X took two days to suspend account of suspect in Pride flag killing
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The man accused of killing Lauri Carleton over her display of a Pride Flag used an account that posted numerous anti-gay and antisemitic posts.

However, the account was still active two days after law enforcement confirmed its existence on Twitter. Wednesday evening, the social media company suspended the account.

X Wednesday, Alejandra Caraballo, a Cyberlaw Clinic member at Harvard Law School, reported the account’s content, but received a response from the company, stating: “After reviewing the available information, we are happy to inform you that [the account] has not violated our safety policies.”

X, as well as Gab, a platform popular among far-right extremists, was used by the suspected killer, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s office said on Monday.

X account used by suspect contained a pinned tweet with an image of a Pride Flag on fire. Besides anti-LGBTQ and anti-Semitic material, the account also referred to police as using “sociopathic schemes.”

After requesting comment from X regarding why the account remained active, the company responded with an auto-reply: “We’ll get back to you soon.” About 30 minutes later, the account was suspended. Accounts associated with violence were usually suspended quickly under previous leadership.

A large number of employees who worked in the company’s compliance department were laid off by Musk, who owns X. Musk laid off about 80% of the company’s staff over the past year.