Antifa Accounts Exploit Twitter Rule Change to Harass Journalist Andy Ngo

Antifa-supporting Twitter accounts are attempting to have independent journalist Andy Ngo, an editor at the Post Millennial, banned from the platform.

Ngo was hospitalized after a brutal Antifa attack in 2020, and was again violently assaulted by members of the extremist movement, who regularly call for him to be killed.

Antifa targets Ngo because he does not self-censor his reporting on protest movements to obscure acts of violence and criminality by Antifa. Ngo regularly posts news stories about Antifa members who have been arrested, including their mugshots, which are publicly available.

Twitter says it will not allow the sharing of “private media” without consent, but does on to define this as “media of private individuals without the permission of the person(s) depicted.”

Police mugshots are not “private media” — they are owned by the police precinct and widely distributed to the public and the press. It is unclear if Twitter’s policy extends to publicly-available photos of people, or photos and footage captured legally in public places. The status of material that is covered by the public interest defense is also in doubt.