It looks like Twitter is being taken to task by black lawmakers!

Representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) and Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) sent a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Tuesday chastising the social media platform for serving as “an avenue to spread racism and bigotry,” according to Recode.

What's led them to make this accusation? 

Well, the news that Twitter (and Facebook) were used by Russian actors to spread messages meant to stir up racial conflict.

“As a result of the far-reaching nature of Twitter’s technology, we have seen an effort to undermine our democracy, create or fan flames of racial divisions, and spread hate speech that can ultimately cumulate into violence,” the letter said.

And that was just the beginning. The representatives went on, letting Dorsey know how they really feel.

“We are disturbed by the ease in which foreign actors were able to manipulate your platform to advance anti-American sentiments that both exacerbates racial tension and ultimately threatens our democracy,” the letter continued. “More importantly, we are disappointed by the silence from you and others in your industry on ways to counter such blatant manipulation of this medium to build racial animosity, the consequences of which are quite literally life threatening.”

The representatives want Twitter to implement appropriate rules for managing bigoted messages and the accounts they come from and for those accounts to face some sort of consequences.

Watson Coleman and Cleaver aren't alone in their demands that Twitter do something about racism and bigotry on its platform.

Twitter users have also been asking for better rules and guidelines to protect against bigotry, especially in the light of their new 280 character feature.

If Twitter doesn't find a way to regulate what the representatives are calling “racially divisive communications," the representatives said they plan to enforce regulation on the messaging titan.

“If Twitter continues to prove unable or hesitant to grasp the seriousness of this threat and combat the radicalized climate that is being stimulated on your platforms, we, as members of Congress, will be left with little option but to demand for increased regulations and government oversight of this industry to address these problems,” said the letter.

Watson Coleman and Cleaver also added that they feel so strongly about this because they believe this online hate has real world consequences. They claim that the racism and hate speech that can be found on Twitter “contribut[ed] to the type of violence” surrounding the Charlottesville white supremacist rally.

At the time of this posting, Twitter has not yet responded with an official comment on this matter.

BigotryFACEBOOKFacebook adsRep. Bonnie Watson ColemanRep. Emanuel CleaverrussiaTWITTER