Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino has asked Twitter Canada leadership to remove what he characterized as an “abusive” tweet with the aim to “intimidate” the president of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA).In a letter, penned on Tuesday and addressed to the company’s managing director Paul Burns, Mendicino argued that allowing such comments to be published online puts healthcare workers at risk of further abuse.
The tweet appears in a thread posted by Dr. Katharine Smart condemning comments promising a “bounty” to anyone who can capture video surveillance of medical professionals breaking COVID-19 guidelines. Posted by @AsktheBrownDoc1, it reads: Are you scared you are next @KatharineSmart? A group of us who can’t stand you have been seeing you and your family for weeks (from a safe distance in public spaces, of course!!!) and already have some great footage…just biding our time for the perfect time!
As of Tuesday afternoon, it appears the account was deactivated by the account owner. Smart had already reported the Dec. 22 tweet to Twitter, but the company deemed it not to be in violation of their rules regarding abusive behavior. Twitter lists a variety of examples of abusive behavior that is prohibited on the site. Among them are content that makes violent threats against an identifiable target; wishes, hopes, or calls for serious harm on a person or group of people; suggests unwanted sexual advances; includes insults, profanity, or slurs with the purpose of harassing or intimidating others; encourages or calls for others to harass an individual or group of people; and which denies that mass casualty events took place. Mendicino noted that the tweet “directly contravened” Twitter’s rules.
Source: https://www.ctvnews.ca/
Friday, April 17, 2026
