Leslie Jones makes triumphant return to Twitter after vanquishing racist trolls

Leslie Jones is back on Twitter.
Leslie Jones makes triumphant return to Twitter after vanquishing racist trolls
Leslie Jones at the premiere of "Ghostbusters" at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California. Credit: Getty Images

After leaving the platform in the face of racist trolls, Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones has returned to Twitter.

On Monday, Jones left the platform after a scores of users bombarded the Saturday Night Live star with hateful, racist messages. Jones fought back, retweeting and sharing those messages with her followers, but ultimately logged off the platform anyway.

Twitter responded by permanently banning Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos. Yiannopoulos didn't send the most vile messages himself, but he did create fake tweets that made it appear as if Jones herself was tweeting hateful statements.


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Jones made her comeback on Thursday, tweeting "who else is gonna live tweet Game of Thrones!"

Twitter itself responded, welcoming Jones back.

Twitter still needs to address its harassment problem

In the wake of Yiannopoulos's ban, many of his supporters have accused Twitter of standing for censorship and against free speech. It puts the company, which used to call itself the "free speech wing of the free speech party" in a precarious position.

On the one hand, Twitter needs to foster an environment where users feel welcome to interact. On the other, it needs to tow the line between banning harassment and censoring dissenting thoughts.

The official WikiLeaks Twitter account raised pointed questions at Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Thursday, questioning why Yiannopoulos was banned and why it took a public figure like Jones to get action.

It's a valid question -- and one I asked yesterday. Jack Dorsey and the team at Twitter have vowed to clamp down on harassment on the platform in the past.

It remains to be seen what the company will learn from Leslie Jones' brief respite from the platform.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Topics X/Twitter

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