Twitter blocks the phrase ‘illegal alien’ as ‘hateful content’

The federal government, U.S. Supreme Court, and lawyers across the country use the words “illegal alien” to describe immigrants who illegally enter the country, because that’s the definition in the law.

But Twitter makes its own laws, and the social media giant is now blocking folks from promoting any messages with the phrase, which its moderators apparently consider “hate speech.”

“1/ Twitter is not allowing us to promote any tweets including the phrase ‘illegal alien(s)’, citing it as Hateful Content,” the Center for Immigration Studies posted to Twitter Tuesday. “However, ‘illegal aliens’ has been used in both federal law and by the Supreme Court.”

Twitter rejected a total of four ads from the Center but provided only vague reasoning for the decision.

“We’ve reviewed your tweets and confirmed that it is ineligible to participate in the Twitter Ads program at this time based on our Hateful Content policy..."

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