Elon Musk has committed to supporting free speech on Twitter following his acquisition of it in October 2022. However, a study proves otherwise – as censorship on the platform ramped up after Musk took the reins.
A report by the Media Research Center's (MRC) Free Speech America project found that Twitter censorship remains alive and kicking. Based on data from its own CensorTrack initiative, Twitter was more actively censoring users under Musk compared to his predecessor, former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal. The group then laid down three main discoveries following the analysis of CensorTrack data.
First, there were 293 cases of documented censorship between Nov. 4, 2022 through March 24, 2023. It was 67 cases more than the 226 documented in CensorTrack during the same period a year prior. The 293 censorship cases coincided with Musk becoming Twitter CEO and firing Agrawal, former Twitter general counsel Vijaya Gadde and others.
Second, the severity of the censorship ramped up since Musk's takeover. Twitter locked user accounts in 245 of the 293 documented censorship cases, and users were required to delete questionable content before being able to access their accounts. Under Agrawal, only 136 of the 226 censorship cases involved locked accounts. (Related: Not again: Musk to reinstate Twitter censorship tools after a meeting with leftist groups.)
Third, MRC found that the previous administration targeted the largest, most politically sensitive user accounts. According to the Twitter Files, the so-called Site Integrity Policy, Policy Escalation Support team was responsible for this targeting. Members of this team include Agrawal himself, Gadde, former trust and safety head Yoel Roth and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey – Agrawal's predecessor.
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Users critical of transgenderism were censored
Furthermore, at least 182 of the 293 censorship cases – 62 percent – under Musk's Twitter involved users speaking out against the transgender narrative peddled by the Left. This went contrary to Musk's view of Twitter as the "de facto town square" and his warning that "failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy."
Seth Dillon, CEO of satirical news site Babylon Bee, said in a tweet: "Musk reached out to us before he polled his followers about Twitter's commitment to free speech. He wanted to confirm that we had, in fact, been suspended." The Bee had been banned under Agrawal's term for its humorous tweet announcing Assistant Health Secretary Rachel Levine, a male-to-female transgender, as its "Man of the Year" for 2022.
Twitter's censorship has long been a problem even before the Tesla and SpaceX CEO became "Chief Twit." Back in October 2020, it censored the New York Post for its report about the Hunter Biden laptop – which played a major role in President Joe Biden's ascent to the White House. Former President Donald Trump was also kicked out of the platform following the Jan. 6, 2021 false flag riot – but was later reinstated in November 2022 following a 24-hour poll.
Other high-profile users banned under Agrawal's purview include Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, conservative radio host Dan Bongino, Just the News founder John Solomon and even the American Heart Association.
"Based on our analysis, it is clear that there is an internal revolt going on among the woke staff at Twitter," said Dan Schneider, MRC vice president for free speech. He added that the remaining leftist rank-and-file employees at Twitter are "undercutting Musk's plan to foster a free speech environment on the platform" and have been motivated by Musk's actions "to be even more aggressive toward regular conservatives on the platform."
"Musk has a good history of fixing problems that are brought to his attention. But it is clear that the censorship police are still on the beat at Twitter. Musk still has a lot more housekeeping ahead of him."
Watch this video about how Twitter, through the Twitter Files, exposed the censorship-industrial complex.
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