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can be all you need to end up behind bars.
Over the years, more than a dozen people - mostly teenagers -
have been arrested for tweeting. Most of the arrest-worthy
tweets were violent, mentioning mass shootings, assassinations,
bomb threats, and more.
Sometimes the intent behind the violent messages is pure. They
were either sent sarcastically, or they were phrases taken out of
context.
The following examples serves as reminders that everything you
write on social media is public. Be careful what you say, because
you're always being watched.
1. Tweeting about "mass homicide"
A 15-year-old Chicago high school sophomore with the twitter
handle @Mark12394995 tweeted
about the Zimmerman trial before a verdict had been reached.
"If Zimmmerman free imma shoot everybody in Zion causing a mass
homicide, and ill get away wit it just like Zimmerman [all sic],"
he wrote in July 2013.
Zimmerman shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin during
unofficial neighborhood watch duty a year ago; in a controversial
decision, the jury just found him
not guilty of murder.
But the police say they found "no credibility" to the threat. "He
has no weapons and no access to weapons," an official told The
News-Sun. The
teen was soon let go with a Class 4 felony, disorderly
conduct.
2. Tweeting about assassinating the President.
In September 2012, one day before the Democratic National
Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, 21-year-old Donte Jamar
Sims felt need to tweet something alarming:
"Ima hit president Obama with that Lee Harvey Oswald
swagg," he wrote, referencing John F. Kennedy's killer.
Followed by:
"Well Ima Assassinate president Obama this evening
!...Gotta get this monkey off my chest while he's in town
-_-"
And:
"The Secret Service is gonna be defenseless once I aim the
Assualt Rifle at Barack's Forehead ... F* the # DNC !"
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3. Encouraging others to kill the President.
Jarvis Britton, 26, was arrested after tweeting about President
Obama.
Last September he tweeted, "Let's kill the president. F.E.A.R. [a
group which stands for Forever Enduring Always Ready]" Then, "Can
the president stop it? He only has 36 hours."
Britton plead guilty to threatening the life of the president. He
was sentenced to one year in federal prison,
The Huffington Post reports.
4. Tweeting something that sounds like a bomb threat at a Pink concert.
A 16-year-old in Australia was on his way to a Pink concert, and
he was a little too excited to see the artist perform her song,
"Timebomb."
He tweeted something that sounded bad out of context:
"@Pink I'm ready with my Bomb. Time to blow up
#RodLaverArena. B----."
The teen says he was nabbed by officials at the concert who
recognized his photo from his Twitter avatar,
The Sydney Morning Herald reports. His father said the arena
urged police to arrest his son and he had to drive three hours to
get him.
Later, the teen clarified his tweet and his harmless intention:
"'It was meant to be about drop the effects, the music,
everything - just drop it all.''
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5. Taunting authorities on Twitter after committing a crime.
Wanda Podgurski was on the run for what KMBC News calls
"massive insurance fraud" and wrote taunting tweets to
authorities. "Catch me if you can," she wrote on June 5.
And catch her, they did. After traveling from Seattle to Boston
to Las Vegas to Mexico over the course of four months, she was
finally arrested thanks to the tweet, which tipped off
authorities to her whereabouts.
6. Tweeting about shooting up your school.
A teenager in South Florida was arrested for tweeting about a
school shooting shortly after the Sandy Hook incident.
The student, which attended Miami Lakes Educational Center,
threatened to "shoot up this school this
Friday."
CBS Miami says the teen was charged with making threats to
cause bodily injury. When asked for an explanation the teen
replied, "It wasn't a threat to you guys. It was a
statement in general, multiple statements that I made. I just
want people to understand it's a serious thing and it shouldn't
be made fun of and it shouldn't be taken lightly."
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The teen was angry that the diver didn't place and when other
Twitter users came to the athlete's defense he replied, "I hold a
gun license for shooting birds and I'm gonna shoot yours as
well.''
@Rileyy_69 was brought into the police station in London to
discuss the intent behind his tweets, which the UK Olympics team
was monitoring closely.
8. Tweeting allegedly racist and anti-religious things about a soldier who was killed.
After a British soldier was murdered, a 22 and 23-year-old took
to Twitter and tweeted offensive comments about it,
The Independent reports.
Both were arrested under England's "Public Order Act on
suspicion of inciting racial or religious hatred," The
Independent says.
"These comments were directed against a section of
our community. Comments such as these are completely unacceptable
and only cause more harm to our community in Bristol,"
authorities told the paper. Both men were released on
bail.
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9. Tweeting your frustration about a flight delay.
When Paul Chambers realized his flight might be delayed due to a
snow forecast, he tweeted in frustration.
The Huffington Post reports (via AP): "Chambers was arrested
in January [2010] after he posted the message saying he would
blow up Robin Hood Airport near the large town of Doncaster "sky
high" if his flight, due to leave in a week's time, was delayed."
Chambers says he never thought the airport would notice his
tweet, much less take it seriously. He was arrested two days
before his flight.
10. Tweeting out police's whereabouts during a protest.
Elliot Madison, 41, was arrested in Pittsburgh after tweeting
about police's whereabouts during a protest in 2009.
Reuters reported then: "The criminal complaint against
Madison said he broke the law by using Twitter to direct unlawful
protesters and other people involved in criminal acts to avoid
arrest and to inform them of police movements and actions."
He was later released on bail.
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