Krassenstein Bros
"The Twitter Rules to apply to everyone. Operating multiple fake accounts and purchasing account interactions are strictly prohibited. Engaging in these behaviors will result in permanent suspension from the service," a Twitter spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.
Ed and Brian Krassenstein, who had 926,000 and 698,000 followers respectively, were known for their quick replies to Trump's tweets, attacking him and promoting themselves.
The brothers responded to Twitter's claim that they broke the rules to magnify their profiles on the platform and boost content.
"Twitter claims that we manipulated our interactions through the purchase of fake accounts and fake interactions. We have never once acquired anything for the purpose of increasing our Twitter presence," the brothers said in a statement Thursday. "In fact, we avoided using any platforms residing outside of Twitter's own technology to manage our accounts for fear we would be accused of using automated tools, which we have avoided since launching our accounts."
The pair admitted to operating secondary accounts, but said it was for business purposes and to monitor threats against themselves. They said they were confident Twitter would conclude the suspension was given wrongfully.
In 2016, federal agents seized almost a half-million dollars of assets from the brothers, saying there was "reasonable cause" that the two had committed online financial scams. The brothers were never charged after the government decided forfeiting alleged criminal assets related to the scam was enough.
In 2018, the brothers released a children's book titled How the People Trumped Ronald Plump. The description which claimed to have " any politically-minded reader rolling," ends with a depiction of a shirtless special counsel Robert Mueller staring into the future.
Reader Comments
The government steals $500K and then declines to provide justification (via court) as you have paid enough already
Now that's what I call a financial scam