(JustPatriots.com)- Journalist and podcaster Bari Weiss claimed to have discovered evidence that Twitter had previously shadowbanned conservatives on the network.
Weiss joined journalist and novelist Matt Taibbi in acquiring access to the platform’s internal files before Elon Musk’s takeover of the firm last week. Taibbi leaked documents last week claiming that Twitter collaborated with political parties to censor tweets and accounts.
Journalists’ access to the “Twitter Files” has been framed as a method for Musk to make good on a promise, to be honest about Big Tech’s alleged political influence. According to Taibbi’s reporting of corporate data made available by Musk, Twitter is a corporation where outside actors have successfully petitioned to control the dialogue.
The New York Post, for example, was suppressed in October 2020 after reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Taibbi argued that while people on both sides of the political spectrum successfully fought to have objectionable content removed, the system was “skewed” against persons on the right. On Thursday evening, Weiss released other files she claimed revealed the shadowbanning of conservatives, including some with big Twitter followings.
She alleged that the recent #TwitterFiles investigation indicates that secretly, without alerting users, teams of Twitter employees established blacklists, blocked disfavored tweets from trending, and intentionally limited the visibility of entire accounts or even controversial topics.
She displayed tags on Charlie Kirk and Dan Bongino’s accounts, which appeared to limit the reach of their posts.
In a snapshot uploaded by Weiss, Bongino’s account has the tag “Search Blacklist,” while Kirk’s has the tag “Do Not Amplify.”
Twitter had denied any involvement in shadowbanning. According to Weiss, the business refers to restricting access to specific sources as “Visibility Filtering.”
Musk has stated that he is opposed to removing accounts that do not insight violence, but he has proposed a system in which accounts that post extreme or offensive speech are denied a big audience. “Freedom of expression doesn’t mean freedom of reach,” he tweeted on December 2.
It’s unclear how Musk will limit the reach of hateful accounts. He may use the exact mechanism Weiss claims was in place before Musk.
