WomenBoycottTwitter after Rose McGowan’s account is closed

CAIRO – 13October 2017:In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse scandal sweeping over Hollywood, a boycott of Twitter is being called for after American actress Rose McGowan’s twitter account was blocked.

#WomenBoycottTwitter Friday, October 13th. In solidarity w @rosemcgowan and all the victims of hate and harassment Twitter fails to support. https://t.co/G0my9EyKpQ

— Kelly Ellis (@justkelly_ok) October 12, 2017

McGowan was one of the figures accusing Weinsteinof sexually harassing women over the three decades of his career. McGowan had settled a sexual harassment lawsuit over Weinstein back in 1997 for $100,000.

On Thursday, she reported on her Instagram page that her account had been blocked from sending tweets, including the message Twitter had sent her. She had earlier violated a Twitter rule regarding the posting of personal phonenumbers.

TWITTER HAS SUSPENDED ME. THERE ARE POWERFUL FORCES AT WORK. BE MY VOICE. #ROSEARMY #whywomendontreport

A post shared by Rose McGowan (@rosemcgowan) on Oct 11, 2017 at 9:19pm PDT

This began a wave of outrage over Twitter, with women (and some men) joining in the #WomenBoycottTwitter movement for all of October 13, which features a day of total silence on the site. Various high-profile celebrities have taken part, including John Cusack and Alyssa Milano.

Tomorrow (Friday the 13th) will be the first day in over 10 years that I won’t tweet. Join me. #WomenBoycottTwitterpic.twitter.com/xoEt5Bwj5s

— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) October 13, 2017

However, not all Twitter users agreed that going silent was the right thing to do. Several have expressed a belief that the action needed is the exact opposite; that raising voices and spreading awareness would do far more good.

I understand the idea behind #WomenBoycottTwitter but I don’t personally agree that silence is the right protest to being silenced.

— Kate✨Queen of Ghosts (@kateleth) October 13, 2017

How about instead of #WomenBoycottTwitter which will accomplish nothing, let's speak up about injustice and get voices heard

— Brittany Pole (@Brightknee91) October 13, 2017