Ahead of the 2020 election, back when Twitter was under previous management, the social media platform was a huge source of misinformation, lies and censorship.
Factual information such as the Hunter Biden laptop story was suppressed and tagged as “disinformation” (the New York Post even had its account suspended for their reporting). If you pointed out simple truths about the Covid-19 virus and how to best avoid serious health issues and those points went against what the government wanted out there (which was the vaccines are the only way to ward off the worst of the virus and don’t you dare suggest that healthy eating, exercise and weight loss are also factors) you could have also been subjected to suspension.
Now, at the end of 2022, it’s not surprising that much of the media are totally ignoring all that in order to try and paint Twitter under Elon Musk’s ownership as an entity that’s allowing “misinformation” to repopulate the platform. It’s ironic but not unexpected, and here’s just one example of where the spin is headed courtesy of the New York Times:
Twitter accounts that were banned, then reinstated after Elon Musk's takeover, are tweeting again. Many users are posting about topics that got them barred in the first place: Covid skepticism, election denialism and QAnon. https://t.co/Sol3p3mANK
— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 22, 2022
Really?
Define “Covid skepticism”
I know people who were banned for saying things about Covid that are now widely accepted to be true
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) December 22, 2022
The problem is that these media outlets have defined truth as whatever the preferred government narrative of the day is.
“Somewhere, someone is expressing unapproved speech questioning authority and this is concerning.” -newspaper of record
— Razor (@hale_razor) December 22, 2022
The nation’s Guardians of the First Amendment have really taken some serious time off in recent years.
"Many users are posting about topics that shouldn't have gotten them barred in the first place."
There, I fixed it for you.
— Tiffanie Tx (@tiffanie_tx) December 22, 2022
And yet they just can’t stop digging:
To gauge how Mr. Musk’s content decisions influenced Twitter’s content, The New York Times analyzed tweets from more than 1,000 users whose accounts were recently reinstated. The posts were collected for The Times by Bright Data, a social media tracking company, using a list of reinstated users identified by Travis Brown, a Berlin-based software developer who has tracked extremism on Twitter.
Most of the reinstated accounts were deeply partisan — often vocal supporters of Mr. Trump — and they appeared eager to bring their fiery takes back to the social network. It was not clear from the data why the users were originally suspended or why they were reinstated, though their post histories suggest many were banned as Twitter cracked down on Covid-19 and election-related misinformation.
“Deeply partisan” — not unlike the Twitter management at the time that suspended or banned users on a deeply partisan basis (and occasionally by FBI request).
Conspiracy theorists are 30-0 now. Tissue? pic.twitter.com/1f3OGwsNPc
— Kristi (@TheyCallMeNans) December 22, 2022
The “conspiracy theorists” sure have been correct a lot.
So we aren’t allowed to question anything about covid or the election. And if we do we’re a part of QAnon. Got it. #BoycottNYTimes @nytimes https://t.co/CXD60s2CQJ
— K-Diddy (@kdiddy4ever) December 22, 2022
A similar approach is often taken when it comes to those who question all the money that’s being sent to Ukraine. The mere act of supporting an audit to track what happened to all the aid makes you “pro-Putin” in some circles.
Yea, they’re posting crazy things like exercise is good for you.
— Kent Moore (@kentrmoore) December 22, 2022
“We are getting called out on our BS and Twitter isn’t blocking these people anymore” -NY Times, translation
— Thirteen O'Clock – Todd (@o_thirteen) December 22, 2022
Don’t like it then build your own Twitter.
— jhawk4life ™ 🇺🇸 🏴 🇮🇪 (@jhawk4life) December 22, 2022
That used to be the advice of lefties for anybody who complained about Old Twitter using suspensions and bans not to control misinformation, but rather to enforce narratives.
Election denialism you say? pic.twitter.com/yH3lctxpHz
— Mark Ashworth (@marklarflash) December 22, 2022
As usual, it’s perfectly OK if they do it.
It’s called freedom of speech. Hard to fathom a “newspaper” would be opposed to that.
— Shawn Twitchell (@Twitch435) December 22, 2022
And yet here we are.
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Related:
FBI statement dismissing #TwitterFiles revelations is ‘the definition of gaslighting’
WaPo’s Jennifer Rubin’s showing solidarity with striking NY Times writers in a big way
