Social Media Censorship

🇺🇸 Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Scott Rosenberg and many of the other bros in the tech industry would like you to believe that social media companies are just moderating social media content to protect you and society from the “bad guys” like terrorists, pedophiles, or MAGA. The reality is that they are trying to control the conversation, shape society according to their ideal, and censor anyone that does not fall in line with that ideal.

I know this from my own experience. I have had an account on Twitter since 2008. For several years, all I ever posted about was traveling, music, emerging technology, art, films and other silly commentary, mostly about my bisexuality. I was really young. Twitter was ok with that.

But I matured. I became an adult and a successful entrepreneur. I became a fiercely independent woman and an advocate for women’s rights. Essentially, I became the kind of woman tech bros really don’t like.

I developed a new political perspective and my own political opinions that were no longer in line with the far-left. My new perspective was not extremist, and it was certainly not conservative — it was center-left and moderate. I became an extremely vocal advocate for privacy and human rights. I became severely critical of the tech industry and surveillance capitalism. For obvious reasons, tech bros do not like criticism of the industry they rely on. They thrive on the surveillance capitalist business model and ecosystem like parasites. But the real problem for them was that I also became somewhat influential in political circles. That’s when Twitter banned me.

“Required reading for @ElonMusk https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/10/putin-nuclear-weapons-threat-us-sanctions-military/671642/“

That was my final tweet before Elon Musk announced the very next day that he finally decided to buy Twitter, and I found out that my account was suspended. I received an email stating I was banned from the platform for violating the rules, even though I have never violated any of their rules. The tweet is obviously not a violation of the Twitter Rules or the User Agreement. Denying services, even free ones, to customers over their perceived political beliefs, race, gender, or any other social category is discrimination. And by suspending a user's account, Twitter is insinuating that the individual is engaged in malicious activity - that's defamation.

We are outraged that Big Tech bros believe they have the right to control the conversation and violate our fundamental human right to free speech. We are outraged that our elected representatives in Congress refuse to stand up for our fundamental human rights. We are creating a new social media platform to protect free speech, one whose algorithms will be designed to help the freethinkers reshape our society. We are also creating a new political party and we will replace our elected representatives with new ones that have not been corrupted by Big Tech lobbying. We want politicians that are committed to protecting all of our fundamental human rights, including free speech. We will not allow anyone to take control of the conversation. We will not be silenced. xo

Update:

I find it interesting that Elon Musk has recently claimed he would lift the suspension on all Twitter user accounts that were not breaking the law. However, my account suspension has still not been lifted, even though I did not use Twitter to break the law. I have never broken the law on or off Twitter for that matter. Yet Elon Musk has himself used Twitter to break the law. He was charged with fraud by the SEC, specifically because of his tweets. He used Twitter to break the law and yet his account is still active.

One of the serious problems here, which is well-documented by Politico and other news outlets, is that a social media account, specifically Twitter, is required in politics these days. All US politicians use it, and they claim it's impossible to even start a career in US politics now without one. So Twitter is essentially deciding who can and can not have a career in politics simply by suspending accounts, which they claim they can do for any reason they want. No company, US or otherwise, no billionaire, and certainly no foreign investors, such as the Saudi Royal Family, can have the right to decide who can or can not have a career in US politics. It's not just a threat to our fundamental human rights, when foreign investors such as the Saudis are involved, it becomes a national security threat as well.

Besides unfairly damaging an individual's reputation and blocking them from certain careers, this practice also prevents targeted individuals from marketing their businesses, services, and work. My business account was suspended at the same time as my personal account. This creates an atmosphere of unfair competition. If Twitter and other social media companies are allowed to suspend business accounts for any reason they want, they are given the power to decide which businesses will succeed and which ones will fail. That's unacceptable.

I'm not afraid to fight BigTech. I'm not afraid to fight the richest man in the world. I'm not afraid to fight the Saudi Royal Family. I'm not afraid of anyone. We will force Twitter to shut down and dissolve, and we will force the US Congress to create a new set of rules for all other social media companies to follow. xo