George Zimmerman's Tweets That Got Him Suspended From Twitter Will Infuriate You
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Twitter has suspended George Zimmerman's account after he tweeted out a phone number, an email address, and topless images of a woman he claims is his former girlfriend—essentially doxxing her. Zimmerman, who was acquitted in the killing of Black teenager Trayvon Martin a few years ago, wrote that his girlfriend "Heather" cheated on him with a "dirty Muslim" above a topless photo of a female.
RELATED: Twitter Bans Revenge Porn
The Daily Dot took screenshots of the tweets before his account was suspended and reported that the first picture includes a Kentucky phone number that went straight to voicemail. The publication reportedly called the number and got the voicemail of a woman identified as Heather:
Daily Dot screenshot via Twitter - dailydot.com
Daily Dot screenshot via Twitter - dailydot.com
Twitter's abusive behavior policy states that users "may not engage in targeted abuse or harassment" and that users are also forbidden from posting "intimate photos or videos that were taken or distributed without the subject's consent." Posting someone else's non-public or personal phone number is also in violation of Twitter's rule.
In addition, Zimmerman is from Florida, which recently outlawed posting sexually explicit photos or videos of former partners, also known as "revenge porn." According to the Associated Press, a first offense would qualify as a first degree misdemeanor and a second would be "a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison."
ALSO: PornHub Just Took a Stand Against Revenge Porn
The Daily Dot contacted University of Miami criminal law professor Mary Anne Franks to determine whether Zimmerman's posts violated Florida's revenge porn rule, which went into effect in October. Franks told the publication that “this image probably doesn't qualify—it's not quite 'nude,'’’ but added that Florida's final version of the law is "deeply flawed."
However, because Zimmerman shared more than one photo, he may have broken the state or federal law against stalking, Franks said.
This comes a few months after Zimmerman made headlines for retweeting a photo of Trayvon Martin's corpse above the words, "Z-man [Zimmerman] is a one man army." The photo was ultimately removed from Twitter, and Zimmerman went on to post a tweet directing media inquiries to a specific phone number. Mother Jones writer Shane Bauer reached out to the listed number, which was associated with a car audio shop. Bauer learned that the number belonged to a man that Zimmerman had been "waging a social media campaign against."
Following the revenge porn incident this week, many Twitter users called out the platform for suspending Zimmerman's account after he posted topless photos of a white woman but not after he retweeted a dead photo of Martin:
