Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro thanked Elon Musk after the Twitter boss admitted that his platform screwed up when it censored Matt Walsh’s groundbreaking documentary “What is a Woman?” over so-called “misgendering.”
Twitter labeled the documentary as “hateful conduct” and restricted its visibility, but a few hours before its release, Musk took to Twitter to insist that the censorship had been a mistake. At issue was a father referring to his own daughter with feminine pronouns despite her identifying as transgender, and a storeowner addressing a hulking city councilman who also claimed to be female with a masculine pronoun.
Early Friday, Twitter’s tag restricting the visibility of “What is a Woman?” was removed, allowing Twitter users to like and retweet the documentary, and Musk tweeted out the film to his 140 million followers.
“Thanks, [Elon Musk]! Overnight, visibility limits on the movie have been removed. Elon continues to work to make good on his pledge to keep Twitter an open platform!” Shapiro tweeted to his nearly six million followers.
Thanks, @elonmusk! Overnight, visibility limits on the movie have been removed. Elon continues to work to make good on his pledge to keep Twitter an open platform! https://t.co/jZf9W02Rap
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) June 2, 2023
Shapiro had previously called out Twitter and Musk, asking the billionaire to take action and back up his commitment to free speech principles.
WATCH THE DAILY WIRE’S “WHAT IS A WOMAN?” FOR FREE ON TWITTER
“This behavior by Twitter corporate directly opposes [Musk’s] commitment to free speech, and I sincerely hope he does something about it,” the Daily Wire host said.
The host also pointed out Thursday that Twitter was still limiting the reach of “What is a Woman?” even after Musk admitted his company wrongly censored it.
“Twitter is now visibility limiting ‘What Is A Woman?’ as premiering on Daily Wire’s Twitter page,” Shapiro tweeted. “They did it within seconds of its premiere. It cannot be RTed. Nothing has been fixed.”
After outcry flooded the platform, Twitter lifted restrictions on “What is a Woman?,” and millions of people viewed The Daily Wire’s post featuring the movie.
The documentary released last summer was watched by people in over 70 countries, even as legacy media reviewers ignored the film and its effect on the culture. Soon after its release, “What is a Woman?” became the most-watched movie at home, according to Rotten Tomatoes, which also showed that audiences scored the film with a 97% rating.