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Battle of the @ButchOtter’s: Idaho Governor Butch Otter takes over parody Twitter account
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Ladies and gentleman, the battle of the @ButchOtters has begun. Members of the local social media crowd were upset Thursday, April 30, when the parody Twitter account, @ButchOtter, was taken over by the real governor of Idaho, C. L. “Butch” Otter.
City Council member Shane Carlson (Albion, Idaho) set up the parody @ButchOtter account about a month ago. Carlson said it was never meant to actually impersonate the governor but was “pure parody and satire” and “obviously comical.”
Carlson used the Twitter account to talk about Idaho politics and bring attention to political issues through humor. He said satire is a form of political expression and believes social media is a powerful tool that can bring people together to share ideas and effect political change.
“I’m an elected official myself,” Carlson said. “And a life long Republican.”
Thursday, Carlson tried to log into his @ButchOtter account but was unable to sign in. He thought the social media Website was over capacity (as often happens as a result of the Website’s rapid growth) and didn’t think anything of it.
Later that afternoon, Carlson was surprised by a phone call from Idaho Deputy Attorney General Brian Benjamin. According to Carlson, Benjamin called him from his friend and business partner Wyatt Werner’s place of employment – the Idaho Tax Commission. Benjamin originally believed the @ButchOtter Twitter account was operated by Werner.
Carlson verified the @ButchOtter account was his, and told Benjamin if he had further questions he could contact his attorney. Carlson has not heard from Benjamin since their conversation on April 30. His attorney has not been contacted.
When Carlson checked the @ButchOtter Twitter account immediately after, he found the real Governor Otter had taken it over over. Instead of his avatar, a picture of an A-k47 with the words, “This is my voting machine,” written across it, Carlson found a photograph of Gov. Otter and his wife. He did not have an opportunity to copy the posts on his microblog before Gov. Otter took possession of the account. Carlson was not notified by Twitter that there was a complaint about the account and has been unable to contact anyone from the company.
The Arbiter could not reach a representative from Twitter at press time to inquire about the reason the account was deactivated.
Twitter’s Trademark Policy in their Terms of Service agreement states, “Using a company or business name, logo, or other trademark protected materials in a manner that may mislead or confuse others may be considered trademark infringement. Accounts with clear INTENT to mislead others will be immediately suspended.”
Tweoples (people who participate on Twitter) interviewed said it was obvious the account was parody.
“I never tried to mislead anyone,” Carlson said.
Boise State Student Katrina Pietromica expressed disappointment in Twitter for shutting down the parody @ButchOtter. She feels it is a violation of the First Amendment.
“Twitter may have an epic fail on their hands for violating their own terms for suspending the account,” Pietromica said. “Who else is safe?”
Other parody accounts on Twitter containing Butch Otter’s name were disabled on May 1.
Theresa Luna, chief of staff for the Department of Administration, said the take over of @ButchOtter – timed with the questioning of Werner and Carlson happening at the same time – was “mere coincidence.” She said the Attorney General’s office was investigating an anonymous email sent to Otter’s office that complained Werner was using the “fake account” and posting to Twitter on company time. Werner said he only used Twitter on his breaks.
Luna also said her office was talking to Gov. Otter’s office about exploring different social media platforms – such as Facebook and Twitter – as a way to get more information out to constituents.
Gov. Otter has only posted to the Twitter account twice since he took over @ButchOtter and has not yet opened a Facebook account. His inaugural Tweet said, “The Governor of Idaho is now on Twitter to help make Idaho government more open and accessible to our citizens.”
Chris Blanchard, program coordinator in the College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs, is active in the local social media community, a co-founder of Ignite Boise and business partner of Carlson and Werner. The three co-founded Boise tech firm Pronetos.
Blanchard said Gov. Otter is missing out on an opportunity to connect with constituents by failing to post anything on the Twitter account since his inaugural Tweets.
“Twitter especially is all about being genuine, and accessible.” Blanchard said. “Use it to inform people. Use it to tell people where you’re getting your coffee. Don’t pawn this off to some PR intern.”
Twitter user Dale Dixon doesn’t have an opinion on Otters acquisition of @butchotter but does believe transparency is important on social networking sites.
“I’m a firm believer in honesty and people being forthright about who they are and what their intention’s are on Twitter,” Dixon said.
Blanchard pointed out there are thousands of parody accounts on Twitter which mimic celebrities, politicians, even the founding fathers.
“Parody is traditional part of political discourse in America since the inception of the nation,” Blanchard said.
Local business owner Scott Nicholson said he followed the parody @ButchOtter on Twitter.
“The most valuable part of the parody was to point out that Governor Otter has not effectively built public consensus supporting his views and that he should try a more diplomatic approach,” Nicholson said.
Nicholson, Blanchard and many of the original @ButchOtter followers on Twitter, feel Otter’s actions are sending the wrong message to the social media community.
“The way it is coming across emphasizes the governor’s inability to laugh at himself and acknowledge there is controversy on issues,” Nicholson said.
Monday, May 4, a movement on Twitter started that aims to encourage Tweople to block the @butchotter account.
According to Twitter’s website, “Blocking someone instead of removing them means that not only do you not want to follow them, but you want to deny them the ability to follow or reply to you.”
According to Carlson, #blockkButchOtterMonday is a movement on Twitter that aims to make a political statement about “muzzling political speech.” Carlson did not start the movement and is unsure of who did.
He said an acceptable resolution to the situation for him would be, “[...] return my handle and acknowledge that satire and parody are protected political speech.”
Check back later for updates on this article.
SHANNON MORGAN
Editor-in-Chief
