Doxxing and false flag campaigns are supposed to be severely punished on Twitter, yet it seems to still continue while some use these malicious tools to target entertainment commentators.
Late Monday evening, YouTubers HeelvsBabyface and Valliant Renegade were both kicked off Twitter. Speculation on what occurred is running rampant. Here is what we know.
First, an introduction. Valliant Renegade has a YouTube channel that focuses on the business and financial side of Hollywood. He’s recently been under fire for his analysis of Black Adam’s box office, explaining the financial gymnastics that had to occur in order for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to claim that his DC superhero spectacular made a profit. He’s also been cited, along with WDWPro, in publications for a recent livestream where he and Pro broke the rumor that David Zaslav is actively pushing for a Harry Potter reboot or revival at Warner Bros.
AZ has a YouTube channel with over 320,000 subscribers that is dedicated to pop culture analysis. He is a fixture of the “Friday Night Tights” livestream on Gary Buechler’s Nerdrotic YouTube channel. He’s known for his shoot-from-the-hip opinions and British wit.
According to Valliant Renegade, he was informed by Twitter that his account is locked for at least one week rather than permanently suspended. This means that he is able to log in to the website, but that many features are disabled, including liking, retweeting, and posting. If you go to his Twitter account, you can still see most of his posts, except for the most recent, which has been replaced with a warning from Twitter that “This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules.”
The tweet from Valliant Renegade, which is no longer available, was in response to a discussion by another Twitter user who had quote tweeted a woman of particular tastes. She had posted a video implying that people should not complain about drag queens reading to children unless they are also reading to children.
I dare you pic.twitter.com/WhKiJPF6HY
— MechaBaybeeDoll,Your FAVORITE YOUTUBE Conspiracee (@MechaRandom42) December 31, 2022
In a video posted to his YouTube channel, AZ described the situation, stating that he responded to a tweet from She-Hulk writer Dan Slott. Slott has received much attention on Twitter for claiming that not only was Marvel’s 2022 Disney+ She-Hulk TV series faithful to the original comic books, but it was in fact, “the most comic book accurate show in the MCU.”
Anyone saying the @SheHulkOfficial TV show wasn't "comic book accurate"…
I'm the guy who has written more issues of SHE-HULK than anyone.
I've read every single comic from every #SheHulk run.
And I'm saying, for the record, it is the MOST comic book accurate show in the MCU. pic.twitter.com/d1LGOrkve9
— Dan Slott (@DanSlott) January 2, 2023
AZ paraphrased his response tweet in his video, stating that Dan Slott “needs to lose his virginity.” Clearly that’s abrasive messaging. However, AZ — who also goes by “Heels versus Baby Face” — was likely of the belief that “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk was running Twitter in a way that permitted abrasive or “mean” language. It should also be noted that the YouTube video making this message wasn’t hosted directly on Twitter.
In the same video, AZ claims that he has been mass-flagged for his comment. Activity on Twitter would seem to confirm that. Twitter user @HAILTHELORE posted screen shots of a user named @CocoaFox23 that seemed to be taking partial credit for flagging AZ’s account, although an examination of CocoaFox23’s extensive tweet history seems to deny that they engaged in mass flagging.
https://twitter.com/hailthelore/status/1610128093762686978
The same account has taken credit for posting pictures of the children of the writers from ClownfishTV. Editor’s Comment: We should note that officially, That Park Place condemns in the strongest terms the concept of posting private images, addresses, information, etc, of otherwise anonymous accounts, and we especially condemn doing so to the children. We find this to be reprehensible for a multitude of reasons, not least of which is that it creates a security concern for minors! Some accounts have called the practice “doxxing” while CocoaFox23 insists that this behavior is not technically doxxing since the pictures were publicly available but not directly attached to the ClownfishTV account. CocoaFox23’s profile picture is of an anthropomorphic canine of some kind, possibly an indication of being a “fursona” or alternate identity tied to the furry community. We are not linking to this account as it contains controversial material of different varieties. Other accounts have also bragged about participating in flagging AZ’s account over the last 12 hours. It is notable that engaging in a mass flagging campaign goes against Twitter’s terms of service.
Gary Buechler from Nerdrotic posted today confirming that AZ’s HAWTToys account ban is permanent, but that AZ appears to be taking it in stride.
Yes, and it's permanent
His official response is
and I quote
"lol" https://t.co/dq60X3Ku4J— Nerdrotic (@Nerdrotics) January 3, 2023
This is not the first time that one of AZ’s accounts has been banned from Twitter. Screen captures indicate that the original @HeelvsBabyface account was suspended for “violating [Twitter’s] rules against hateful conduct” after AZ tweeted out “@Marvel @jasonaaron @JavierGarron All men must die.”
According to multiple sources, including AZ himself, the tweet was a quote from HBO series Game of Thrones. Several accounts have campaigned on AZ’s behalf to have his original account reinstated, pointing to other accounts that seem to be making similar threats unironically and seem to be operating without limits.
Many other Twitter accounts that were suspended before Elon Musk purchased the website have now been reinstated. Elon Musk has suggested that many previously banned accounts would have some form of “ban amnesty” and be brought back to the platform. Unless the permanent ban of AZ’s @HAWTToys account is reversed, there could be some hope that his @HeelvsBabyface account will be reinstated in the coming months.
Full disclosure, WDW Pro is an author and editor of That Park Place. Valliant Renegade is a frequent contributor here as well. Our Twitter handle, @thatparkplace1, was suspended for “violating Twitter rules around ban evasion” although no one at That Park Place or That Park Place itself had any other Twitter account at the time — this was in the pre-Musk age of Twitter, however.
The bottom line in all of this is that if discourse is to be free on Twitter, it must be free. It cannot be place so easily manipulated or else entertainment personalities, and those who comment on it, can be taken down by rogue individuals. Likewise, the actual and real rule that doxxing must not be allowed should be strongly enforced. Just as it is dangerous for Elon Musk’s son to be stalked, so too it is dangerous to give the opportunity to stalkers to do the same to Clownfish TV and their children. In this moment, the moderation system of Twitter still appears to be inverted and that should be resolved with all due haste.
Sources
HeelvsBabyface Twitter account https://twitter.com/heelvsbabyface
HAWTToys Twitter Account https://twitter.com/hawttoys
Screenshot of Twitter violation https://twitter.com/GLOptimusPrime/status/1606346824276742165?s=20&t=c1dSvu3HMNB5RbLsV-f-IQ
Valliant Renegade Twitter https://twitter.com/ValliantRenegad
Lily Twitter: https://twitter.com/300mirrors
HAILTHELORE Twitter https://twitter.com/hailthelore/status/1610128093762686978
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