EXPLAINER: How platforms dealt with 'RINO hunting' video

Washington (AP) — When a GOP Missouri U.S. Senate candidate released a video Monday in which he cocked a gun after calling for a hunt of fellow Republicans who he believes are “RINOs,” or Republicans in Name Only, Facebook scraped it off its platform within a few hours.

But it’s still live on YouTube, where it’s been watched thousands of times, and on Twitter, which deliberately left it up after disabling retweets, likes and replies.

It’s a striking example of the different ways various social platforms can treat posts that violate their policies. The result: a post banned on Facebook might stay live on Twitter, depending on who has said what in which context.

That helps explain the varied ways platform responded to an ad calling for a gun hunt of politicians, just as Americans are reeling from a spike in mass shootings and elected officials around the country are grappling with an increase in violent threats.

WHY IS THE VIDEO CONTROVERSIAL?

The fundraising video released Monday across Facebook, Twitter and YouTube by Republican Missouri U.S. Senate candidate Eric Greitens shows him cocking a shotgun after declaring that he's hunting RINOs.

Greitens, who in 2018 resigned in disgrace after 17 months as Missouri governor, then appears in the video flanked by an armed tactical unit that smashes through the front door of a home.

“Get a RINO hunting permit,” Greitens says in the video. The “permit” Greitens refers to is sent to people who donate to his campaign.

Greitens uploaded the video across his social media accounts following a spate of mass shootings across the U.S. that left dozens dead. And it comes on the heels of increased threats against elected officials. On Sunday, Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who is serving on the committee investigating the...