'Hunt them down': Twitter adds warning label to Gaetz's tweet, saying it glorifies violence

WASHINGTON – Twitter flagged a tweet from Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-FL., as "glorifying violence" after he asked if "Now that we clearly see Antifa as terrorists, can we hunt them down like we do those in the Middle East?"

Antifa — short for "anti-fascist" — is the name for loosely affiliated, left-leaning anti-racist groups that monitor and track the activities of local neo-Nazis. The movement has no unified structure or national leadership but has emerged in the form of local bodies nationwide, particularly on the West Coast.

Trump announced on Sunday he'd be designating Antifa as a terror organization, and blamed them for the violence at protests against police brutality following the death of George Floyd. Gaetz is one of President Donald Trump's staunchest supports on Capitol Hill.

Hours after it was posted, Twitter determined Gaetz's tweet violated its policies against glorifying violence. The label meant that the tweet could not be liked or retweeted to prevent it from being amplified. Additionally, the tweet is hidden from Gaetz’s profile, and users must click a "view” button to access it.

More: What is antifa and what does the movement want?

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In response, Gaetz tweeted again, writing, "Glorifying violence against terrorists, apparently? Some of the same terrorists who organize unimpeded on twitter?"

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The action by Twitter follows days after the site labeled some of Trump's posts as misleading last week.

“We have placed a public interest notice on this Tweet from @mattgaetz. The Tweet is in violation of our glorification of violence policy,” a Twitter spokesperson told USA TODAY. “As is standard with this notice, engagements with the Tweet will be limited. People will be able to Retweet with Comment, but will not be able to Like, Reply or Retweet it.”

USA TODAY reached out Gaetz's office for additional comment, and was pointed to additional tweets on the issue from the congressman.

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One concluded, "See you in the Judiciary Committee" after Twitter "deemed [it] naughty" that Gaetz was calling for "action against terrorists," and quote-tweeted a post from Colin Kaepernick, the football player who began kneeling in protest during the pregame national anthem. Gaetz called Kaepernick's tweet an "incitement of violence."

Kapernick's tweet reads, "When civility leads to death, revolting is the only logical reaction," and continued, "The cries for peace will rain down, and when they do, they will land on deaf ears, because your violence has brought this resistance. We have the right to fight back!"

In another tweet, Gaetz wrote, "Their warning is my badge of honor."

Several Twitter users, including a few U.S. lawmakers, called on Twitter to have Gaetz' tweet removed prior to the labeling.

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"Take the Gaetz tweet down right now," Senator Chris Murphy, D-CT., wrote to Twitter. "RIGHT NOW. The survivors of mass shootings are lighting up my phone. They are scared to death this will inspire someone to start shooting into a crowd tonight. They are right."

Contributing: Doug Stanglin

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Twitter adds a warning label to Matt Gaetz tweet for glorifying violence