Big Tech Firm Temporarily Censors Former GOP Nominee for Minnesota’s Top Elections Office Over Election Integrity Post
Fred Lucas /
LinkedIn initially removed a post from former Minnesota Republican Secretary of State nominee Kim Crockett regarding potential noncitizen voting in the state, claiming it was “misinformation.”
But the social media site restored the post about an hour after an inquiry from The Daily Signal about the removal.
The network notified Crockett that it removed the post in a 3:39 p.m. email on Wednesday. The post featured Crockett’s commentary and a link to a Daily Signal article reporting on a beneficiary of the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, telling a committee of the Minnesota House of Representatives, “We are voting.”
Crockett did not appeal the removal but was considering doing so on Thursday. About one day after the removal, she got the notification that the post was back up.
The Daily Signal inquired with the LinkedIn press office at 10:19 a.m. Thursday about why Crockett’s post was removed. At 11:20 a.m. Thursday, LinkedIn sent Crockett an email notifying her, “Your post is back on LinkedIn.”
DACA recipients are illegal immigrants who arrived in the United States when they were minors and are shielded from deportation under the Obama administration policy that began in 2012. It is illegal for noncitizens to vote.
“As a lawyer, I understand LinkedIn wants to be a place for professional networking and not a political site,” Crockett told The Daily Signal.
“I think sites have the right to set their own policies, as long as there is not collusion between the government and social media sites, as happened with other social media companies,” she continued. “There is no evidence that is the case with LinkedIn. I realize some people don’t want politics. But people on LinkedIn are grown up. They don’t have to look at my posts if they don’t want to.”
However, she noted that someone who is appealing a removal must first click a box agreeing with LinkedIn’s policy on misinformation.
Crockett said in her commentary above the article link: “A DACA resident brazenly told lawmakers she is voting that non-citizens are voting. And if the Dems in power do not deliver drivers licenses to illegal aliens as promised, ‘We will vote you out.’ No irony there. Yawn. Just more lawlessness from a Democratic stronghold. #Electionsmatter #Lawlessness”
LinkedIn removed the post, she said. She forwarded a message that says: “Your post doesn’t comply with our policies.” It continues:
Your post goes against our policy on misinformation. It has been removed and only you can access it.
If you’ve reviewed our policy and believe we made a mistake, you can ask us to take a second look.
Repeatedly creating content that doesn’t comply with our Professional Community Policies could lead to your LinkedIn account being restricted.
Thank you for being part of the LinkedIn community.
LinkedIn did not respond to inquiries from The Daily Signal for this story about why the post was removed to begin with, and why the company chose to repost it without any changes.
Crockett’s LinkedIn post on Wednesday included her own commentary about a DACA recipient named Angelico Bello who, among others, testified at the Jan. 10 hearing to the Minnesota House Transportation Finance and Policy Committee in favor of a bill to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants in the state.
“We are voting. Our people are voting,” Bello said. “If you don’t pass this bill, people are going to vote you all out.”
A spokesperson for the office of Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon told The Daily Signal that noncitizen voting is not a problem in Minnesota. Simon beat Crockett in the November 2022 election.
Common Cause Minnesota Executive Director Annastacia Belladonna-Carrera said Bello did not mean to say either she personally or other DACA recipients were voting. Belladonna-Carrera told The Daily Signal “it was reasonably clear that the ‘we’ the testifier was referencing was the broader Latinx Minnesota communities.”
Crockett contends people are now trying to clean up for the Bello testimony.
“She didn’t say that in the testimony,” Crockett said. “A spokesperson who was horrified about how brazen she was made that point.”
Twitter and Facebook are known for more political content, and for more controversy with government collusion to supervise content. Still, Crockett said, this is the first time she had a warning of any kind on social media.
“I’ve been active on LinkedIn,” Crockett said. “During my campaign, I never got a warning on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, nothing, this was the first time.”
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