US GOP Senate Candidate Slams Twitter for Banning Him, Says Platform 'Messed With the Wrong Soldier'

A previous post by retired Army Captain Sam Brown on 4 July, showing an image of him standing to attention in military dress to commemorate Independence Day with the text "Freedom isn't free" was flagged by Twitter moderators as 'potentially sensitive content'.

GOP Nevada Senate candidate and retired Army Captain Sam Brown has accused Twitter of waging an “all-out attack on conservative voices”, reported Fox News.

The Purple Heart recipient who is running in the GOP primary and hopes to unseat Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto in the 2022 midterm elections, slammed the social media platform for censorship after he discovered on Monday morning that his Twitter account had been suspended without any explanation or evidence as to which tweets had triggered the ban.

Twitter suspended my account today & later claimed it was a mistake.

This is not the first time they’ve censored me as I run for the Senate.

I’m a Purple Heart Veteran who fought for our free speech yet Twitter denies me mine.

RT this & follow me so we come back even stronger!

— Sam Brown (@CaptainSamBrown) October 4, 2021

“Big Tech is waging an all-out attack on conservative voices — using unequally applied 'rules' to censor or suspend anyone they disagree with. I will not back down from this fight - Twitter has messed with the wrong soldier,” he said.

While the account was later reinstated, with Twitter acknowledging its mistake, Brown, who suffered severe facial burns in an IED explosion in 2008 during a tour in Afghanistan, vowed decisive action against Big Tech. Deploring the fact that he had personally been targeted multiple times by Twitter's censorship, he was cited by the outlet as saying:

“It's clear that decisive action must be taken immediately to rein in Big Tech and the partisan elites who run them."

Brown also wrote to the Washington Examiner to say:

“The Founders never envisioned that a private, leftist company like Twitter could have so much power over political speech… Twitter can claim they only suspended my account by 'accident.' When I get to the US Senate, it won't be an accident when we restrict Big Tech's ability to exercise monopolistic control over the public debate."

On July 4, 1776, America was born.

On July 4, 2021, we’re still the best country on this planet. pic.twitter.com/rXaGXdAcB0

— Sam Brown (@CaptainSamBrown) July 4, 2021

In a previous run-in with the platform, one of Brown’s tweets was labeled "potentially sensitive" when he commemorated Independence Day on 4 of July by sharing an image of himself offering a salute in uniform with the text "Freedom isn't free."

Hey @Twitter, I didn’t realize my face was “sensitive content”

Ironic considering I only have 3 tweets & just filed to run for U.S. Senate only hours ago.

Was it my scars or the fact that I salute the flag? Regardless, neither are going away—and neither am I 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/RcvqaDfDPh

— Sam Brown (@CaptainSamBrown) July 8, 2021

Brown at the time responded with a scathing post, questioning Twitter whether it was his “scars or the fact that I salute the flag? Regardless, neither are going away – and neither am I." Twitter rejected the claim, with a spokesperson saying that such warnings can be enabled or disabled based on the individual user's account settings.