OPINION: We shouldn't trust Twitter to protect the US midterms
The San Francisco social media giant has made at least two big mistakes in the past and their treatment of dissident users is troubling to say the least.
“Today, as we do ahead of other global elections, we’re activating enforcement of our Civic Integrity Policy for the 2022 US midterms.”
Silicon Valley tech giant Twitter has announced a plan to "protect civic conversation" ahead of the 2022 US midterms. Since 2018, the social media company has been using a “Civic Integrity Policy” that’s “…helped people find credible information during elections and other civic processes - including in the Philippines, Kenya, Australia, Brazil, and India - just this year.”
“Prebunks
In the lead up to election day, we’ll share prompts with information about how and where to vote, directly to people’s timelines.
We’re also bringing back prebunks — in English, Spanish, and all other languages supported on Twitter — to get ahead of misleading narratives on Twitter, and to proactively address topics that may be the subject of misinformation. Over the coming months, we’ll place prompts directly on people’s timelines in the US and in Search when people type related terms, phrases, or hashtags.”
How Twitter Censored The Hunter Biden Laptop Story
In October 2020, the New York Post exclusively published articles describing the contents of emails from President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden’s laptop. The newspaper asserted that then Vice President Joe Biden pressured then Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko into firing then Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin in exchange for $1 billion USD in aid. Shokin was in the process of investigating Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company that Hunter Biden sat on the board of. The US government insisted that Shokin was corrupt and unfit for the role. The Ukraine Parliament later voted to fire Shokin. He was in the role for about 13 months.
Shortly afterward, Twitter removed the New York Post article and temporarily locked its Twitter account. A New York Times and a Washington Post article vindicated the New York Post by authenticating at least some of the laptop’s material. In November 2020, then Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey admitted in congressional testimony to Texas Sen. John Cornyn that Twitter had made a mistake by censoring the news story.
CORNYN: “Mr. Dorsey, when Twitter decided to take down the story, the New York Post story on Hunter Biden's laptop, did you do that under your terms of service or did you do it under some other claim of authority?”
DORSEY: “We did it under our terms of service which, as you know, everyone agrees to when they sign up for Twitter, and this is a policy around distribution of hacked materials. We did not want Twitter to be a distribution point for hacked materials.”
CORNYN: “Well, you do realize that by taking down that story you probably gave it more prominence and more visibility than it ever would have gotten had you left it alone.”
DORSEY: “We realize that and we recognize it as a mistake that we made both in terms of the intention of the policy and also the enforcement action of not allowing people to share it publicly or privately.”
The Public Reacts
According to a Rasmussen poll released back in March 2022, 66% of likely voters polled believed that the Hunter Biden laptop story was important. Additionally, 48% of those polled believed that it’s unlikely Biden would have been elected had the media been more open about reporting the story.
“The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 66% of Likely U.S. Voters believe the story about Hunter Biden’s laptop containing emails about his business dealings is important, including 48% who think the story is Very Important. Thirty-one percent (31%) don’t believe the story is important, including 15% who say it’s Not At All important.”
“Forty-eight percent (48%) say if the media had fully reported the story about Hunter Biden’s laptop before the 2020 election, it’s unlikely Joe Biden would have been elected president. Forty-five percent (45%) don’t think the story would have changed the election results.”
According to a Harvard-Harris poll released back in April 2022, 58% of respondents believed that the Hunter Biden laptop was genuine. Additionally, 60% believed that Hunter was selling influence and access to his father Joe Biden.
The Curious Case of Alex Berenson
Alex Berenson is an American journalist and writer. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he began vocally criticizing the pandemic global response. Berenson also questioned the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines. In August 2021, Twitter permanently suspended his account. Shortly thereafter, Berenson sued the social media company, settled, and had his Twitter account reinstated. According to Berenson, Twitter admitted that his account was removed in error. Berenson now alleges that the Biden administration violated his First Amendment rights by pressuring Twitter to remove him from the platform. He also announced his plan to file a lawsuit against the Biden administration.
The Project Veritas Expose
Project Veritas, a registered 501(c)3 journalism enterprise, published a multi-part expose on Twitter’s inner workings. Their undercover interviews showcased several Twitter employees (past and present) admitting to the company’s use of shadow banning, bias toward leftism, and bias against right-wingers.
Final Thoughts
I don’t trust Twitter to fairly implement its policies. The Silicon Valley Bay Area is extremely leftist. This shouldn’t surprise anyone who knows anything about the politics of Silicon Valley, California. Thanks for reading.
EDIT: Fixed grammatical errors.