The Intercept co-Founder and Pulitzer Prize winner Glenn Greenwald slammed Twitter for its attempts to deny “shadowbanning,” or covertly restricting user content, in a series of tweets earlier today.
Greenwald’s comments followed news that Twitter was suppressing search results for prominent Republicans, something which the company has since corrected, although it denied shadowbanning the accounts. President Trump condemned Twitter for censorship, promising to take action against the company for “discriminatory” and “illegal” behavior.
Greenwald attacked Twitter for its lack of transparency, and said its denials of shadowbanning were “sanctimonious” and “obnoxious.”
The more I think about this new @Twitter explanation, the more obnoxious it becomes. I decide to follow someone to see their tweets in my time-line. Twitter (silently) decides for me it's best if I don't see them, unless I go to their page (making the following feature pointless)
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 27, 2018
Greenwald also called it a “huge mistake” to beg “Silicon Valley execs to control political content on massive platforms.” Although he didn’t single any group out as being responsible for the creeping power-grab of Silicon Valley, it has mostly been corporate media like CNN (see: Oliver Darcy lobbying Facbook to ban InfoWars), Democrats and left-wingers demanding social media censorship. The only exception is globalist Rupert Murdoch, who also wants Silicon Valley to clamp down on “scurrilous news sources.”
And: Twitter – as it silently and with no transparency blocks me from seeing the tweets in my time-line of people I decide to follow – sanctimoniously denies it's "shadow-banning." Begging Silicon Valley execs to control political content on massive platforms is a huge mistake.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 27, 2018
It’s not the first time Greenwald has expressed concern with Silicon Valley censorship. In 2017, when Rose McGowan’s account was suspended, Greenwald remarked: “at some point, it will hopefully become clear that demanding Silicon Valley executives regulate online speech is a terrible idea.”
It’s a point the journalist has repeated many times over the past two years, as pressure on Silicon Valley firms to clamp down on so-called “fake news” and “misinformation” intensified. He argues that Silicon Valley censorship is just as likely to affect “marginalized” groups and left-wingers as it is to affect conservatives. In addition to criticizing Twitter, Greenwald has also attacked Facebook for similar behavior.
Your daily reminder that asking Silicon Valley execs to regulate speech will backfire and result in hideous decisions like this: https://t.co/J2epaGAqUW
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 22, 2017
Nobody is going to censor the internet effectively. Silicon Valley executives – required by law and by their nature to maximize profit and please the most powerful – are the absolute last people we should want doing that. https://t.co/OyElNWeN5E
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 25, 2018
Looking to Silicon Valley companies to regulate speech is incredibly misguided https://t.co/YDxslXuilV – https://t.co/eTldcGctzO
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 10, 2016
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter, Gab.ai and add him on Facebook. Email tips and suggestions to allumbokhari@protonmail.com.
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