Southwest Airlines is drawing backlash after its official X account suggested in a now-deleted post that an employee could be investigated for posting conservative beliefs on social media.
An X user with the screen name “NoMAGA” shared an image and tagged Southwest Airlines’ official account. The employee had posted a picture of herself with a caption saying that she supported United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. military, Donald Trump and Charlie Kirk, among other right-wing figures and opinions.
“You support this?” the X user asked Southwest.
“Southwest follows the Golden Rule and champions a Culture of inclusiveness,” the account wrote back. “We take matters like this with the utmost importance. Please send a DM, so we can talk more.”
The “Golden Rule” likely comes from the Bible verse Matthew 7:12: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
🚨UPDATE🚨
SouthWest @SouthwestAir just deleted the post where they suggested they will punish an employee for having Conservative views
Too late.
We have the receipts! https://t.co/OaRsigXUw5 pic.twitter.com/lmDTY2sBQl
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 11, 2026
Libs of TikTok’s Chaya Raichik quickly flagged Southwest’s reply, asking whether the company intended to punish the employee for supporting law enforcement. Southwest later deleted its post, though Raichik revealed that she had already saved the response.
The original Libs of TikTok post had more than 1.1 million views as of Thursday morning, and the follow-up with the “receipts” had nearly 850,000 views. Southwest Airlines had not responded to an Inquisitr News request seeking comment as of publication.
As of Thursday morning, it was unknown whether the employee had been disciplined. No further information about the employee was available at publication. Numerous X users have already pledged not to use Southwest Airlines moving forward.
It is unclear how the employee’s post would violate Southwest’s social media policies, which state that employees “must use social media responsibly and in a manner that does not reflect negatively on Southwest Airlines.” There is a clear difference between an employee saying that she is pro-ICE and pro-Donald Trump and her explicitly wishing harm on criminal illegal aliens, which she did not do.
Hey @SouthwestAir the answer should have been an easy one. “The views of our employees do not necessarily reflect the views of Southwest. We respect our employees right to express themselves outside of work as long as they are not violent, discriminatory, or bigoted and do not…
— Red (@MisanthropeFLA) February 11, 2026
Southwest’s employee handbook says that prohibited social media content “could include” posts that would be considered disrespectful or discriminatory. However, that theoretically should not apply when someone simply says they are pro-life and support Charlie Kirk.
A West Chicago teacher ran into a similar issue last month and was placed on administrative leave after writing “GO ICE” on Facebook. The teacher voluntarily resigned Feb. 5, a week after more than 100 parents and community members attended a city council meeting and questioned why the teacher was still employed.
West Chicago Mayor Daniel Bovey had previously criticized the teacher for expressing those views in a school district with a large Latino population. Inquisitr News is not naming the teacher for safety reasons.
