VICE is certainly no conservative news outlet, so its claim that Twitter is indeed “shadow banning” top Republicans while leaving Democrats untouched seems even more plausible — but Twitter says it’s just a “side-effect.”
Twitter is limiting the visibility of prominent Republicans in search results. https://t.co/gUGFtr9qMT
— VICE (@VICE) July 25, 2018
Twitter is limiting the visibility of prominent Republicans in search results — a technique known as “shadow banning” — in what it says is a side effect of its attempts to improve the quality of discourse on the platform.
The Republican Party chair Ronna McDaniel, several conservative Republican congressmen, and Donald Trump Jr.’s spokesman no longer appear in the auto-populated drop-down search box on Twitter, VICE News has learned. It’s a shift that diminishes their reach on the platform — and it’s the same one being deployed against prominent racists to limit their visibility. The profiles continue to appear when conducting a full search, but not in the more convenient and visible drop-down bar. (The accounts appear to also populate if you already follow the person.)
Like we said, the news itself is less surprising than the fact that VICE News is the one reporting on it — conservatives have been complaining about shadow banning for quite a while now, while Twitter claims its top priority at the moment is “election integrity.”
https://twitter.com/AlxThomp/status/1022181045158981632
https://twitter.com/jonathanvswan/status/1022175120373309441
After years of telling conservatives that we were crazy for thinking @Twitter was censoring us, they've now been caught red-handed censoring @GOPChairwoman, @RepMarkMeadows, @DevinNunes, yours truly & many more. @Jack – It's time to finally #StopTheBiashttps://t.co/koIEinX459
— Andrew Surabian (@Surabees) July 25, 2018
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When Louis Farrakhan, Linda Sarsour, Kathy Griffin, Peter Fonda, and left wing conspiracy accounts don’t receive a search ban or censorship of any kind via Twitter but only Republican Politicians and Journalists do, it’s targeted political censorship. https://t.co/4Vso6vl1dz
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) July 25, 2018
Hey look, here’s Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey with a “short thread” addressing the problem — if you want to call it a problem, of course.
A short thread addressing some issues folks are encountering as a result of our conversational health work, specifically the perception of “shadowbanning” based on content or ideology. It suffices to say we have a lot more work to do to earn people’s trust on how we work. https://t.co/MN97l7w7RF
— jack (@jack) July 25, 2018
We’ve heard questions from some of you relating to our work to drive healthy conversation on Twitter. People are asking us 1) about the breadth and precision of our work & 2) the impact of our work on the Search experience. We wanted to address these questions transparently here.
— Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) July 25, 2018
In May, we started using behavioral signals and machine learning to reduce people’s ability to detract from healthy public conversation on Twitter. This approach looks at account behavior & interactions with other accounts that violate our rules. https://t.co/FsLO6NwyNw
— Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) July 25, 2018
On 1) We’re always working to improve our behavior-based ranking models – their breadth and accuracy will improve over time. It’s important to note that these behavior signals are not binary, and they are one of many other signals that factor into ranking.
— Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) July 25, 2018
To be clear, our behavioral ranking doesn’t make judgements based on political views or the substance of tweets. We recently publicly testified to Congress on this topic https://t.co/Zk4DL7Q3hq
— Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) July 25, 2018
On 2) Some accounts weren’t being auto-suggested even when people were searching for their specific name. Our usage of the behavior signals within search was causing this to happen & making search results seem inaccurate. We’re making a change today that will improve this.
— Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) July 25, 2018
We believe this work is really important to creating a healthier Twitter and we want to continue improving. Your feedback helps us do that so please keep it coming.
— Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) July 25, 2018
We believe getting out of the way and allowing people to speak freely is important to creating a healthier Twitter; that’s our feedback.
Serious questions re "machine learning":
What are your criterion variables?
What are your predictor variables, e.g. "account behavior"?
How do you parse, say, sarcasm or irony?
Define "healthy conversation."https://t.co/q3VaYIYLd5— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) July 25, 2018
“Please ban all the intolerant people that disagree with me.”
— Razor (@hale_razor) July 25, 2018
"conversational health work" is some next-level Orwellian, famhttps://t.co/i1mU820IgG
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) July 25, 2018
https://twitter.com/LyinBrianNBC/status/1022222079335325699
https://twitter.com/NotDeadGlomar/status/1022207399980150785
You shadow-banned the chairwoman of the @GOP. You have zero credibility. https://t.co/tbNKNbWURt
— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) July 25, 2018
So now @twitter is censoring @GOPChairwoman?
Enough is enough with this crap. @Jack it’s time for you to #StopTheBias against conservatives and Trump supporters and fix this once and for all. https://t.co/JC6i6y01Ek
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 25, 2018
And here’s the GOP chairwoman:
The notion that social media companies would suppress certain political points of view should concern every American. Twitter owes the public answers to what’s really going on. https://t.co/i9UtbxJrt0
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) July 25, 2018
From article: "Not a single member of the 78-person Progressive Caucus faces the same in Twitter’s search." ?https://t.co/CzbvZFGVar
— Jordan Schachtel (@JordanSchachtel) July 25, 2018
https://twitter.com/esaagar/status/1022176968647827457
The only thing I know is Twitter is managed by leftists and leftists intentionally politicize everything. They equate morality with their political views and become the authoritarian, moralizing, busy-bodies that do the things Jack here is denying. Your nature breeds the distust. https://t.co/fsl7fWno0D
— Smokin Monkey (@ARaised_Eyebrow) July 25, 2018
The left is favored. Everyone knows it.
— JWF (@JammieWF) July 25, 2018
Here’s competing platform Gab, which called out Twitter before on its “election integrity” nonsense.
https://twitter.com/getongab/status/1022197190591229952
https://twitter.com/getongab/status/1022197645287350273
Perception of shadow banning?
jack, jack, jack.
Try @Project_Veritas
— Michael Is Forever (@wendylovesmj) July 25, 2018
Be honest that you are doing it or stop, pretty simple. https://t.co/YK9pUjioWw
— ?John Q. MAGA? (@maybeMAGA) July 25, 2018
How about you just show all search results for the names/accounts that people type… instead of filtering the results to "try to promote conversational health".
There. Simple. Done. https://t.co/tqMWMGyauV— Sean The Producer (@SeanTheProducr) July 25, 2018
Here's how you earn back everyone's trust: STOP SHADOW-BANNING PEOPLE & MANIPULATING OUR FEEDS. Enjoy your ratio, CEO Clueless.
— Louisiana taxpayer (@LibertyConv) July 25, 2018
https://twitter.com/PirateKingAl/status/1022209009171001344
Is "we have a lot of work to do" your default way of evading questions about trying to be gatekeepers, Jack? https://t.co/ujwCnXKMVD
— Johnny Derp (@wizardofcause) July 25, 2018
https://twitter.com/Sean_K_Davis/status/1022199347000291328
Why aren’t we reassured that Twitter’s declared priorities are “conversational health” and “election integrity”?
Related:
No edit button? Gab trolls Twitter after project lead says 'election integrity' is their top priority https://t.co/rubbnY0hjW
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) July 18, 2018
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