As Twitchy reported Tuesday night, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey posted a thread in which he explained why Twitter had not banned Alex Jones and Infowars on the same day that Jones’ content was removed from Facebook, YouTube, Spotify, Apple, Google, Pinterest, and more. Jones hadn’t been banned because, as Dorsey explained, “he hasn’t violated our rules.”
While conservatives have major issues with Twitter and such things as shadow banning and spurious suspensions for so-called “hate speech” (like calling traitor Chelsea Manning “Bradley”), they seemed to agree with Dorsey on this one, while liberals decided that Twitter just needed new rules, then.
So imagine liberals’ tempers today when news gets out that Dorsey is going to appear on Sean Hannity’s radio program.
News: @jack will be on @SeanHannity's radio show this afternoon to talk about @Twitter and the issues being raised by Republicans on the platform. I've been as critical as anybody but give them credit for engaging many of us publicly and privately. Lets see what actions follow.
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) August 8, 2018
Hats off to Jack Dorsey and Twitter. Everything good starts with a conversation. $TWTR
This'll be most interesting. @seanhannity @jack
— Kip Herriage (@KHerriage) August 8, 2018
100%. This dialogue is really positive. I give @jack major credit.
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) August 8, 2018
Well, Dorsey wasn’t getting any credit from real journalists like NBC News’ Ben Collins:
It's time for journalists to start asking the question: What kind of platform is @jack trying to build?
Talking to Hannity—and not actual journalists—leads me to wonder:
Is promoting division, conspiracy, and anger the point of the business he wants to run? https://t.co/SHirqxHqNh
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) August 8, 2018
So … talking to Hannity about concerns over the platform’s apparent political bias “is promoting division, conspiracy, and anger”? Seems to us it’s the exact opposite.
Or, perhaps, just hear me out here…@Jack wants to respond to claims of shadowbanning, double standards, and bias against conservatives on Twitter, many of whom listen to Hannity. Try doing some actual reporting instead of self-serving speculation. https://t.co/rto4nfs0dh
— Ken Gardner (@KenGardner11) August 8, 2018
But then again, a lot of journalists were cranky Tuesday night when Dorsey said it would be up to them to refute crazy conspiracy theories floated on the platform by Jones and others — they don’t work for free, you know:
And you thought I was kidding with the “make journalists work” tweet https://t.co/oYRYFyEGY5
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) August 8, 2018
Nope; here’s one (since deleted) tweet from The New York Times’ Kevin Roose:
Here’s a screenshot for those who missed it: pic.twitter.com/utXT43LZ2a
— Dave (@heyyoudvd) August 8, 2018
"Pushing the work on us" = making us explain why it's terrible to allow alternative voices alongside of corporate-sactioned ones
— J. Carroll Clark (@sazeracked) August 8, 2018
Which brings us back to Collins’ concern: what is Dorsey trying to do by talking in Hannity instead of real journalists like him?
https://twitter.com/LDoren/status/1027279448058593280
https://twitter.com/LDoren/status/1027280922343886850
https://twitter.com/JoBarkman45/status/1027279632054333440
Excellent question. Like Twitchy reported, CNN’s Oliver Darcy didn’t think the media was getting enough of the credit for Jones’ mass-banning, seeing as they put on the pressure with their reporting.
https://twitter.com/JoBarkman45/status/1027281463677476864
"promoting division, conspiracy, and anger"
"Talking to Hannity—and not actual journalists"
You cannot make up this kind of lack of self awareness.
"Why are you being so divisive? You shouldn't talk to THOSE PEOPLE." YOU are the divisive hateful one.https://t.co/QbvqJs1RSg
— Focus on the Idea⭐️ (@FocusOnTheIdea) August 8, 2018
Hannity’s listeners are the ones most concerned about conservatives being shadow banned on Twitter; maybe if that’s a conspiracy theory, Dorsey would like to debunk it to that audience? Or maybe he’s just a white supremacist, as demonstrated by Twitter painting a huge #Ferguson hashtag in its headquarters during the Black Lives Matter protests.
Jack’s doing this because white nationalists and conspiracy theorists are critical parts of his business model and he can’t afford to lose them. There’s no other explanation.
— ry (@RyanTCarroll) August 8, 2018
https://twitter.com/llauralouisiana/status/1027279398439976961
Or maybe he’s the last man standing in the tech field who thinks he can trust his customers to police content for themselves?
* * *
Update:
Here’s a link for those interested:
https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/1027297160780566528
Related:
Twitter CEO explains why the platform isn't suspending Alex Jones or Infowars https://t.co/02YTP9M8Bo
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) August 8, 2018
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