Tag: twitter

Secret Twitter program fast-tracks elite users’ takedown demands

Facebook was recently raked over the coals by a former employee for having policies that give preferential treatment and protect high profile users only, but now it seems this is not such a rare occurrence among social media giants.

Take Twitter, for example, which just got exposed for running a secret program designed to give priority to its most prominent users, and protect them from what is perceived as attacks by “trolls and bullies.”

Twitter is carrying out its decision, Bloomberg reported, to protect the political elites and celebrities via a program called Project Guardian, that pushes reports about abusive content posted against these users to the front of the moderation queue.

Apart from shielding who Twitter picks as the most important people on the platform (reports about the secretive program say that many who are protected by it are unaware of this), the company is also able to control what content gets viral and has wide reach, and quickly stem the spread of tweets it disapproves of.

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Twitter Bans Account That Posted Updates About Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein Trial

In a post written to the PatriotOne substack, The Free Press Report wrote “I woke up this morning and the @TrackerTrial account on Twitter was suspended. All the other accounts that I have made in the past were also suspended.”

According to a screen shot provided in the Substack article, the @TrackerTrial account was suspended for allegedly breaking Twitter’s “rules against platform manipulation and spam.”

“The @TrackerTrial account was the largest account on Twitter that specifically tracked the Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein trial.”

The Free Press Report noted that all other accounts previously created by the same user were banned, including another popular account that tracked Nancy Pelosi’s stock market purchases and sales.

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Twitter labels American Heart Association link as ‘unsafe’ over Covid vaccines

Twitter is flagging an American Heart Association website link as ‘unsafe’ after the organization published an abstract of research linking Covid-19 vaccines to heart disease.

The abstract of the study looking into a possible correlation between mRNA Covid shots and heart inflammation was published in one of the Association’s journals, Circulation, on November 16. The research points to a 14-point rise in the risk of acute coronary syndrome within five years in those who have been injected with this type of vaccine, concluding that the “mRNA vacs dramatically increase inflammation on the endothelium and T cell infiltration of cardiac muscle and may account for the observations of increased thrombosis, cardiomyopathy, and other vascular events following vaccination.”

It is worth noting, however, that while the American Heart Association did publish the abstract, it later attached an “expression of concern” to the study over “potential errors” in it. Among other things, it cites the author’s reliance on anecdotal data and a lack of statistical analyses. The Association warned the “abstract in its current version may not be reliable.” On top of that, the study has yet to be peer-reviewed.

Twitter’s ‘unsafe’ label was up until recently reserved for webpages thought to contain viruses and malware; its use has, however, now been extended to also cover cases where ‘misleading content’ is suspected.

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New Twitter CEO’s First Decision: Ban Mean Memes

One day after brand new Twitter CEO Parag ‘Not Bound by the First Amendment” Agrawal took the helm, the company announced that it will no longer allow people to share ‘images or videos of private individuals without their consent’ due to “growing concerns about the misuse of media and information” to “harass, intimidate, and reveal the identities of individuals.”

We assume this includes photos of protesters rioters, people looting a Louis Vuitton store, the driver of an SUV plowing into a crowd of people, and viral memes which include non-public figures.

In a Tuesday blog post, the company wrote:

“There are growing concerns about the misuse of media and information that is not available elsewhere online as a tool to harass, intimidate, and reveal the identities of individuals. Sharing personal media, such as images or videos, can potentially violate a person’s privacy, and may lead to emotional or physical harm. The misuse of private media can affect everyone, but can have a disproportionate effect on women, activists, dissidents, and members of minority communities. When we receive a report that a Tweet contains unauthorized private media, we will now take action in line with our range of enforcement options.”

What is in violation of this policy?
Under our private information policy, you can’t share the following types of private information or media, without the permission of the person who it belongs to:

  • home address or physical location information, including street addresses, GPS coordinates or other identifying information related to locations that are considered private;
  • identity documents, including government-issued IDs and social security or other national identity numbers – note: we may make limited exceptions in regions where this information is not considered to be private;
  • contact information, including non-public personal phone numbers or email addresses; 
  • financial account information, including bank account and credit card details; and
  • other private information, including biometric data or medical records.
  • NEW: media of private individuals without the permission of the person(s) depicted.

Twitter does provide themselves an ‘out’ – writing that “there are instances where account holders may share images or videos of private individuals in an effort to help someone involved in a crisis situation, such as in the aftermath of a violent event, or as part of a newsworthy event due to public interest value, and this might outweigh the safety risks to a person. “

Who makes that decision, and will the race of the suspect be a factor?

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Twitter’s New CEO Parag Agrawal Has Disturbing Anti-American, Anti-White Tweet History.

With Twitter founder Jack Dorsey stepping down as CEO, it was announced that Parag Agrawal – the company’s current Chief Technology Officer – will take over the leadership role.

Agrawal, concerningly, is a vocal opponent of free speech and the First Amendment, and has sent tweets about all white people being racist:

“If they are not gonna make a distinction between muslims and extremists, then why should I distinguish between white people and racists.”

— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) October 26, 2010

The Indian-born migrant has used his tenure as Twitter’s tech chief to lead research on how best to silence voices across the platform under the myth of “fake news” and dismiss the ideals America was founded upon, often quoting his favorite leftist celebrities.

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The DOT’s Twitter Meme Doesn’t Just Offend Comedy… It May Also Be Illegal

It’s a well-known fact that liberalism and comedy aren’t a good mix. Witness Hannah Gadsby. Or most of Saturday Night Live‘s recent output. Or any of the current crop of late-night show hosts.

The same goes for the various departments of the Biden administration. Case in point: this doozy of a meme that the Department of Transportation recently tweeted.

If you don’t get it, it’s okay. There’s nothing to get other than the leftist talking point.

I’m not sure what we’re supposed to call the diametric opposite of comedy gold, but this is it. This meme is an affront to comedy. It’s neither cute nor funny, and it’s certainly not clever. There’s no original thought to it whatsoever, and the only thing revelatory about it is how slavishly devoted the left always is to The Narrative™.

In other words, this in no way resembles comedy.

Whoever developed this meme and posted it on the Department of Transportation’s Twitter account should have his or her password privileges revoked. I almost picture Pete Buttigieg himself sitting in front of his copy of Photoshop smiling smugly and saying to himself, “All my friends are gonna love this!”

As my PJ Media colleague Stacey Lennox so wisely put it, “The left can’t meme. We all know this.”

And don’t get me started on the ridiculous claim that the infrastructure bill and Build Back Better will combine like the Wonder Twins to “create millions of new jobs.” (Besides, one of the Wonder Twins always turned into a bucket of water, which definitely won’t help.)

No government program has lived up to that promise — other than maybe some New Deal stuff — so why would we expect these two legislative winners to do the same?

But it gets better. Or worse, if you’re part of the Biden administration’s DOT.

Some people are accusing the DOT of improperly lobbying with a lame Twitter post. The Twittersphere and others are concerned that the meme may violate the Hatch Act.

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Twitter’s new CEO Parag Agrawal previously rejected free speech in favor of “healthy public conversation”

In a far-reaching November 2020 interview, Twitter’s new CEO Parag Agrawal, who was the company’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at the time, rejected free speech protections that are enshrined in the First Amendment of the US Constitution, wished the company had censored QAnon sooner, and touted the company’s approach of censoring content based on “potential for harm.”

“Our role is not to be bound by the First Amendment, but our role is to serve a healthy public conversation and our moves are reflective of things that we believe lead to a healthier public conversation,” Agrawal said in response to a question about protecting free speech as a core value and the role of the First Amendment.

He added that the company now focuses “less on thinking about free speech, but thinking about how the times have changed.” In this context, Agrawal said the role of Twitter is increasingly moving toward recommendations and “how we direct people’s attention is leading to a healthy public conversation that is most participatory.”

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Facebook and Twitter Silent on Whether Kyle Rittenhouse Support Is Still Banned

Facebook and Twitter banned support for Kyle Rittenhouse across their platforms shortly after the Kenosha riots. After a jury in Wisconsin found Rittenhouse not guilty on all charges brought against him, those same platforms refuse to say if support for the teenager is still banned.

Rittenhouse was found not guilty on five charges including first-degree reckless homicide, two counts of first-degree intentional homicide and two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment. The presiding judge, Bruce Schroeder, also dismissed two additional weapons charges.

As Breitbart News recently reported, Big Tech companies continued to censor statements of support for Rittenhouse, even as the prosecution’s case fell apart:

Over a year old, the ban is still in place on both Facebook and Instagram and is even catching GOP Senate candidates like Josh Mandel in its net.

Facebook says supporting Rittenhouse violates its guidelines on “violence or dangerous organizations.”

Users on Twitter also report that the platform is still suspending them for supporting Rittenhouse.

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Twitter disables retweet function on Rittenhouse mother’s tweet condemning Big Tech censorship of her son

Kyle Rittenhouse, who is currently facing trial for shooting three men, killing two of them, on the night of Aug. 25, 2020, was branded as a “white supremacist” from the beginning by left-wing politicians and personalities.

His trial has done much to back the claims of self-defense that his defense attorneys are arguing, yet Twitter has disabled the retweet function on a tweet by Rittenhouse’s mother stating that media had lied about her son and condeming Big Tech’s attempts to “crush & deplatform” the young defendant.

“The media & many who know better viciously lied about my son from he start. Tech companies tried to crush & deplatform @freekyleusa over 20x, often w/o explanation,” wrote Wendy Rittenhouse.

“We are facing tremendous expenses to help Kyle win this case & could use your help,” she continued, linking to a donation page.

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