Tag: twitter

Twitter’s ‘Safety Mode’ is just a new way to silence opponents to the tech giant’s woke social justice agenda

Ever keen to be seen doing more about online abuse among its users, Twitter has decided to nobble free speech with a novelty ‘Safety Mode’ button, which might reduce offence. Exactly what ‘offence’ means is up to the tech giant.

Something about Twitter has long irritated me, not so much the platform itself but the smug self-righteousness of a bunch of tech nerds adopting the moral high ground over the inalienable right to free speech.

I’m not just talking about Jack Dorsey and his Silicon Valley sidekicks who blocked Donald Trump’s social media account, but about their woke-fevered, sanctimonious, purse-lipped wowserish approach in imposing their own values in judging what should and shouldn’t be allowed to be said within their software apps.

Now, using the pretext of “Safety” –I mean, gimme a break– Twitter has announced a new “Safety Mode” which will automatically block, for seven days, “accounts that add unwanted replies, Quote Tweets and mentions to your convos.” Seven days. Smiley face with tears emoji.

Firstly, if unwanted replies or mentions on Twitter are the sort of thing that spoil your day, then might I suggest, my little snowflake friend, that social media is not the place for you. And if you believe that your life will be enhanced because you chose to switch on “Safety Mode,” then more fool you for signing up to the latest tech that implicitly denies the right to free speech.

Because Twitter has turned taking offence into a maths problem. No one is actually reading your tweets or replies to figure out if offence was caused – intentionally or otherwise – no, as a senior product manager explained, “When the feature is turned on in your Settings, our systems will assess the likelihood of a negative engagement by considering both the Tweet’s content and the relationship between the Tweet author and replier.”

Our systems, hey? What sort of systems are they? And what sort of data will they be trawling through, analysing, keeping and using in the future? Just one click on a little green button on your phone can forever change your relationship with Twitter and the way they target you with their insidious promotions. Think about that.

That fatal click could also blow a real human-to-human relationship out of the water. Twitter’s bot decides you’ve been slighted and the offender it identifies is sin-binned for seven days. While you can unblock, it’s too late, the damage is done. They were deemed ‘abusive’ before Twitter came to the rescue and they were silenced. Now you have to pick up the pieces.

It sounds petty, but it’s the prim, disapproving nanny looking over your shoulder that gets my goat. No one voted for anyone at Twitter to monitor the public discourse on social justice and that’s exactly where you know they’ll be targeting their bots. Discussions on race, gender and even climate change will most likely be judged on Twitter’s terms, the conversation manipulated by an algorithm so that those voices taking the most offence prevail in the debate and those that dissent are simply labelled ‘abusive’ and silenced.

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Twitter Permanently Bans Alex Berenson After Viral COVID Tweets

It was never a matter of if, but when.

Science journalist Alex Berenson has been permanently suspended from Twitter, just one day after a viral series of tweets spotlighting an Israeli preprint study which showed that natural immunity from a prior Covid-19 infection is 13 times more effective than vaccines against the delta variant.

“The account you referenced has been permanently suspended for repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation rules,” a Twitter spokesperson told Fox News.

The last tweet he posted, meanwhile, accurately noted that the vaccine “doesn’t stop infection. Or transmission.”

“Don’t think of it as a vaccine,” he added. “Think of it – at best – as a therapeutic with a limited window of efficacy and terrible side effect profile that must be dosed IN ADVANCE OF ILLNESS.”

“And we want to mandate it? Insanity.”

“This was the tweet that did it. Entirely accurate. I can’t wait to hear what a jury will make of this,” wrote Berenson on his substack blog, Unreported Truths.

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Twitter Locks House Candidate Jarome Bell’s Account Because Taliban Has ‘Recognized Right to Privacy’ When They Execute People

Virginia Congressional candidate Jarome Bell was locked out of his Twitter account after posting a Taliban execution video, because the Big Tech site determined that Afghan terrorists have a “recognized right to privacy.”

Conservatives and others across the political spectrum have been critical of the Joe Biden administration over the chaos that has resulted from the attempt to pull US troops out of Afghanistan. One of them was Jarome Bell, a candidate for Congress in Virginia’s 2nd District. “These men assisted our troops and were left behind with over 15000 Americans,” Bell wrote on Twitter, attaching a video of Taliban fighters executing men who were believed to have worked with American and Allied forces in the country. “This will be Joe Biden’s legacy and the democrats and some of you approve of this message.”

As a result, Bell’s Twitter account was locked, with the Big Tech platform seemingly determining that the video of Taliban executions violated the privacy of those involved. Specifically, Bell’s tweet allegedly violated their rules on “posting private media of an individual from a country with a recognized right to privacy law.” It is unclear how this could be the case, given that the Afghanistan government and therefore any regime that could implement such a law, has fallen to the Taliban.

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Twitter ‘Frog’ Account Successfully Negotiates With Taliban To Secure Safety Of Spanish Diplomats After Government Fails

A Spanish Twitter account with an Apu Apustaja frog avatar has successfully negotiated with the Taliban for fair and humane treatment of Spanish citizens at the nation’s embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Spanish government had seemingly failed to establish a clear and open line of communication with the Taliban, inspiring the owner of the frog-avatar account to take action.

“Nangarhar’s sweet district was completely conquered,” Taliban spokesperson Mansoor Afghan announced on August 14, to which the account @panamach2 reached out to respond using Google translate, “Hello brother, please don’t hurt the Spanish people at the embassy, we were forces in your country by America. We don’t like them either.”

Mansoor Afghan responded in English, “We are human beings, we all respect each other, we don’t say anything to any foreign troops.” The exchange was viewed as somewhat humorous by many Twitter users, with one pointing out that “a guy with a picture of pepe has done more for the spanish people in afghanistan than the spanish government.”

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Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Reveals: ‘Taliban Can Stay On Platform, As Long As They Don’t Get Too Violent’

On Tuesday, Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey said in a statement that the Taliban will be allowed to stay on its social media platform, as long as they don’t get too violent.

The company explains it will “proactively enforce our rules” however stopped short of saying it would blacklist the Taliban.

After receiving inquiries about whether Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid will be banned from Twitter in the wake of the terrorist group seizing control of Kabul last weekend, the company revealed that the Taliban will remain on the platform while Twitter “proactively” enforces its rules.

“We will continue to proactively enforce our rules and review content that may violate Twitter rules, specifically policies against glorification of violence, platform manipulation, and spam,” the statement reads.

“The situation in Afghanistan is rapidly evolving. We’re also witnessing people in the country using Twitter to seek help and assistance. Twitter’s top priority is keeping people safe, and we remain vigilant,” according to the statement.

Social media users quickly took to Twitter to point out that the company appears to have a much harsher protocol for U.S. presidents than it does for the Taliban, as President Trump was banned earlier this year after holding a rally at the White House.

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Researchers spot deep fake profile photos linked to pro-China Twitter accounts

Researchers in the United Kingdom have discovered a coordinated network of “deep-fake” social media accounts pushing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s views in the guise of ordinary account-holders.

The Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) said it had discovered a network of social media accounts that “distort international perceptions on significant issues, elevate China’s reputation amongst its supporters, and discredit claims critical of the Chinese government.”

In a report published on its website, the CIR said pro-China accounts were part of a “coordinated influence operation” on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube that uses a mixture of artificial and repurposed accounts to post CCP propaganda.

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Twitter Announces ‘Collaboration’ With AP, Reuters To ‘Identify And Elevate Credible Information,’ Despite Ties To US Intelligence

On August 2, Twitter announced a new “collaboration” with Associated Press and Reuters to “identify and elevate credible information,” despite Reuters’ connections to the US Intelligence Community.

Twitter has announced that they will be collaborating with AP and Reuters to “identify and elevate credible information,” according to a post on August 2. “We are committed to making sure that when people come to Twitter to see what’s happening, they are able to easily find reliable information. Twitter will be able to expand the scale and increase the speed of our efforts to provide timely, authoritative context across the wide range of global topics and conversations that happen on Twitter every day,” the statement reads.

“When large or rapidly growing conversations happen on Twitter that may be noteworthy, controversial, sensitive, or may contain potentially misleading information, Twitter’s Curation team sources and elevates relevant context from reliable sources,” the statement continues. In response to the announcement, one Twitter user pointed out that the Senior Director of Reuters, Dawn Scalici, who served 33 years in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), is tasked with “advancing Thomson Reuters’ ability to meet the disparate needs of the U.S. Government.”

Prior to joining Thomson Reuters, Ms. Scalici served 33 years with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In her last federal assignment, she served as the National Intelligence Manager for the Western Hemisphere within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). In this role, she was responsible for overseeing national intelligence for an area of responsibility spanning from the Arctic to the tip of South America, including the US Homeland.

“Twitter is becoming the propaganda arm of the of US State Dept,” tweeted one user.

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Twitter Suspends Science Writer After He Posts Results Of Pfizer Clinical Test

Just yesterday, we discussed the censoring of a commentator by Twitter for merely expressing an opinion over the need for a “pause” on any federal mandates on Covid-19 as new research is studied.

Now, a former New York Times science reporter, Alex Berenson, has been suspended for simply quoting the results from a clinical trial by Pfizer and raising questions over any vaccine mandate. In the meantime, the White House accused both the Washington Post and New York Times of irresponsible reporting on Covid, but surprisingly Twitter has not suspended those accounts.  It is the license of the censor.  Twitter is unwilling to let people read or discuss viewpoints that it disagrees with as a corporation. Many on the left, however, have embraced the concept of corporate speech and censorship. It turns out that the problem with censorship for many was the failure to censor views that they opposed. With the “right” censors at work, the free speech concerns have been set aside.

I have little ability to judge the science on such questions. However, I welcome the debate. Yet, rather than answer such critics and refute their arguments, many people focus on silencing anyone with dissenting viewpoints like Berenson.

Berenson has been effectively confined to Substack by Big Tech due to his discussing dissenting views on the science surrounding Covid-19. His latest offense against Big Tech came when he posted the results published by Pfizer of its own clinical data. He claimed that the research showed little difference in morality between those in the trial with a vaccine and those given a placebo.

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Twitter suspended New Jersey State Senator Declan O’Scanlon for questioning vaccine passports and mandates

New Jersey State Senator Declan O’Scanlon was silenced on Twitter and was only reinstated when he agreed to delete his tweet.

The tweet, posted on June 25, read “Given that we have crushed Covid with combination of natural immunity and voluntary uptake there is no reason anyone should be compelled to take the vaccine. Restrictions/mandates/vaccine passports all uncalled for.”

Twitter’s response to O’Scanlon’s Twitter post was to lock him out of his account without giving a specific reason as to why.

On Twitter, Republicans blasted the lawmaker’s detention. The state GOP called the action a “continuous and rising limitation of freedom of expression.”

On O’Scanlon’s timeline, the tweet has been deleted, with a warning that says, “This Tweet is no longer available because it violates the Twitter Rules.”

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