Mail bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc tweeted hundreds of direct threats
Cesar Sayoc, the Florida man accused of mailing explosive devices to prominent Democrats and critics of President Trump, recently tweeted more than 240 threats to at least 50 public officials, members of the media, and news organizations, CNN reports.
CNN analyzed thousands of tweets sent by Sayoc, and found that he often posted about conspiracy theories and shared false news articles. He tweeted about chem trails, "Pizzagate," and birtherism, and in April, he began directly tweeting threats to people. He would often say "Your days are over" and "Hug your loved ones real close everytime U leave your home," CNN reports, and he would on occasion tweet the same threat to a person multiple times.
During the spring and summer, he tweeted photos of the homes of two people who received pipe bombs: billionaire Democratic donor George Soros and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.). Comedian Kathy Griffin told CNN that Sayoc threatened her, but she didn't see his tweets because she receives so many nasty messages. Political analyst Rochelle Ritchie did see the threats he sent to her, and she notified Twitter, and the company apologized last week for doing nothing after she reported Sayoc.
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In a statement to CNN, Twitter said Sayoc's account was "permanently suspended from Twitter," and "violent threats, targeted abuse, and hateful conduct are against our rules. This type of content does not enable or empower speech and has no place on our service." The company also said it plans on "using new technology to detect abusive content without requiring someone to report it first."
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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