by Paula Bolyard, PJ Media:
Anyone who works in media knows it’s a race against time to find the social-media content of anyone involved in a high-profile crime. Whether it’s a school shooter or a political assassin like Ryan Routh, social media companies immediately lock down the accounts and hide them from the public.
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Yesterday, just minutes after Routh’s name began circulating, his X and Facebook accounts were disabled.
Fortunately, some quick-thinking individuals were able to access the social media posts before they were memory-holed, so we now know that Routh hated Trump and had extreme left-wing political views.
Ryan Wesley Routh’s FB profile has been taken down, this is what could find. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/Newi1L6yvV
— Pwns On X (@PwnyRides) September 15, 2024
The same things happened to Thomas Matthew Crook’s social media accounts after he shot Trump and three others in Butler, Pa., in July.
The question is, why? Why do social media companies lock down these accounts? There’s nothing we’ve seen in Routh’s social media posts that would pose a public safety threat. It’s one thing to take down videos that mass shooters post of their crimes, but Routh’s posts are typical of the content that’s posted by leftists millions of times a day on social media.
Social media lockdowns hinder media efforts to report on criminal activity and essentially protect these individuals from public scrutiny. This is especially egregious when the individual has extreme political leanings, as Ryan Routh does. Why shouldn’t the public see what he and others have posted online?
PJ Media reached out to Facebook, X, and the FBI for answers, but got no response. Specifically, I asked Facebook and X: “Can you direct me to your policy, if one exists, that prompted you to lock down Ryan Routh’s account on Sunday? Can you explain your rationale for removing accounts associated with those accused of high-profile crimes? Is law enforcement involved in the decision? If so, what are the channels for doing that?” I also asked the FBI if that agency was involved in locking down the accounts. Crickets all around.
