George Zimmerman’s Twitter account suspended

[GMDino]

I know, I know...we all know he's a raging dbag.

But this example was too good to pass up.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/george-zimmerman-twitter-account-suspended-article-1.2454338?utm_content=buffer8a4df&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Quote:George Zimmerman’s Twitter account was suspended Thursday after his social media rants turned into what looked like revenge porn.

The Florida man acquitted in the fatal 2012 shooting of black teen Trayvon Martin posted nude pictures and contact information of a woman he called “Heather” who he claimed had stolen from him and cheated on him with “a dirty Muslim.”

Zimmerman, who lists his hometown as Casselberry in the Orlando area, lives in a state that is one of 26 with laws against revenge porn, according to the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative.


The "@TherealGeorgeZ" account showed two different naked photos and an email address for the woman Thursday afternoon.

“This is Heather,” the first of two tweets about her read. “She cheated on me with a dirty Muslim.” He added a phone number and told his 15,500 followers, “She’ll sleep with anyone.”

Minutes later, he continued, “Did I go to far? I won't even mention that she stole a gun and cash from me.”

Zimmerman, 31, didn’t immediately respond to a voicemail on a number associated with him or a message on Twitter.

There were no immediate responses to a phone call and an email to the number and address he listed, though a woman’s voicemail said the Daily News had reached “Heather.”

It wasn’t known whether the tweets broke the state’s anti-cyberharassment law, which went into effect Oct. 1. The law defines sexual cyberharassment as publishing “a sexually explicit image of a person that contains or conveys the personal identification information of the depicted person to an Internet website without the depicted person’s consent, for no legitimate purpose, with the intent of causing substantial emotional distress to the depicted person.”

Carrie Goldberg, a board member at the Initiative and an Internet privacy and sexual consent attorney, said in an email that the Tweets were "repulsive" but may not amount to a violation of the revenge porn law due to the fact that the pictures don't show what the statute defines as "nudity." Zimmerman, though, could be held liable under the state's coercion, stalking or harassment laws, she said.

"Zimmerman's publication of the victim’s personal information like her phone number and email address suggest an intention to incite third parties to contact this woman in a sort of harassment-by-proxy scenario," Goldberg said. "Not only could he be arrested criminally, but this behavior makes a strong case for the victim to obtain an order of protection from family court."

Officials in the Seminole County Sheriff's Office didn't immediately respond to a request to know whether the authorities are aware of the Tweets or any domestic dispute involving Zimmerman.

A representative for Twitter said the company doesn’t comment on individual accounts but referred The News to its policy on posting another person’s private information. Twitter’s rules prohibit sharing someone’s personal phone and email addresses, as well as intimate photos taken or distributed without the person’s consent.

"Twitter should be applauded for so quickly disabling Zimmerman’s account," Goldberg said. "Their hasty response is a testament to huge strides social media companies have made, as a result of advocacy groups like CCRI, in no longer tolerating abuse."

Zimmerman has trolled on Twitter before in recent months. He retweeted a picture of Martin’s corpse in September and went on a homophobic tirade in which he also called President Obama “racist” in August.