This has been the catch-all reason for all social media when banning anybody - it seems ingenuous when it's applied to an account that goes against the politics of the owner, but it's been around for a long time, and seems to be applied politically evenly. I wish there were some way to have some transparency around when this rule is applied - on all social media, regardless of the political leanings of the owner(s).
Twitter is perfectly allowed to do this. But we, the overall public, do not have to give our eyeballs or give high opinions to Twitter in return.
If Twitter wants to turn itself into a far-right wing social media site, its their money their rules. But its up to the people to exodus and find alternatives. Almost all social media (be it small IRC nodes to larger Digg / Slashdot / etc. etc.) have all had their "Exodus" events over much smaller controversies than this.
What makes it “obvious” that this was due to someone disliking this group?
> If Twitter wants to turn itself into a far-right wing social media site
Come on - far right? It is more accurate to say that Facebook, TikTok, Reddit, etc are far left in how blatantly they censor opinions on so many current issues whether it is gender identity or lab leak theory whatever. Twitter is closer to the middle now but still not right wing.
> Twitter is perfectly allowed to do this
Maybe they’re technically allowed but they shouldn’t be. All these platforms with hundreds of millions of users are just common carriers. They’re telecom utilities carrying the digital public square, and should be regulated to accept all legal speech.
Same reason for all the other Twitter bans over the last two years.
Elon Musk controls Twitter. Then he bans lawyers and kids (who track airplanes legally). Its not about legally correct anymore, its about what Elon Musk likes or doesn't like.
Its 2024. Elon's been in control of Twitter for nearly 2 years now. You think we haven't figured out the pattern yet? Even a "blessed" pro-Elon simp gets banned because he uses Substack (and Elon suddenly starts to hate Substack Notes for pushing into Twitter's Spaces, if you pardon my pun).
Its Elon's Twitter now. That's fine, he paid $44 Billion for it. Good luck getting advertisers now though.
> Twitter is closer to the middle now but still not right wing.
Dude. Elon just endorsed Donald Trump and is using Twitter to openly attack Kamala right now with AI Deepfakes. The idea that this space is anywhere close to neutral is laughable.
And the idea that Elon Musk is bound by the rules of Twitter or can reasonably be a neutral party when he's in 100% control of the platform is also laughable. There's no pretend neutrality on this platform anymore. He's gone full mask-off now.
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Are AI Deepfakes of politicians saying fake things allowed? Of course not. Except if you're Elon. That's the rule. "If Elon Likes it, it stays. If Elon doesn't, it goes".
But where is the evidence for your claimed reason for this particular ban? It doesn’t sound like you have any so this fits the modern definition of conspiracy theory. Also, what you’re calling a pattern is just a small set of anecdotes that have other possible explanations. Or at least that’s how HN would respond to this line of reasoning typically.
Look I understand where you’re coming from, but I am asking you to hold to the same standards that the political left, who controls virtually all other technology platforms (and Twitter in the past), demands of the center and right when they complain about censorship. Otherwise all the labels used to dismiss legitimate speculation, like “conspiracy theory”, should apply here no?
> Good luck getting advertisers now though.
If I follow your reasoning, it sounds like you’re saying that the big advertising firms are controlled by the political left and would respond to this “pattern” by pulling ads for their clients. That might be true. But do we want a society where expression is suppressed in this way? It undermines the principles of free speech even if it is technically legal.
Every other ban Elon Musk pushed over the past 2 years.
Lets just take the Substack ban. Did Substack Notes break any rules? Why was discussion of it banned? Why were Substack bloggers banned en-masse on Twitter?
Answer: Because Elon didn't like Substack, likely because Substack Notes was rolling out Twitter-like features and Elon felt threatened. The end. Doesn't need anything else aside from that, and the adults can see that Twitter as a "neutral ground" is now dead.
Plenty of examples of this, political or not. I'm choosing Substack because its a non-political example. But if you want to get political about things, what about AI Deepfakes of Kamala? I thought Twitter said they'd ban that kind of video? Why is that allowed now?
In any case, its clear that Elon has a bias. Its his media company and media companies in the USA are allowed to have a bias. Just don't expect adults in the room to pretend with you that they're being neutral about it, especially when Elon makes it so obvious.
Right... shouldn't this have been a problem for Twitter before the Musk buyout when it was the same way, but in the opposite direction?
You mean the clearly labeled parody video that anybody with half a brain would know is a parody even if it wasn’t labeled as such?
I think the real fun is going to be when they start sharing all the real 2019 clips of Harris all but bragging about being to the left of Karl Marx. But maybe those are just “cheap fakes” like all the videos of Biden falling or misremembering things.
Twitter was biased against Conservatives and the Right screamed and cried foul.
X is biased against Liberals and the Left screams and cries foul.
(Shrug)
At best, recent research shows insufficient evidence of bias in either direction [3].
[1] https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/platform-bias.php
[2] https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/26/censorship-conserva...
[3] https://itif.org/publications/2023/10/26/the-facts-behind-al...