A Fort Myers, Florida man was arrested for making posts on social media, including Gab and BitChute, where the Florida Department of Law Enforcement arrested Joshua John Leff for “intimidation”, and written “threats to kill”, along with possessing a weapon by a convicted felon.
In the press release by the FDLE over on their official website, they explained…
“FDLE began its investigation after receiving a tip that Leff, using an alias, was posting statements and videos inciting violence against minority groups on social media sites Bitchute and Gab.
“Leff espoused hatred toward several minority groups, threatened violence against those who disagreed with him and encouraged followers to start a race war. Videos showed Leff, a convicted felon, with multiple weapons and his writings praised mass shooters and said he wished they had killed more people.”
Both Gab and Bitchute erased Leff’s accounts, with Gab making a statement about having removed his content after the news broke.
And we banned him for it. Unlawful speech has always been banned on Gab. https://t.co/TNFxiargoM
— Gab.com (@getongab) June 17, 2019
Leff’s old Gab account was under the handle DarkLord79.
The account was posted up over on his Bitchute page, which is also currently blocked, but an archive of his profile has his Gab profile in the about section, which reads…
“In the depth of my own ignorance I attain true wisdom. Peace is a lie, there is only passion, straight for the throat and never compromise. BTW… Fuck Israel.”
His Bitchute channel was filled with various sociopolitically themed videos. You can see an archive of what the videos were like before Bitchute closed the channel. Many of the videos were critical of politicians, Globalists, minorities, and immigration policies.
So what exactly did Leff say to net him an arrest? Well, according to some of the posts collected by NBC-2, Leff wrote things like…
“America has done wrong not sending black people back to Africa and opening the door to multiculturalism and inclusiveness.” […]
He also allegedly advocated for the removal of homosexuals and Jewish people fro mthe U.S. He allegedly praised various gunmen in mass shootings, calling them heroes”, and mentioned the following about the recent New Zealand and California synagogue shooting…
“I want more of these synagogues to get shot up,” […]
While some might find these comments distasteful, they don’t indicate that he was specifically targeting anyone. They were general comments made about people in general.
If those comments landed Leff in jail then the comments from Twitter users should result in the same sort of punishment… right?
I wish trump would get hit by a truck like I hope and pray for that
— Shelden Honn (@sheldhippie) January 21, 2019
Projecting much? Trump is the worst *president* in history. Hope he gets hit by a truck delivering dildos to Trump Hotel.
— Nick Bridwell (@NBridwellWriter) June 16, 2019
I hope both of them get hit by a truck, I wish nothing but the worst for these whack ass trump supporters https://t.co/R3VuehhS0A
— lil puppy🥀 (@jessamoree) February 11, 2019
Really nice that the POS @realDonaldTrump can hold rallies and golf while families suffer at the border.
Hope he gets hit by a dump truck driven by an undocumented immigrant.
God I hate his guts.
— JRR (@ChildericsHeir) May 20, 2019
We’ve seen a crackdown on certain kinds of social media posters, though. If big tech aren’t censoring people for certain kinds of views, we’re hearing about government literally arresting people for their comments and posts. For instance, recently a New Zealand man was sentenced to nearly two years in prison for sharing a video of the Christchurch shooting in hopes of turning it into a meme. Additionally, an 18-year-old was arrested for actually sharing a picture of the Christchurch shooting in the format of a meme, which was deemed “objectionable” by New Zealand’s Chief Censor.
In this case, posting messages that other users found uncouth and unsavory were enough to get Leff arrested. Perhaps there was more to the comments that the police didn’t reveal, but people say far worse things than that on Twitter all the time.
This kind of repercussion isn’t isolated to just Leff’s life, though. The Department of Children and Families accosted Leff’s two daughters, for which a family member is attempting to regain custody of the girls, as reported in a follow-up piece by NBC-2.
Joshua John Leff, meanwhile, is currently in jail with a bond set at $1,100,000.
[Update:] You can read some of the comments Leff made in his videos via the court documents that are accessible on the Lee Clerk website.
(Thanks for the news tip Quickshooter)