Twitter Censorship Claims Another Conservative Group – Project Veritas
Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, was caught on video a few weeks ago by conservative journalists at Project Veritas promising his employees that the social media giant’s censorship of former President Donald Trump’s account was just the beginning and that “this is going to be much bigger than just one account, and it’s going to go on for much longer than just this day, this week, and the next few weeks, and go on beyond the inauguration.”
Project Veritas, comprised of a group of undercover journalists and its founder, James O’Keefe, has recently been taking on Big Tech, including Twitter and Facebook, by exposing their efforts to silence conservative voices. It should come as no surprise, then, to learn that Project Veritas’ Twitter account has been permanently suspended over one of its recent interviews.
Ironically, the incident with Twitter began with a Project Veritas investigation into another social media giant.
The conservative news outlet had obtained a leaked online video of Facebook Vice President Guy Rosen in which he told fellow Facebook employees that, “We have a system that is able to freeze commenting on threads in cases where our systems are detecting that there may be a thread that has hate speech or violence…these are all things we’ve built over the past three-four years as part of our investments into the integrity space our efforts to protect the election.”
Christian Hartsock from Project Veritas confronted Rosen in front of his home in an attempt to follow up on the meaning and application of Facebook’s new ability to “freeze commenting” and to ask whether the new initiative was going to be directed at comments that don’t comport with the liberal social media company’s political views.
Rosen turned his back on Hartsock and went inside without responding to questions.
Following the posting by Project Veritas and O’Keefe of a tweet containing the video of the attempted interview, Twitter temporarily locked out both accounts for what it claims were violations of its private information policy.
The video included a brief glimpse of Rosen’s home address, but not the street name or mention of the city. Nearby license plates of automobiles in Rosen’s driveway were intentionally blurred out.
Twenty minutes after Project Veritas appealed Twitter’s action, its account was inexplicably and permanently suspended. O’Keefe’s personal account was later restored when he agreed, reluctantly, to delete his own version of the tweet.
Since the video does not show enough information to identify Rosen’s complete home address, and is clearly not an attempt to engage in the unethical tactic of “doxxing,” the question that needs to be asked is whether the social media giant was simply looking for a pretext to suspend Project Veritas’ account? And, who might be next?
The Daily Citizen continues to be frozen out of its own Twitter account for a tweet publicizing a story on Dr. Rachel Levine, President Biden’s nominee for a key position within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Twitter, which labeled the tweet as “hate speech,” rejected The Daily Citizen’s appeal, but has yet to respond to our request for clarification. The tweet announces the president’s nomination, and then states, “Dr, Levine is a transgender woman, that is, a man who believes he is a woman.”
Other news outlets and organizations, such as Catholic World Report and the Minnesota Family Council, were initially locked out by Twitter for making similar observations about Dr. Levine’s nomination, only to be reinstated without explanation.
Related:
Facebook, Twitter and Google Execs Grilled by Senate Committee Over Censorship of Conservatives
Tired of Twitter’s Censorship, Conservatives Flock to New Social Media Platform ‘Parler’
Family Organizations Send Letter to Twitter and Start Petition Supporting ‘The Daily Citizen’
Focus on the Family Allies Send a Message to Twitter Asking ‘Are We Next To Be Banned?’
Photo from YURI GRIPAS/REUTERS
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bruce Hausknecht, J.D., is an attorney who serves as Focus on the Family’s judicial analyst. He is responsible for research and analysis of legal and judicial issues related to Christians and the institution of the family, including First Amendment freedom of religion and free speech issues, judicial activism, marriage, homosexuality and pro-life matters. He also tracks legislation and laws affecting these issues. Prior to joining Focus in 2004, Hausknecht practiced law for 17 years in construction litigation and as an associate general counsel for a large ministry in Virginia. He was also an associate pastor at a church in Colorado Springs for seven years, primarily in worship music ministry. Hausknecht has provided legal analysis and commentary for top media outlets including CNN, ABC News, NBC News, CBS Radio, The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, the Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe and BBC radio. He’s also a regular contributor to The Daily Citizen. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Illinois and his J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law. Hausknecht has been married since 1981 and has three adult children, as well as three adorable grandkids. In his free time, Hausknecht loves getting creative with his camera and capturing stunning photographs of his adopted state of Colorado.
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