The New York State Department of Sociology and Anthropology has denied claims that it has been “crazing” social media by censoring the posts of several professors in the field of sociology.
The department said it would not be “shocked” to learn of the “incidents” in a statement to ABC News.
It said it was “not aware of any allegations that any faculty member was censoring any individual posts or any other person”.
However, the department did not say whether it had contacted the individuals or if they had been disciplined.
It has a history of censoring professors’ tweets, but has not responded to calls from ABC News to confirm that it had done so.
The New Jersey State College of Social Work has also come under fire from several members of the public after censoring a tweet about a New Jersey state legislator who was the subject of a Twitter feud between the two parties.
“The state of New Jersey has had an ongoing investigation into the tweets made by several social media accounts, including a New York state legislator,” the department said.
“We are not aware of those individuals being disciplined.”
The tweets about the legislator, who is a Democrat, were posted on the department’s Facebook page on Wednesday and Thursday.
“I just received word that @NewJerseySociology has banned the tweets,” the tweet read.
“No further comment.
We are just trying to make sense of this.”
A spokesperson for the department declined to comment on the tweet, saying it had been removed from the department website.
However, they did say that the department had “no plans” to investigate and that it was in “regular communication” with the New Jersey legislature.
The statement also included the following response to an ABC News inquiry about the tweets.
“To clarify, the New York department of sociology does not censor or blacklist individuals on social media.
This department has a long history of doing this, including following up with people who have been reported for being disruptive.
The policy applies to both public and private posts.”
The department’s statement also did not respond to calls for an investigation by ABC News, which has asked for a copy of the tweets and to see if they are being taken down.
New York’s New York Sociological Association also issued a statement on Thursday night, saying the tweets were “outrageous” and “disrespectful”.
“The tweets have nothing to do with the actual content of the article they are based on, the professor’s personal beliefs or political views,” the statement read.
It continued: “The tweet was made in an effort to discredit and embarrass an individual and his colleagues who are critical of the State’s political party.
The tweet was a gross distortion of the facts and completely false.
The person who made the tweets has been suspended pending the outcome of an internal investigation.”
The statements from the two universities come days after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who had been critical of social media for censoring tweets, took to Twitter to express his disgust at the tweet.
“This is an outrage,” he wrote on Thursday.