MSNBC host Ari Melber took some heat Monday for complaining that Elon Musk might use his newly-acquired control of Twitter to silence some voices and amplify others.
A number of critics responded to his complaint, calling out the obvious irony and pointing out the fact that Twitter had been using algorithms that effectively stifled conservative voices for years — particularly with regard to Hunter Biden and the New York Post story that was actively blocked across several platforms.
“If you own all of Twitter or Facebook or what have you. You don’t have to explain yourself. You don’t even have to be transparent. You could secretly ban one party’s candidate or all of its candidates, all of its nominees. You could just secretly turn down the reach of their stuff and turn up the reach of something else and the rest of us might not find out until after the election,” Melber said. “Elon Musk says this is all to help people because he is just a free speech, philosophically clear, open-minded helper.”
.@AriMelber "You could secretly ban one party's candidate or all of its candidates, all of its nominees or you could secretly turn down the reach of their stuff and turn up the reach of something else. And the rest of us might not even find out about it until after the election" pic.twitter.com/vWcPeUxCcv
— Kevin Tober (@KevinTober94) April 26, 2022
“The New York Post would like to have a word,” Joe Cunningham remarked.
“This is amazing,” Gerry Callahan agreed. “It’s like this idiot has never even heard of the Laptop from Hell.”
Radio host Clay Travis added, “MSNBC ‘talent’ suddenly realizes the owners of Twitter can rig the entire site. This is amazing to watch. Does he not realize all of this was already done to Republicans?”
“UNREAL,” commented Steve Guest, communications advisor for Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX).
“In which @AriMelber describes a scenario too horrible to contemplate except when you do it to the other guy of course,” Ron Coleman observed.
Daily Wire Editor Cabot Phillips added, “There is truly nothing funnier than this MSNBC host ranting about what Elon Musk could do to Twitter, and accidentally giving a perfect description of how Twitter has actually operated for the last five years.”
“He can’t possibly lack this much self-awareness …” Mark Hemingway added.
“Parody or drunken Chutzpah?” Rita Panahi asked.
Parody or drunken chutzpah? https://t.co/DVWyPMTlKb
— Rita Panahi (@RitaPanahi) April 26, 2022
“Or, imagine if a presidential candidate’s son had all kinds of shady business partners, and lost his laptop …” National Review’s Jim Geraghty said.
“The full circle among liberal elites,” Daily Caller Editor in Chief Geoffrey Ingersoll explained. “First it’s, ‘That isn’t happening/is a conspiracy theory.’ Then it’s, ‘Actually it is happening and how dare you question it.’ The final state is: ‘Oh s***, this thing we said isn’t happening can happen to us too!'”