Two Twitter users are learning the hard way that threats against the President of the United States are taken very seriously, even when they’re just a tweet.
Following last night’s passage of the healthcare reform bill, @THHEE_JAY and @Solly_Forrel expressed their frustration with the President by publishing tweets reading “ASSASSINATION! America, we survived the Assassinations and Lincoln & Kennedy. We’ll surely get over a bullet to Barrack Obama’s head” and “You Should be Assassinated!! @Barack Obama.”
Now, the Secret Service is investigating, as they do with all perceived threats against the President. ABC News notes that the two users both tried to backtrack from their statements, and at least one of the accounts (@THHEE_JAY) appears to be offline as of Monday evening.
This isn’t the first time social media activity has caught the attention of the Secret Service. Last year, a teen created a Facebook poll asking “Should Obama be killed?” Ultimately, charges weren’t filed after the perpetrator’s identity was discovered, and it seems likely that the suspects in this case had no formal plans or means to try and assassinate the President.
Nonetheless, it’s another reminder that what’s said in social media carries just as much weight as what’s said using other forms of communication. Apparently, some users still need to figure that out — and more of them will, as law enforcement continues to leverage social media in their crime-fighting efforts.
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Tags: barack obama, healthcare reform, president obama, Secret Service, trending, twitter
