After Top Twitter Execs Try to Deny Allegations – A New Report from Elon Musk Swings Their Closet Wide Open
Nobody expected Elon Musk to really take over Twitter. And nobody certainly expected, that when he did, he would expose what the left-leaning social network was doing. Most conservatives knew that the social network had been censoring free speech for years.
But the top executives at the company had stated, in some cases before Congress, that they did not silence users over their political views.
From Twitter:
Jack Dorsey testified before Congress in 2018 that Twitter did not engage in censoring or shadowbanning political candidates or elected officials.
Jack Dorsey testified before Congress in 2018 that Twitter did not engage in censoring or shadowbanning political candidates or elected officials. pic.twitter.com/hLFAy7Uwrw
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) December 9, 2022
But this week, reporters have combed through thousands of documents from the company’s former executives. And guess what they discovered?
From The Post Millennial:
Elon Musk confirmed early Friday morning that under previous leadership at Twitter, political candidates were blacklisted, prevented from having their content amplified on the platform…
This admission from Musk comes after Bari Weiss dropped the second batch of Twitter Files, which revealed that “teams of Twitter employees” did build blacklists, which they used to stifle those users whose content they did not want to see trending or amplified on Twitter.
This is pretty huge. The revelations made by Bari Weiss revealed that Twitter executives created special task forces to de-amplify popular conservative users on the platform. They called it “visibility filtering.” Everyone knows it as “shadow banning.”
Popular conservatives like Charlie Kirk, Dan Bongino, and even notable doctors were put on lists. They would not appear in search results. Their tweets would not trend. This was the way Twitter “suppressed” conversations they did not want reaching its large audience.
All to control the political narrative in 2020.
You might be thinking, “Well, the past is in the past. Elon’s in charge now, so it shouldn’t be a problem.” Except, the top executives at Twitter at the time repeatedly claimed they did not do this.
From Twitter:
Twitter denied that it does such things. In 2018, Twitter’s Vijaya Gadde (then Head of Legal Policy and Trust) and Kayvon Beykpour (Head of Product) said: “We do not shadow ban.” They added: “And we certainly don’t shadow ban based on political viewpoints or ideology.”
6. Twitter denied that it does such things. In 2018, Twitter's Vijaya Gadde (then Head of Legal Policy and Trust) and Kayvon Beykpour (Head of Product) said: “We do not shadow ban.” They added: “And we certainly don’t shadow ban based on political viewpoints or ideology.”
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 9, 2022
They repeatedly promised that conservatives were not being censored.
From Twitter:
As you read the Twitter Files, remember @vijaya – Twitter’s former top lawyer – repeatedly said Twitter wouldn’t censor politically:@politico, Oct. 2020:
“We’re always going to take positions on things… That’s very different than how we necessarily operate the platform.”
1/ As you read the Twitter Files, remember @vijaya – Twitter's former top lawyer – repeatedly said Twitter wouldn't censor politically:@politico, Oct. 2020:
— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) December 9, 2022
“We’re always going to take positions on things… That’s very different than how we necessarily operate the platform.”
But what they did was absolutely censorship. It is hard to deny that this had an impact on the 2020 Election and most likely the 2022 Midterms. So, will our government step in and demand answers from these people?
Will they finally take steps to revoke immunity for social networks that engage in violating the First Amendment? Or will Biden and Democrats do nothing, thinking this only served to help their party?
Key Takeaways:
- A new bombshell report revealed former Twitter execs censored conservative users.
- This comes after these execs repeatedly claimed they did not censor users over politics.
- Twitter and other social networks have been accused of suppressing free speech, impacting recent elections.
Source: The Post Millennial, Twitter, Twitter, Twitter