Big Shakeup In Twitter Ownership May Mean BAD News For CEO Jack Dorsey And GOOD News For Free Speech
Could the tide be turning on the rampant bias against conservatives on social media?
Billionaire GOP mega-donor, Peter Singer, just bought major stakes in the President’s favorite social media platform and that could mean that Jack Dorsey is ousted from his CEO spot. That’s not the only change that Twitter could face under new leadership, and could make a huge difference in an election year where social media is a major part of campaigning and advertising.
Paul Singer’s Elliott Management Corp. has already nominated four directors to Twitter’s board, Bloomberg News reported, citing several sources familiar with the arrangement. The outlet noted that unlike other prominent tech CEOs, Dorsey didn’t have voting control over Twitter because the company had just one class of stock; and he has long been a target for removal given Twitter’s struggling user growth numbers and stock performance.
Singer hasn’t always been a rah-rah Trumper. He was solidly in the NeverTrump camp in 2016 but has changed his mind after President Trump’s spectacular first term in office.
Twitter has long been accused by right-wingers of being overtly partisan tilting heavily to the left. The social media platform has over 340 million users and is the preferred social media platform of journalists. The heavy journalist use explains the leftwing bias as most journalists themselves tend to be left-leaning. Twitter’s new code of conduct includes not just acts of hate like racial slurs, but also what they call transphobic comments like “deadnaming” and “misgendering.”
Recently, rapper, fitness guru, independent-thinker, and an all-around great guy, Zuby, was blocked from Twitter for replying to an account with the username “Pronoun enforcer” with the phrase “Ok, dude” which was deemed “transphobic.”
Just got a message from @ZubyMusic that he’s been suspended by Twitter for hateful conduct. Confirmed by manual review.
He has deleted the tweet and is now in Twitter purgatory. pic.twitter.com/venIi0Vxnl
— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) February 27, 2020
“Pronoun enforcer” changed the username, but was very proud of the censorship:
Lol misogynist down. Pronouns enforced. pic.twitter.com/D8kwjUNRJ2
— Emily Gorcenski (@EmilyGorcenski) February 27, 2020
By the way, this person is a serial reporter, so it’s probably best to avoid this “dude.”
https://twitter.com/EmilyGorcenski/status/1233142191846916096?s=20
https://twitter.com/EmilyGorcenski/status/1233301234410541056?s=20
https://twitter.com/EmilyGorcenski/status/1233301884431151104?s=20
And that’s only one example. Canadian feminist Meghan Murphy, who is herself on the left, was permanently banned for saying the phrase “men aren’t women” and was accused of “deadnaming” a certain J. Yaniv before Yaniv came into the mainstream spotlight.
There are plenty more.
It’s not just the banning, harassment, and targeting of rightwing accounts, but the suppressing of tweets by conservatives to limit their reach.
Last year, Congressman Devin Nunes has filed a lawsuit against Twitter for “shadowbanning.”
…California GOP Rep. Devin Nunes last year filed a major lawsuit seeking $250 million in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages against Twitter and a handful of its users, accusing the social media site of “shadow-banning conservatives” to secretly hide their posts, systematically censoring opposing viewpoints, and totally “ignoring” lawful complaints of repeated abusive behavior.
“Twitter is a machine,” Nunes’ personal attorney, Steven S. Biss, told Fox News. “It is a modern-day Tammany Hall. Congressman Nunes intends to hold Twitter fully accountable for its abusive behavior and misconduct.”
Source: Fox News
We’ll definitely be keeping our eye on this story, it could make a huge difference in the 2020 election — especially with the President’s love of Twitter.
