So Why Has The Fox News Twitter Account Suddenly Gone Dark? [UPDATE]

It has been nearly 24 hours since the official Twitter account for Fox News — which boasts over 18 million followers — has tweeted out a post. At the same time, Fox News’ sister network — Fox Business — hasn’t posted anything to its official Twitter account in a full day.

So why have the social media platforms for the two channels suddenly gone dark? Obviously, it is unusual and highly notable that the accounts haven’t posted anything in a day, especially considering that Fox News’ account has tweeted over 400,000 times and Fox Biz has published more than 200,000 tweets. The two accounts typically provide real-time news updates, promos, video segments from their programs and links to online articles.

According to Mediaite, a source has told them that the shutdown of Fox News’ social media account is in response to the anti-fascist activists that stormed Tucker Carlson’s house on Wednesday night and doxxed him on Twitter. Police are now investigating the incident as a potential hate crime as the members of Smash Racism D.C. pounded on Carlson’s door, chanted violent threats, and spray-painted anarchy symbols on his driveway.

From Mediaite’s article:

“[This] is a conscious decision in light of what was done to Tucker,” the source said. They suggested Twitter was fostering a dangerous climate that resulted in threats against Fox News employees.

While Mediaite’s source is stating this has to do with the incident at Tucker’s home, it does raise some questions regarding other Fox-related social media accounts. Carlson works for Fox News but not Fox Business, so is that network also deciding not to tweet in solidarity with Fox News? Also, specific Fox-related accounts are currently posting new tweets — including Carlson.

People feel like they have to shut up. That they can’t say what they think because they’ll be punished. This has a chilling effect on everyone’s ability to speak and think freely. pic.twitter.com/YOAtTAhMNc

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) November 9, 2018

The above tweet from Tucker’s verified account was sent last night, nearly 12 hours after either Fox News or Fox Biz tweeted. It also includes a video clip from Tucker calling into his own show to discuss the incident with guest host Brian Kilmeade, suggesting that a Fox News or Tucker staffer posted it for him. (That is unless Carlson has access to a media clipping service and pulled the video himself.)

Beyond that, the accounts for Fox News programs Fox & Friends, America’s Newsroom, Outnumbered, and The Five all posted new content on Friday, tweeting out clips from the shows and promotional material. So one would wonder if this were a “conscious decision” done as a response to what occurred to Carlson because Twitter is fostering a dangerous climate, why would these official show accounts still be tweeting? It just seems, well, odd.

Fox News did not immediately respond for comment on the issue over the Fox News and Fox Business Twitter accounts. We will make sure to update this post when we hear back.

Until then, we’ll just have to speculate on whether this was a corporate decision related to the Tucker home protest or something else altogether.

UPDATE 8:40 PM ET: The Fox Business account has retweeted a couple of Charles Gasparino posts and sent out a promo for a Deirdre Bolton interview since this article was first published. The Fox News account, however, remains dark. According to Tribune Media’s Scott Gustin, a Fox News employee told him the network was staying silent to “protest” how Twitter handled the anti-fascist group’s tweets on Tucker Carlson.

The @FoxNews Twitter account has been silent for over 24 hours. A Fox News employee tells me Fox is choosing to stay silent while protesting how Twitter handled posts targeting Tucker Carlson — specifically the ones that included his address. address.

— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) November 10, 2018

According to source, Facebook was prompt when alerted to posts that included his home address. Twitter support reportedly told Fox to "open a ticket" and did not remove the posts.

— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) November 10, 2018

Fox already released a statement condemning the Tucker protesters but there has been no official statement on the Twitter protest/blackout. Source says the Twitter blackout decision came "from the highest level" of the company.

— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) November 10, 2018

Source indicated Fox will remain silent until Twitter removes the tweets and apologizes for mishandling the situation.

— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) November 10, 2018

A note – last several tweets from them are all breaking alerts. Don’t be surprised to see “breaking” tweets still going out during this “protest” involving Twitter.

— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) November 10, 2018

The reason given by this Fox News employee really doesn’t make much sense. Smash Racism DC’s Facebook page is still up and active while Twitter suspended the account of the Antifa organization the same night as the incident. Also, what good is an unannounced boycott, especially one that seems to hurt the network more than Twitter considering that Fox News is the one sacrificing website traffic and video views by not tweeting? This is just head-scratching.

Again, if we hear back from Fox News we will further update this article.

UPDATE 5:03 PM ET 11/10/2018: Business Insider obtained an internal email from FoxNews.com managing editor Greg Wilson telling employees to “please refrain from tweeting out our content from either section accounts or your own accounts until further notice.” The email was reportedly sent to the entire digital team.