Pinterest Removes Rand Pauls Mock Valentine to Hillary Clinton
In his effort to mock Hillary Clinton, Sen.Rand Paul(R., Ky.) got taken down by the rules of social media parody.
On Saturday, Mr. Pauls various social media accounts shared a link to a Pinterest profile, sayingif Hillary Clinton set up a Pinterest for Valentines Day, we can only imagine it might look like this. The profileincluded several references to moments that Mrs. Clinton likely doesnt want to highlight with voters. One section called shoulda, woulda, coulda had images from her unsuccessful 2008 White House bid. Another pin posted to the photo-sharing site referenced the attacks on Benghazi in 2012.
Pinterest doesnt take kindly to impersonation and by Tuesday, the account was gone.
A Pinterest spokesperson said the account was removed because our acceptable use policy prohibits activity to impersonate or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity.
The account was set up as if it was Mrs. Clinton, using username hillaryrclinton. There was no indication on the page that the account came from Mr. Paul and not Mrs. Clinton and that was the problem.
Parody accounts are allowed on Pinterest if they are clearly marked as such. There are other profiles dedicated to politicians. A fan account dedicated to President Barack Obama has 3,110 followers and the bio reads What if the 44th President of the United States tried his hand at the newest social media craze? There is even a profile for Mr. Paul set up by a fan allowed because it clearly states that it is a fan news page. The profile is small, with two boards and 46 followers.
In January, Mr. Pauls political action committee, Rand PAC, postedan audio link of a fake phone callbetween Jeb Bush and Mrs. Clinton, in which actors portraying them argued over whos turn it was to move into the White House. Mr. Pauls PAC is also asking his followers to sign a petition to say no to Mrs. Clinton running for president.
A Rand Paul spokesman didnt return a request for comment.
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Original post:
Pinterest Removes Rand Pauls Mock Valentine to Hillary Clinton