.
Retired US Army Captain Sam Brown posted a photo on Independence Day of himself saluting and the phrase ‘Freedom isn’t free’ – with his facial injuries from the blast visible in the image.
‘On July 4, 1776, America was born,’ he wrote. ‘On July 4, 2021, we’re still the best country on this planet.’
While the tweet itself was not restricted, the photo was slapped with a warning reading: ‘The following media includes potentially sensitive content.’
A Twitter spokesperson told DailyMail.com the tweet ‘was marked as sensitive because of the media settings of the user, not because of any action on the part of Twitter.’
Twitter users can mark their own tweets as containing material that may be sensitive by adjusting their account settings and preferences.
The furore comes as Donald Trump launched a class action law suit against CEO Jack Dorsey, as well as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai claiming he is the victim of censorship by the tech behemoths.
Brown blasted the social media giant accusing it of flagging his tweet and questioning the timing, given he had just announced his intentions to run for Senate as a Republican candidate.
‘Hey @Twitter, I didn’t realize my face was ‘sensitive content’,’ he tweeted Tuesday, sharing a grab of the tweet with the warning.
‘Ironic considering I only have 3 tweets & just filed to run for U.S. Senate only hours ago.
‘Was it my scars or the fact that I salute the flag? Regardless, neither are going away—and neither am I,’ he added, along with an American flag emoji.
The tweet continued to display the warning tag Wednesday morning.
Brown accused the social media giant of carrying out ‘egregious and un-American actions’ by ‘censoring’ his right to free speech.
‘While I was ready to lay down my life in order to protect freedom of speech for my fellow Americans, Big Tech today decided that they know better, censoring me and deeming my comments regarding this great nation ‘Sensitive Content,” Brown told Fox News.
‘These egregious and un-American actions come mere hours after I took steps to file and establish my candidacy for the United States Senate in Nevada, reinforcing my belief that ‘Big Tech’ is working against conservatives and trying to silence our voices.’
He added: ‘Everyday I wear the scars of my service and I am still proud to call myself an American. If Twitter thinks they can censor my military service, my love for this country, or the flag it represents – they are sorely mistaken.’
According to the Twitter Help Center, a tweet can be labeled as ‘potentially sensitive’ by both Twitter or the individual posting the tweet.
If a tweet is reported to contain sensitive content it is sent to Twitter for review which may label it as being potentially sensitive.
Meanwhile, account holders can mark their own media settings with the warning.
‘By appropriately marking your media settings, Twitter can identify potentially sensitive content that other users may not wish to see, such as violence or nudity,’ according to the Help Center.
‘If you intend to regularly post such content, we ask that you please adjust your media settings.’
Sensitive media can include ‘graphic violence, adult content, hateful imagery, violent sexual conduct and gratuitous gore’.
Brown suffered third degree burns to 30 percent of his body in an IED blast a few months into his deployment to Afghanistan in 2008.
He had been carrying out route security in Kandahar when he and his comrades came under fire.
While trying to help his fellow soldiers who were being ambushed in tactical vehicles, an explosive went off setting him on fire.
Brown underwent multiple surgeries and was medically retired from the US Army in September 2011.
Brown is now running for the US Senate in Nevada as a GOP candidate, hoping to oust Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto from her seat in the 2022 midterms.
On his campaign website, the veteran says he would be ‘putting my experience to work.’
‘Duty to a purpose, far greater than one man, has convinced me that it is time to enter service again,’ it reads.
Cortez Masto narrowly won the seat in 2016, becoming the first woman from Nevada and first Latina ever elected to the Senate.
This marks the second time Brown has made a run at politics.
Brown ran as a Republican candidate for District 102 of the House of Representatives in 2014. He was defeated in the Republican primary.
The retired Army captain, who was awarded the Purple Heart, currently lives with his wife Amy and three children in Reno, Nevada.
The couple run a small business that provides ‘critical services to our veterans when the VA needs a private company to assist in urgently accessing medication outside the federal system,’ according to his campaign website.
Brown’s spat with Twitter and ‘Big Tech’ has become part of a major campaign point among some Republicans.
Trump on Wednesday filed his lawsuit against Twitter, Google and Facebook and their CEOs.
The former president said he had brought the suit on behalf of victims of ‘cancel culture’ and demanded the end of ‘shadow banning’ and ‘blacklisting.’
‘In addition, we are asking the court to impose punitive damages on these social media giants,’ he said. ‘We’re going to hold big tech very accountable.’
Trump will serve as the lead plaintiff in the suit, claiming he has been wrongfully censored, he added.
His lawyers said they will argue that Congress has frequently pressured Big Tech to take action on conservatives, making them ‘agents of government’ and therefore subject to the First Amendment.
The legal moves are backed by the America First Policy Institute, a non-profit that includes several former senior administration officials.
Trump was suspended from his social media accounts back in January after a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6 in a violent riot that left five dead.
Rather than condemn the violence, Trump wrote on January 8 that his supporters were ‘great American patriots’ who ‘will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form.’
Twitter banned him indefinitely two days later, citing his ‘glorification of violence.’
‘After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,’ the company said at the time.
Trump tried to get around the ban in the hours that followed by addressing his supporters through other people’s accounts. This led to several others also being suspended.
*story by DailyMail.com
