I used to have a fairly active presence on the social media site Twitter…until the end of July. I was suspended after I called out an anti-social progress YouTuber going by the moniker Undoomed, a man known for creating brilliant content like:

Apparently, my calling this man out for his bigotry was considered “targeted harassment.” Please keep in mind that at the time of my suspension, I had just over 3,000 followers on Twitter. Undoomed has roughly twenty times that as of this writing:

And yes, Undoomed is just as charming on Twitter as he is on YouTube:

He often quote-tweets people with smaller audiences, similar to how he makes response videos

This isn’t just about a personal vendetta against this one creator. While Undoomed and many of his fellow anti-social-progress content creators are incredibly abusive, bigoted, and unpleasant people, my problem lies with the double standard from Twitter and other social media sites. Apparently, all of this is fine:

This man is an actual Neo-Nazi.

So is this one…

Picking on a literal child for her horrible crime of being a climate activist

Yes, all of this is fine, but calling these people out in a way that’s sassy or, heaven forbid, even a little angry? That’s unacceptable, according to Twitter. Which is rather despicable considering Jack Dorsey’s pinned tweet, which seems to be something of a mission statement for the site:

This just comes off as a slap in the face.

I’m not exactly bitter because I no longer have a Twitter account. Well, it is rather frustrating because Twitter was a good resource for following news, learning about current events, and connecting with online friends, but overall, it’s not much of a loss. What makes me angry is the double standard at play. What this says to me about Twitter is that they will allow bullies and bigots to throw as many punches as they want at whomever they want, but shame on any marginalized person who dares to fight back.

Social media platforms, if you want to brag about how much you strive to create a safe and healthy social space online, stop talking and actually DO IT. It isn’t like you never get any complaints about the presence of Neo-Nazis, misogynists, and homophobes using your platforms to spread their ideas; I’m sure you know it’s happening. So do it, and stop punishing people for being upset that you allow it.