Technology

Bomb suspect regularly tweeted threats at Democrats and Soros conspiracy theories

Cesar Soyac Jr., the man suspected of sending explosives in the mail over the past week, regularly posted slews of pro-Trump and anti-Democratic content on social media channels.

Soyac was extremely plugged into fringe right-wing media and posted heavy amounts of hoax theories and misinformation.

He often posted memes that claimed political movements than ran against conservative interests came at the plotting of hedgefund billionaire and prominent Democratic donor George Soros — a routine line of thinking in anti-Semitic internet circles that has become an increasingly popular theory among mainstream Republicans.

His Facebook, where he posted much of this content, was deactivated by Facebook on Friday. Twitter initially left Soyac’s account up but suspended it late on Friday afternoon. 

His other posts feature use of racial slurs in reference to politicians of color including former President Obama and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), both of whom he mailed packages to. 

Soyac was arrested by law enforcement on Friday. Images of his van that quickly surfaced after he was apprehended showed it plastered with stickers expressing similar pro-Trump and anti-CNN sentiment, mixed with flags of Florida’s Seminole tribe.

He also tweeted threats at Sarah Jeong, a New York Times opinion columnist who endured harassment from right-wing trolls earlier this year over her old tweets which they called anti-white, as well as former congressional press secretary Rochelle Ritchie.

A Facebook spokesperson explained Soyac’s account was removed on Friday because “there is absolutely no place on our platforms for people who attempt such horrendous acts.”

“We have found and immediately removed the suspect’s accounts on Facebook and Instagram. We will also continue to remove content that praises or supports the bombing attempt or the suspect as soon as we’re aware,” the spokesperson continued, noting that they are working law enforcement on the matter.

A source familiar with the moderation of Soyac’s account also noted that Facebook had taken action on his posts in the past for separately violating the platform’s rules, but said that nothing at the time warranted his account being fully removed.

Twitter did not shed light on past interactions it’s had with Soyac’s accounts and declined to comment on its decision to leave his account up.

“This is an ongoing law enforcement investigation. We do not have a comment,” a Twitter spokesperson said over email.