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What gets you arrested over social media?

Tweets and posts considered threatening are getting people arrested, but not everyone

CONGRESS-WALSH
Heather Charles/Chicago Tribune/MCT via Getty Images
By @KofieYeboah

While there are numerous documented cases of people who have lost their jobs over their social media posts, since the recent violence and social unrest that’s occurred, people are starting to get arrested for speaking out on the Dallas sniper.

According to Fox 61 in Hartford, Connecticut, a 34-year-old man named Kurt Vanzuuk indicated that Micah Xavier Johnson, the sniper who killed five police officers and injured seven more last week in Dallas, was a hero. Vanzuuk was later arrested and taken into custody. He wasn’t the only one to be arrested for speaking out in a provocative manner. According to an Associated Press article, there were several people arrested who have been posting threats. However, there is one curious case that keeps popping up.

A Slate article reported that former congressman Joe Walsh tweeted this:

3 Dallas Cops killed, 7 wounded.

This is now war. Watch out Obama. Watch out black lives matter punks. Real America is coming after you/

That tweet has since been deleted, but screenshots last forever. Walsh’s statement has many people asking why he isn’t being treated the same as the others who were arrested or questioned about a possible threat to President Barack Obama.

Instead of being arrested, Walsh actually appeared on CNN, which of course hasn’t gone over well with the public.

So questions remain:

Is it because Walsh is a former congressman?

Is it a popularity factor?

Is it because he tweeted about Obama and not law enforcement?

Whatever the answer is, it’s clear that not all social media threats are weighed equally.

Kofie Yeboah asks for Sweet Tea at every restaurant and recites approximately 2.5 Spongebob lines per hour.