Army veteran, GOP Senate candidate, accuses Twitter of flagging July 4 post of his salute in uniform

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Veteran running for Congress slams Twitter for putting warning on his July 4th post

Purple Heart recipient Capt. Sam Brown is accusing the tech company of censoring him after he had just filed for his Senate run

An Army veteran and Republican Senate candidate is taking aim at Twitter for flagging his Fourth of July tweet for "potentially sensitive content."

Retired Army Capt. Sam Brown, a Purple Heart recipient and GOP challenger to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., commemorated Independence Day by sharing a photo of himself offering a salute in uniform with the text "Freedom isn't free."

"On July 4, 1776, America was born. On July 4, 2021, we’re still the best country on this planet," Brown wrote. 

However, since Brown made the tweet, a warning was slapped on the patriotic post. (For those not logged into Twitter, the warning read, "The following media includes potentially sensitive content.") 

Brown shared a screenshot of the warning label and put the tech giant on blast. 

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"Hey @Twitter, I didn’t realize my face was ‘sensitive content,'" Brown tweeted Wednesday night. "Ironic considering I only have 3 tweets & just filed to run for U.S. Senate only hours ago." 

"Was it my scars or the fact that I salute the flag? Regardless, neither are going away – and neither am I," he added. 

Brown sustained injuries from an IED explosion during his deployment to Afghanistan in 2008, which left his face severely burned. 

"While I was ready to lay down my life in order to protect freedom of speech for my fellow Americans, Big Tech today decided that they know better, censoring me and deeming my comments regarding this great nation 'Sensitive Content,'" Brown told Fox News in a statement. "These egregious and un-American actions come mere hours after I took steps to file and establish my candidacy for the United States Senate in Nevada, reinforcing my belief that ‘Big Tech’ is working against conservatives and trying to silence our voices." 

He continued, "Everyday I wear the scars of my service and I am still proud to call myself an American. If Twitter thinks they can censor my military service, my love for this country, or the flag it represents – they are sorely mistaken."

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A Twitter spokesperson responded by saying that such warnings can be enabled or disabled based on the individual user's account settings.

Speaking on "Fox & Friends" Friday, Brown said the message was intended to remind Americans that "freedom isn't free." He said he was in "disbelief" to see his nonpartisan, patriotic message flagged by Twitter as "potentially sensitive."

"Either my face, my scars were sensitive or the fact that someone would salute in uniform our American flag or, most likely, this came just a few hours after I filed to run for Senate. As a Republican, we're very used to seeing censorship happen on the Big Tech platforms," he said. 

According to his website, Brown retired from the military in 2011 after five years of active service. He and his wife run a small business that "provides critical services to our veterans when the VA needs a private company to assist in urgently accessing medication outside the federal system."