Former Vice President Al Gore called for a ban on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/social-media" target="_blank" rel="noopener">social media</a> algorithms, which he argued were the &#8220;digital equivalent of AR-15s.&#8221;
Gore was speaking at the United Nations Climate Conference (COP28) when he made the comments, saying that the algorithms were designed to lead readers down obscure &#8220;rabbit holes,&#8221; and as such, posed a danger to those who used the platforms.
WATCH:
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&quot;These algorithms, they are the digital equivalent of AR-15s, they ought to be banned&quot;
Former US Vice President Al Gore talks about the &quot;artificial insanity&quot; found in social media echo chambers<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COP28?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COP28</a> latest: <a href="https://t.co/kV8YawB3sH">https://t.co/kV8YawB3sH</a> <a href="https://t.co/6RqQxQWnos">pic.twitter.com/6RqQxQWnos</a>
&mdash; Bloomberg (@business) <a href="https://twitter.com/business/status/1731992979575890410?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Gore compared the so-called &#8220;rabbit holes&#8221; to carnivorous pitcher plants that lure prey to come inside — and once inside, they can&#8217;t get back out.
&#8220;If you have social media that is dominated by algorithms that pull people down these rabbit holes that are a bit like pitcher plants,&#8221; Gore began. &#8220;These algorithms, they are the digital equivalent of AR-15s, they ought to be banned – they really ought to be banned.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s an abuse of the public forum,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;But when these — when people are pulled down these rabbit holes — you know what&#8217;s at the bottom of the rabbit hole, that&#8217;s where the echo chamber is. And if you spend too much time in the echo chamber, what&#8217;s weaponized is another form of AI – not artificial intelligence, artificial insanity.&#8221;
The audience laughed at that, but Gore continued: &#8220;I&#8217;m serious! I&#8217;m serious!&#8221;
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&#8220;QAnon is just the best-known version of artificial insanity,&#8221; Gore said. &#8220;These devices are the enemies of self-government, and they&#8217;re the enemies of democracy. We need reforms for both democracy and capitalism.&#8221;
&#8220;Al Gore says social media algorithms are like &#8216;digital AR-15s.&#8217; To globalist elites, free speech is a dangerous weapon that must be seized. They want you to listen to their propaganda &amp; obey accordingly. The good news is you can hear the fear in his voice. They know we’re waking up,&#8221; @DC_Draino posted.
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Al Gore says social media algorithms are like “digital AR-15s”😂
To globalist elites, free speech is a dangerous weapon that must be seized
They want you to listen to their propaganda &amp; obey accordingly
The good news is you can hear the fear in his voice
They know we’re… <a href="https://t.co/vjxRQoWwII">pic.twitter.com/vjxRQoWwII</a>
&mdash; DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) <a href="https://twitter.com/DC_Draino/status/1732088516975190196?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 5, 2023</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;It’s funny that Al Gore says social media algorithms are the &#8216;digital equivalent of AR-15s,&#8217; when Conservatives were the ones being silenced online throughout the pandemic,&#8221; Judge Jeanine Pirro added. &#8220;And @AlGore in case you didn’t know — AR-15s are also protected by the second amendment, genius …&#8221;
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<a href="https://t.co/KR9DtUMd11">https://t.co/KR9DtUMd11</a>
It’s funny that Al Gore says social media algorithms are the “digital equivalent of AR-15s”, when Conservatives were the ones being silenced online throughout the pandemic… And <a href="https://twitter.com/algore?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AlGore</a> in case you didn’t know — AR-15s are also protected by the second…
&mdash; Jeanine Pirro (@JudgeJeanine) <a href="https://twitter.com/JudgeJeanine/status/1732451678341812356?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 6, 2023</a></blockquote>
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‘An Inconvenient Sequel: Power To Truth’ – UK Premiere – VIP Arrivals

‘The Digital Equivalent Of AR-15s’: Al Gore Wants To Ban Social Media Algorithms

'The Digital Equivalent Of AR-15s': Al Gore Wants To Ban Social Media Algorithms

Al Gore

algorithm

Big Tech

Social Media

Social Media Bias

Social Media Censorship

U.S.

A witness testifying before <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/congress" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Congress</a> on Thursday accused a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/house-democrats" target="_blank" rel="noopener">House Democrat</a> of &#8220;engaging in a conspiracy theory&#8221; about the abandoned laptop believed to have belonged to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/hunter-biden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hunter Biden</a>.
The witness, journalist and author Michael Shellenberger, called out Rep. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/reporter-calls-out-rep-dan-goldman-over-archer-testimony-claim" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dan Goldman</a> (D-NY) during a Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/committee-activity/hearings/hearing-weaponization-federal-government-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hearing</a> on social media censorship while they discussed the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/10/14/email-reveals-how-hunter-biden-introduced-ukrainian-biz-man-to-dad/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">breaking the Hunter Biden laptop story</a> in the weeks before the 2020 election based on emails from a copy of a hard drive.
&#8220;You are aware of the &#8216;laptop&#8217;, so to speak &#8230; that was published in the New York Post was actually a hard drive that the New York Post admitted here was not authenticated as real. It was not the laptop the FBI had,&#8221; Goldman said, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEZFgh3sYTs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">referring to his exchange</a> with former New York Post reporter Emma-Jo Morris earlier this year. &#8220;You&#8217;re aware of that, right?&#8221; he added.
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Rep. <a href="https://twitter.com/danielsgoldman?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@danielsgoldman</a> on Hunter&#39;s laptop: Hard drives can be manipulated by Rudy Giuliani, or Russia&quot; <a href="https://t.co/vkWuwoSJLR">pic.twitter.com/vkWuwoSJLR</a>
&mdash; Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) <a href="https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1730279391878361264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 30, 2023</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;It was the same contents,&#8221; Shellenberger replied.
&#8220;How do you know?&#8221; Goldman asked. &#8220;You would have to authenticate it to know it was the same contents. You have no idea. You know hard drives can be manipulated,&#8221; he added before Shellenberger could complete an answer.
&#8220;Are you suggesting the New York Post participated in a conspiracy to construct the contents of the Hunter biden laptop?&#8221; Shellenberger shot back.
&#8220;No, sir. Hard drives can be manipulated by Rudy Giuliani, or Russia,&#8221; Goldman said, referring to the former New York City mayor who had been working as a personal lawyer for former President Donald Trump at the time of the laptop fiasco. When Shellenberger asked what evidence there was of manipulation, Goldman contended, &#8220;Well, there is actual evidence of it, but the point is it&#8217;s not the same thing.&#8221;
Shellenberger retorted, &#8220;There&#8217;s no evidence for it, so you&#8217;re engaging in a conspiracy theory.&#8221;
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Biden <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/546148-hunter-biden-doesnt-know-if-delaware-laptop-was-his/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has said in the past</a> that he did not know whether he was the owner of the laptop abandoned at a Delaware repair shop before it was seized by the FBI. His legal team has <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hunter-biden-denver-riggleman-former-gop-congressman-jan-6-select-committee-adviser/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly been</a> looking for possible distorted or fabricated data linked to the first son and they recently <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/26/hunter-biden-sues-rudy-giuliani-over-infamous-laptop.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sued</a> Giuliani over the laptop. Yet over the past few years, many of the laptop&#8217;s contents — revealing details about Biden&#8217;s personal life and work — <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fbi-allegedly-informed-twitter-the-hunter-biden-laptop-was-real-on-key-date" target="_blank" rel="noopener">have been</a> analyzed and <a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/03/30/hunter-biden-laptop-data-examined/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/03/30/hunter-biden-laptop-data-examined/" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">shown to be authentic</a>.
In the hours that followed publication of the New York Post&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-cybersecurity-expert-authenticates-new-york-posts-smoking-gun-hunter-biden-email-report-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;smoking-gun&#8221; email story</a>, Twitter temporarily blocked the <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/10/14/email-reveals-how-hunter-biden-introduced-ukrainian-biz-man-to-dad/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> with details of Biden&#8217;s shady business dealings and his father&#8217;s possible ties to them from being shared, claiming the story violated its rule against sharing &#8220;hacked&#8221; materials. Facebook also took steps to limit the spread of the story, which came just weeks before Hunter&#8217;s father, Joe Biden, was elected president of the United States.
Around this time, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/active-cia-employee-asked-intel-veteran-if-he-would-sign-hunter-biden-letter-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">51 former intelligence officials signed a letter</a> that suggested the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/hunter-biden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hunter Biden</a> laptop story had the &#8220;classic earmarks&#8221; of a Russian disinformation operation. A firestorm ensued when POLITICO <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/19/hunter-biden-story-russian-disinfo-430276" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published a headline</a> that said the former intelligence officials were claiming the laptop story was “Russian disinfo&#8221; and then the elder Biden <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/house-gop-demand-records-from-ex-intel-officials-about-hunter-biden-laptop-letter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">used</a> the letter to cast doubt on it during a debate against Trump.
While Democrats in Congress downplayed the social media clampdown on the story, Republicans raised concerns about there being a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jim-jordan-subpoenas-big-tech-executives-in-collusion-investigation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">coordinated effort</a> involving Big Tech and government agents to suppress damaging information about the Bidens in the run-up to the 2020 election — including when it <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2023-07-20-jdj-to-wray-re-dehmlow-testimony.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">came to the laptop</a>. People who worked as executives at <a href="https://6abc.com/former-twitter-execs-say-removal-of-hunter-biden-laptop-story-was-a/12790381/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a>, which as since been rebranded to X, and <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/08/25/mark-zuckerberg-criticizes-twitters-handling-of-the-posts-hunter-biden-laptop-story/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook</a> later conceded that cracking down on the story was a mistake.
Hunter Biden is now facing federal gun charges, to which he has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hunter-biden-pleads-not-guilty-to-gun-charges" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pleaded not guilty</a>, and tax counts may soon follow. House Republicans are looking into the Department of Justice&#8217;s handling of the criminal probe into Hunter Biden as part of an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-republicans-unveil-biden-impeachment-inquiry-website" target="_blank" rel="noopener">impeachment</a> inquiry against President Biden.

Representative Dan Goldman

Journalist Calls Out Democrat Over Hunter Biden Laptop ‘Conspiracy Theory’ During Hearing

Journalist Calls Out Democrat Over Hunter Biden Laptop 'Conspiracy Theory' During Hearing

Censorship

Congress

Hunter Biden

U.S. House of Representatives

Elon Musk’s X-Corp asked a California court on Friday to overturn a first-of-its-kind online content moderation law, arguing the measure pressures social media platforms to censor discourse viewed as problematic by state officials.
X, formerly known as Twitter, filed a <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.caed.433955/gov.uscourts.caed.433955.1.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuit</a> in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California against the new law AB 587, which requires social media companies to publicly disclose moderation practices around categories the state could label as misinformation/disinformation, extremism/radicalization, and hate speech — otherwise the state could impose fines for non-compliance.
But with Musk’s pledge to restore a marketplace of ideas on his newly rebranded $44 billion social media company, X Corp. alleges California’s new law regulating certain forms of speech violates the First Amendment under the U.S. and California constitutions.
“Because X Corp. must take such positions on these topics as they are formulated by the State, X Corp. is being forced to adopt the State’s politically-charged terms, which is a form of compelled speech in and of itself,” the lawsuit alleges.
“AB 587 thus mandates X Corp. to speak about sensitive, controversial topics about which it does not wish to speak in the hopes of pressuring X Corp. to limit constitutionally-protected content on its platform that the state apparently finds objectionable or undesirable,” the suit says.
Lawmakers tout the content moderation practice as a mere “transparency measure” under which state officials require certain social media companies to make their content moderation policies and statistics publicly available.
Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino), who authored the bill, said in <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/08/twitter-x-elon-musk-california-moderation-transparency-law-as-unconstitutional-ab-587/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">response</a> to the lawsuit that AB 587 is “a pure transparency measure that simply requires companies to be upfront about if and how they are moderating content.”
“It in no way requires any specific content moderation policies,” he added. “If Twitter has nothing to hide, then they should have no objection to this bill.”
The lawsuit brought forward by X Corp. comes months after satire news website Babylon Bee <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/babylon-bee-ceo-tim-pool-file-lawsuit-against-california-attorney-general-over-new-social-media-law" target="_blank" rel="noopener">filed separate litigation</a> with podcaster Tim Pool and Minds, Inc. against California’s attorney general to keep state officials from enforcing the content moderation law.
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The group argues the law was “written with the express intent to discourage expression” of constitutionally protected viewpoints and failed the vagueness doctrine of the Fourteenth Amendment, which requires criminal laws to state explicitly and definitely what conduct is punishable.
“If Big Tech is tasked by the state with eliminating hateful or misinformative content, they’ll stuff everything they don’t like into those categories, including opinions, jokes, and even factual statements,” Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon said. “We’ve already experienced it first hand.”
Upon signing the bill into law, which is set to take effect next year, California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom said the state would “not stand by as social media is weaponized to spread hate and disinformation that threaten our communities and foundational values as a country.”
Dillon argued that lawmakers made the law too vague and called it a censorship bill.
“We need laws that prohibit viewpoint discrimination, not laws that compel it under threat of penalties (and under the guise of good-faith content moderation),” Dillon said.

US-TECHNOLOGY-TWITTER-MUSK-X

Elon Musk’s X Corp Sues California Over Social Media Content Moderation Law

Elon Musk's X Corp Sues California Over Social Media Content Moderation Law

Babylon Bee

California

Courts

Elon Musk

Gavin Newsom

Tim Pool

Twitter

A federal appeals court has ruled that the Biden administration cannot coerce or “significantly encourage” social media companies to censor content, saying that previous actions of the administration had violated the First Amendment. 
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/documents/0f6d7356-f470-4eb0-9609-fc4e34b47e5b.pdf?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">partially upheld</a> a lower court&#8217;s ruling in Missouri vs. Biden barring the FBI, the Centers for Disease Control, the White House, and the surgeon general from being able to pressure social media companies to take down or limit the scope of content the administration didn’t like. The court specifically ruled against a number of officials, including White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy.
&#8220;Defendants, and their employees and agents, shall take no actions, formal or informal, directly or indirectly, to coerce or significantly encourage social-media companies to remove, delete, suppress, or reduce, including through altering their algorithms, posted social-media content containing protected free speech,&#8221; the decision <a href="https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/appeals-court-upholds-decision-barring-biden-admin-colluding-big-tech-censor?utm_source=daily&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;That includes, but is not limited to, compelling the platforms to act, such as by intimating that some form of punishment will follow a failure to comply with any request, or supervising, directing, or otherwise meaningfully controlling the social-media companies&#8217; decision-making process.&#8221;
Documents released by Congress last month <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-admin-pressured-fb-to-suppress-daily-wire-content-push-users-to-legacy-outlets-newly-released-docs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">show</a> that a White House official asked Facebook to promote legacy outlets and stifle The Daily Wire’s reach in order to accomplish the administration’s directives on suppressing content that clashed with its COVID vaccine agenda. 
The ruling from the appeals court was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/09/08/5th-circuit-ruling-covid-content-moderation/">not as expansive</a> as the original ruling against the Biden administration from U.S. Judge Terry A. Doughty. Injunctions against the HHS, the Census Bureau, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency were not upheld. 
“If you were to change the algorithm so that people were more likely to see NYT, WSJ, any authoritative news source over Daily Wire, Tomi Lahren, polarizing people. You wouldn’t have a mechanism to check the material impact?” then White House Digital Director Rob Flaherty said in a meeting with Facebook in 2021. Flaherty was named as one of the defendants in the case who the injunction applied to.
The decision against the Biden administration, which was first sued by several states including Louisiana and Missouri. The states said in the lawsuit that the Biden administration’s actions were “the most egregious violations of the First Amendment in the history of the United States of America.”
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The decision  was celebrated by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey. “The First Amendment remains intact,” he <a href="https://twitter.com/AGAndrewBailey/status/1700271862415282448?s=20">posted</a> on X. “The first brick was laid in the wall of separation between tech and state on July 4th, and this ruling is yet another brick.”
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said the decision was “a major win against censorship, totalitarianism, and Biden.”

Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Holds Daily White House Media Briefing

Appeals Court Rules Biden Officials Violated First Amendment In Social Media Censorship Case

Biden Administration

First Amendment

Politics

YouTube on Friday reversed course and halted its limited monetization enforcement of Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro&#8217;s first episode of his new series, &#8220;Facts,&#8221; which takes on the powerful entities trying to censor so-called “misinformation” and dictate what media is “safe” for advertising.
The reversal came after Media Research Center (MRC) Free Speech America <a href="https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/free-speech/luis-cornelio/2023/08/11/youtube-wont-admit-it-demonetized-ben-shapiro-bombshell">pressed</a> YouTube about why monetization of Shapiro’s video was suppressed. MRC said YouTube effectively refused to acknowledge that the platform had limited the video in the first place. Notably, The Daily Wire was in communication with YouTube when the media company twice appealed YouTube’s suppression of the limited monetization and a manual review upheld the suppression, suggesting YouTube’s demonetization was intentional and not in error. 
“In order for a video to monetize on YouTube it must comply with our<a href="https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6162278?hl=en#zippy="> advertiser-friendly guidelines</a>, which are publicly accessible and apply to all creators,” a YouTube spokesperson told MRC. “Upon review, the video in question is currently monetizing.”
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ana-kasparian-lauds-shapiros-fairness-after-being-mocked-again-for-speaking-with-him">Shapiro</a> announced on Thursday that YouTube suppressed monetization of the “Facts” video, which was first released on July 29. 
&#8220;Ironically, YouTube has suppressed monetization for Episode 1 of my new YouTube series, Facts, because it &#8216;discusses New World Order, which is a non-monetizable &#8220;conspiracy theory&#8221;&#8216; under [YouTube’s] Dangerous Acts in ad-friendly guidelines,'&#8221; Shapiro posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. 
&#8220;Except nothing in the video is a conspiracy theory at all,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;Watch for yourself and get the facts about who is controlling ad revenue on YouTube and all of the largest Big Tech platforms&#8211;including this one.&#8221;
In the episode, Shapiro <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ben-shapiro-takes-on-corporations-behind-censorship">explains</a> how the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), which <a href="https://wfanet.org/knowledge/item/2017/01/30/Agency-Trading-Desks-still-dominate-programmatic-but-advertisers-are-demanding-a-new-more-transparent-relationship">represents</a> 90% of “global marketing communications,” and the World Economic Forum are behind a large-scale effort to influence how advertisers spend their money.
“There’s a group of people who control what you are allowed to see, the news you read, the videos you watch, the posts you engage with,&#8221; he said. &#8220;You haven’t heard of them. You don’t know their names, but they determine through methods, both direct and indirect, whether you are allowed to be exposed to particular messages. Their decisions can bankrupt companies, silence voices, and fundamentally shift cultural norms.&#8221;
Notably, Shapiro even remarks during the episode that the video could be censored based on the ambiguous and clearly biased framework entities like GARM and NewsGuard operate under.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Ironically, YouTube has suppressed monetization for Episode 1 of my new YouTube series, Facts, because it “discusses New World Order, which is a non-monetizable ‘conspiracy theory’ under [YouTube’s] Dangerous Acts in ad-friendly guidelines.” 
Except nothing in the video is a… <a href="https://t.co/rPj5d1JhA2">pic.twitter.com/rPj5d1JhA2</a>
&mdash; Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1689668037719261185?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 10, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Shapiro’s announcement about the suppressed monetization and the subject matter of his “Facts” episode gained much attention online, including from Tesla and X owner Elon Musk, the world’s second richest man. 
“I think the solution here is to price so-called ‘safe’ advertising higher than ‘unsafe,’” Musk responded to Shapiro on Friday. “My companies will happily buy the latter.” 
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I think the solution here is to price so-called “safe” advertising higher than “unsafe”. 
My companies will happily buy the latter.
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1689938510935887872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2023</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;
Shapiro countered Musk’s take, stating, “‘Safe’ and ‘unsafe’ are dog whistles designed to enable censorship and demonetize ‘wrongthink.’”
“GARM has subjective guidelines for what it considers ‘safe’ for advertising, and its corporate partners seem to be interpreting these convoluted rules to fit a narrative,” he explained. 
The host added a screenshot of GARM’s “Brand Safety Floor,” outlining the content the group deems “not appropriate for any advertising support.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
2/ GARM has subjective guidelines for what it considers “safe” for advertising, and its corporate partners seem to be interpreting these convoluted rules to fit a narrative. Here&#39;s their “Brand Safety Floor” &#8211; “content not appropriate for any advertising support.” <a href="https://t.co/bfhEvwWSFE">pic.twitter.com/bfhEvwWSFE</a>
&mdash; Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1690132296332955648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2023</a></blockquote>
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“How are [L&#8217;Oréal Groupe] (Garnier) &amp; Mastercard’s sponsorships of bondage &amp; strippers at this NYC Pride Parade not ‘Adult &amp; Explicit Sexual Content,’ and a ‘Sensitive Social Issue?’ Is this ‘safe?’” Shapiro posed. 
The author noted that GARM member TikTok sponsored the 2022 LA Pride Parade, “where a half naked bondage group walked through &amp; a man in drag performed for children on a giant eggplant.”
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4/ Is this “safe?” GARM member <a href="https://twitter.com/tiktok_us?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TikTok_US</a> sponsored the 2022 LA Pride Parade, where a half naked bondage group walked through &amp; a man in drag performed for children on a giant eggplant 📹 <a href="https://twitter.com/DrewHLive?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DrewHLive</a> <a href="https://t.co/l2XaTq8OeT">pic.twitter.com/l2XaTq8OeT</a>
&mdash; Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1690132301194072064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2023</a></blockquote>
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“[Meta] thinks this video of [trans activist Dylan] Mulvaney appropriating &amp; insulting womanhood, a ‘Debated Social Issue’ that obviously ‘demeans’ women, is ‘safe,’” Shapiro highlighted. 
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5/ <a href="https://twitter.com/Meta?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Meta</a> thinks this video of Mulvaney appropriating &amp; insulting womanhood, a “Debated Social Issue” that obviously “demeans” women, is “safe:” <a href="https://t.co/1ZZ3UJXh1J">pic.twitter.com/1ZZ3UJXh1J</a>
&mdash; Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1690132303958130688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2023</a></blockquote>
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“But GARM member [Youtube] apparently thinks [Daily Wire host Michael Knowles] discussing loving ways to respond to gender confused young people is so ‘unsafe’ they deleted it from their platform,” he said, captioning the video of Knowles. 
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6/ But GARM member <a href="https://twitter.com/YouTube?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@YouTube</a> apparently thinks <a href="https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MichaelJKnowles</a> discussing loving ways to respond to gender confused young people is so “unsafe” they deleted it from their platform. <a href="https://t.co/6wVuzK00px">pic.twitter.com/6wVuzK00px</a>
&mdash; Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1690132306948739073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Shapiro further noted that Daily Wire hosts “can’t even present the case for why much of the trans content is harmful to children or demeaning to women — because that gets forcibly deleted by [YouTube] too. Are these ‘unsafe?’” 
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7/ <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDailyWire</a> hosts can’t even present the case for why much of the trans content is harmful to children or demeaning to women — because that gets forcibly deleted by <a href="https://twitter.com/YouTube?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@YouTube</a> too. Are these “unsafe?” <a href="https://t.co/1prjNjAyzX">pic.twitter.com/1prjNjAyzX</a>
&mdash; Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1690132312699138050?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Shapiro then posted video of Disney “apparently paying a grown man to dress up as a cartoon female mouse whose primary audience is meant to be little children,” adding, “Is this ‘safe’?” 
“These guidelines aren’t designed to keep brands ‘safe,’ but to advance a specific (and extreme) narrative,” he finished the thread. “The mass implementation of these “brand safety” guidelines demands serious scrutiny.”
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7/ <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDailyWire</a> hosts can’t even present the case for why much of the trans content is harmful to children or demeaning to women — because that gets forcibly deleted by <a href="https://twitter.com/YouTube?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@YouTube</a> too. Are these “unsafe?” <a href="https://t.co/1prjNjAyzX">pic.twitter.com/1prjNjAyzX</a>
&mdash; Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1690132312699138050?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Shapiro, and The Daily Wire more broadly, are no strangers to censorship &#8212; like most conservative media. In fact, memos obtained this month by the House Judiciary Committee reveal the Biden White House pressured another Big Tech platform, Facebook, to stifle The Daily Wire’s reach in an effort to promote the administration’s policy goals related to the COVID vaccines.
One note, dated April 14, 2021, reveals that the White House met with Facebook executives to pressure the tech giant to change its algorithm to downgrade posts from The Daily Wire and other “polarizing” entities. White House digital director Rob Flaherty asked Facebook to promote what he called “authoritative” media, such as The New York Times, over The Daily Wire. 
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“If you were to change the algorithm so that people were more likely to see NYT (New York Times), WSJ (Wall Street Journal), any authoritative news source over Daily Wire, Tomi Lahren, polarizing people. You wouldn’t have a mechanism to check the material impact?” Flaherty said to Facebook executives.
Another note reveals Flaherty becoming frustrated that Facebook couldn’t provide some of the data the White House wanted, so he pushed the platform to “play ball.”
“I feel like we’re running around in circles. Some partners give us lots of information, some partners tell us to f*** right off,&#8221; Flaherty said. &#8220;This feels like we’re chasing our tails. If you don’t want to give information, just say that. I don’t want to feel like I’m going to a dog and pony show. My dream [is] for [Facebook] to play ball. It’s about, will we get out of this f***ing mess.”
Additionally, House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/jim-jordan-outlines-facebooks-cozy-relationship-biden-white-house-how-censored-free-speech">revealed</a> that a Facebook employee in April 2021 circulated an email for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg that said, &#8220;&#8216;We are facing continued pressure from external stakeholders, including the [Biden] White House’ to remove posts.&#8221; 
Shapiro last week responded to the release of the memos, which he said expose a clear First Amendment violation.
“We are absolutely pleased to look into the effect on our business of the Biden White House, engaging in an absolute First Amendment violation,&#8221; he said. &#8220;There&#8217;s no question this is a First Amendment violation. It is as simple as that. It is a First Amendment violation because the federal government cannot force or even pressure a private company into censoring information &#8212; that is a First Amendment violation, pretty clearly.”
Leif Le Mahieu contributed to this report.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ben-shapiro-takes-on-corporations-behind-censorship">Ben Shapiro Takes On Corporations Behind Censorship</a>

FACTS – Ep 1 Newsguard Final v2 NO TEXTURE

YouTube Reverses Course After Throttling Ben Shapiro’s Video Uncovering Corporations Behind Censorship

Ben Shapiro

COVID-19

The Daily Wire

YouTube

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/fbi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FBI</a> facilitated censorship requests against American citizens from a Ukrainian intelligence agency that has likely been compromised by Russian actors, according to a House committee report released Monday. 

The 26-page <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/fbi-sbu-staff-report-7.10.23-sm.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from the House Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government accused one of America’s top law enforcement agencies of violating Americans’ First Amendment rights and potentially undermining U.S. national security. After Russia invaded Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) sought to fight supposed Russian influence on social media and levied the power of the FBI for its mission. 
“The SBU enlisted the FBI in support of this effort, transmitting to the FBI lists of social media accounts that allegedly ‘spread Russian disinformation.’ The FBI, in turn, routinely relayed these lists to the relevant social media platforms, which distributed the information internally to their employees in charge of content moderation and enforcement,” the report said. 
As reported in the Twitter Files, DOJ officials <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-judge-blocked-the-feds-from-meeting-with-social-media-giants-heres-how-the-government-colluded-with-big-tech" target="_blank" rel="noopener">regularly met</a> with social media executives at Meta, Twitter, Google, Microsoft, and others to discuss “misinformation” spreading on the platforms and how the social media sites could crack down on supposed untruthful speech. The new House committee report showed that the FBI flagged accounts and posts for social media companies at the behest of the SBU, including posts from “authentic accounts of Americans … a verified U.S. State Department account and those belonging to American journalists.”
“At times, the FBI would even follow up with the relevant platform to ensure that ‘these accounts were taken down.’ Regardless of its intended purpose in endorsing the SBU’s requests, the FBI had no legal justification for facilitating the censorship of Americans’ protected speech on social media,” according to the report.
As the FBI was coordinating with the SBU to censor Americans’ speech, Russian actors who had reportedly infiltrated the Ukrainian agency could have been influencing decisions made by the agency, according to the House committee report. Last July, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fired the head of the SBU, citing dozens of cases of those under his authority working with Russian agents, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraines-president-fires-security-service-chief-prosecutor-general-2022-07-17/#:~:text=KYIV%2C%20July%2017%20(Reuters),by%20officials%20in%20their%20agencies." target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. 
Months before Zelensky’s attempted crackdown on Russian agents within his intelligence team, an FBI agent sent an email to Meta in March 2022, specifying accounts that the SBU wanted the social media giant to censor, according to the report. 
“I have a few more Instagram and [Facebook] accounts that according to the SBU spread Russian disinformation. For your review and action as deemed appropriate,” special agent Aleksandr Kobzanets wrote to a Meta employee on March 1, 2022. 
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Kobzanets also attached two spreadsheets to his email, containing thousands of accounts and posts suspected of “spread[ing] Russian disinformation.” Most of the posts and accounts belonged to people living in Russia and Belarus, but accounts belonging to Americans were interspersed throughout the spreadsheets. Some of the American accounts included in the spreadsheet belonged to “a photographer working with a studio in New York; a manager of a moving company in South Carolina; a musician and vocalist based in Minnesota; a professor at a university in California; and a children’s book author living in Washington state,” the report said. 
The report added that it was unclear if the FBI took any steps to vet the lists of accounts and posts sent to them by the SBU. The FBI also forwarded lists of YouTube accounts that the SBU wanted to be censored, many of which were removed by the platform. 
Twitter also received a list from the FBI, and the company&#8217;s Head of Trust and Safety Yoel Roth warned that the list included American and Canadian journalists, writing to agent Kobzanets, “Any additional information or context … is of course welcome and appreciated.” But Kobzanets simply responded to Roth’s concern by saying it was “[u]nlikely there will be any additional information or context.” 
Despite revelations from the Twitter Files sparking widespread criticism of the Department of Justice’s relationship with social media companies and a federal judge <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/federal-judge-blocks-biden-officials-from-contacting-social-media-companies-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blocking</a> numerous agencies from contacting Big Tech, the report said that it appears the “FBI’s cooperation with the SBU remains ongoing.”
“This report details misconduct by the FBI that is unconstitutional,” the House committee report said. “It is also counterproductive to the professed aims of the Biden Administration regarding U.S. support for Ukraine, and it endangers our national security. The FBI’s conflation of domestic speech with foreign malign influence poses a grave threat to Americans’ civil liberties.”

Ukraine/FBI

FBI Worked With ‘Compromised’ Ukrainian Intel Agency To Censor Americans, Report Says

FBI Worked With 'Compromised' Ukrainian Intel Agency To Censor Americans, Report Says

Global Politics

Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelensky

A federal judge denied a request from President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a>&#8216;s administration, saying that he would not grant a stay of his own order barring the administration from contacting social media companies.
U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/judge-refuses-biden-administrations-request-suspend-order-limiting-contact-social-media-companies?intcmp=tw_pols" target="_blank" rel="noopener">denied the request</a> on Monday, which was meant to allow members of the Biden administration to continue communicating with social media companies until the case has been appealed.
Doughty <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/federal-judge-blocks-biden-officials-from-contacting-social-media-companies-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">issued the initial order</a>, after reviewing what he said amounted to &#8220;evidence of a massive effort by Defendants, from the White House to federal agencies, to suppress speech based on its content.&#8221; On July 4th, Doughty said that based on said evidence, many within the Biden Administration would be barred from meeting or communicating with social media companies.
The injunction does not affect everyone in the administration, but does target a few key players in the White House and in top federal agencies. Among them are specific White House officials — including Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre — and agencies and certain officials from the Homeland Security Department, the Health and Human Services Department, the DOJ and FBI.
Some exceptions will be made particularly for law enforcement agencies with regard to efforts to flag criminal behavior, elevate national security concerns, and uncover potential election tampering.
The Biden administration quickly responded with a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-administration-to-appeal-judges-order-blocking-contact-with-social-media-companies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">promise to appeal</a>, filing the notice on July 5th, and had asked that a stay be granted in the meantime.
The initial case, filed by the attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri, alleged that the federal government had engaged in collusion with social media companies in an effort to censor what they considered to be &#8220;disfavored speech.&#8221;
Doughty, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, appeared to agree with the attorneys general and issued the injunction in response.

Rishi Sunak Hosts The President Of The United States In Downing Street

Judge Nixes Biden Request That Would Allow Contact With Social Media Companies

Executive

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/state-department" target="_blank" rel="noopener">State Department</a> officials have reportedly canceled a meeting with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/facebook" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook</a> after a federal judge ordered that the Biden administration limit its communications with social media companies after describing an “Orwellian” relationship between the two. 
A Facebook employee told <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/07/05/missouri-biden-judge-censorship-ruling-analysis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Washington Post</a> that the social media company’s weekly Wednesday meeting with government officials had been canceled in light of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-administration-to-appeal-judges-order-blocking-contact-with-social-media-companies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty’s decision</a> to grant an injunction in a lawsuit brought by Louisiana and Missouri over alleged collusion between the federal government and social media companies to censor “disfavored” speech in violation of the First Amendment.
The meeting would have covered topics like the 2024 election and potential hacking problems. Facebook was informed that the meetings had been “canceled pending further guidance,” according to the Facebook insider. 
Another meeting between Facebook and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency could also face cancellation due to Doughty’s ruling. 
In his July 4 ruling, Doughty <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.lawd.189520/gov.uscourts.lawd.189520.293.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that opposition to COVID vaccines, opposition to masking, criticism of the 2020 election, true statements about the Hunter Biden laptop, and opposition to other government policies were all “suppressed” by the government. 
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, a period perhaps best characterized by widespread doubt and uncertainty, the United States Government seems to have assumed a role similar to an Orwellian ‘Ministry of Truth,’” he <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/judge-limits-biden-administration-contact-180939384.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>. 
The White House has moved to appeal Doughty’s injunction, which will be in place as the case makes its way through the judicial process. A spokeswoman for the White House characterized the administration&#8217;s communications with social media companies as necessary for national security. 
“But we’re not going to apologize for promoting responsible actions to protect public health, safety, and security when confronted by challenges like a deadly pandemic or foreign attacks on our elections,” Sharon Yang <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/05/us/politics/social-media-ruling-government.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. “We’re also not going to apologize for believing that social media platforms have a responsibility — a critical responsibility — to take account of the effects their platforms have on the American people.”
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Doughty, a Trump-appointed judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, said that many of the actions taken by the Biden administration amounted to political discrimination.
“It is quite telling that each example or category of suppressed speech was conservative in nature. This targeted suppression of conservative ideas is a perfect example of viewpoint discrimination of political speech,” he said.  
The ruling still allowed the government to warn of foreign election interference, cyberattacks, and criminal activity.

Facebook

Meeting Between State Department And Facebook Axed After Judge Warns Of ‘Orwellian’ Relationship

Meeting Between State Department And Facebook Axed After Judge Warns Of 'Orwellian' Relationship

Misinformation

State Department

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/republican-party" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Republican</a> presidential candidate <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/vivek-ramaswamy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vivek Ramaswamy</a> revealed on Wednesday that he had been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/social-media-censorship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">locked</a> out of his LinkedIn account over opinions he expressed about climate activism and the Biden administration’s policies with respect to China, raising concerns that <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/social-media" target="_blank" rel="noopener">social media</a> companies are attempting to control the narrative in the upcoming <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/2024-election" target="_blank" rel="noopener">election</a> cycle.
Ramaswamy, a former pharmaceutical entrepreneur who unexpectedly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/vivek-ramaswamy-top-private-sector-voice-against-esg-teases-possible-presidential-run" target="_blank" rel="noopener">entered</a> the presidential contest earlier this year, shared <a href="https://twitter.com/VivekGRamaswamy/status/1661723333392474115" target="_blank" rel="noopener">screenshots</a> of an email he received from LinkedIn accusing him of “misinformation, hate speech, violence,” and other breaches of the platform’s user agreement.
“If they can do it to me, they can really do it to anybody,” Ramaswamy said in a video statement. “These aren’t really the actions of private companies. These are so-called privately held companies, or publicly traded private companies, that are doing the work of the government through the backdoor: silencing speech that the government would never dare to censor.”
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The email from LinkedIn added that the posts constituted “misleading or inaccurate information.” One status from Ramaswamy referenced by LinkedIn asserted that the Chinese Communist Party has been “playing the Biden administration like a Chinese mandolin” and “weaponized the ‘woke pandemic’ to stay one step ahead of us.” Another post contended that the “climate religion and its apostles in the ESG movement” would be opposed to shifting oil production away from the United States and toward Russia and China if they did not “have a different objective,” while a third said that “fossil fuels are a requirement for human prosperity.”
Ramaswamy added that the move from LinkedIn, which is owned by Microsoft, is “even more dangerous than direct government censorship in many ways, because it is a hybrid of corporate power and state power together, doing what neither one of them could do on their own.”
LinkedIn recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/linkedin-to-dismiss-hundreds-of-employees-kills-chinese-app-initiative" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shuttered</a> a Chinese career platform but continues to hire employees in the communist nation. The firm also faced backlash last month for implementing <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/linkedin-allows-recruiters-to-filter-job-candidates-by-race" target="_blank" rel="noopener">features</a> that let recruiters filter job candidates by race, sex, and other demographic characteristics.
Republican lawmakers, including presidential contenders, have long been subjected to social media censorship. Former President Donald Trump, currently considered a frontrunner in the Republican primary race alongside Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, was suspended from YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter after the January 6 protests at the Capitol Building, although the platforms have more recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/youtube-restores-donald-trumps-account" target="_blank" rel="noopener">restored</a> access to his accounts.
Technology companies and social media platforms have drawn backlash in recent years for censoring information critical of the federal response to the pandemic and the efficacy of public health mandates, as well as content interpreted by executives to be hateful or violent in nature. Several installments of the Twitter Files, a set of internal documents which new Twitter owner Elon Musk provided to investigative journalists, indicated that former executives <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-new-twitter-files-shows-how-federal-state-governments-monitor-americans-social-media-posts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">worked</a> with federal officials to restrict the advancement of certain claims, as well as leveraged shadow bans and suspensions against conservative and moderate users.
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Some prominent social media companies have openly admitted to maintaining censorship operations. TikTok <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tiktok-ceo-reveals-the-details-of-platforms-massive-censorship-operation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revealed</a> last month that the firm, controlled by Chinese technology company ByteDance, hires “tens of thousands” of employees dedicated to content moderation. The platform has emerged as the most popular social media site for American youth.

Vivek Ramaswamy

Social Media Platform Locks Account Of Republican Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy

LinkedIn Locks Account Of Republican Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy

2024 Election

Elections

Microsoft

Republicans

<a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/elon-musk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elon Musk</a> selected advertising executive Linda Yaccarino to replace him as chief executive officer of <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a>, drawing concern as users on the platform notice her connections to the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/world-economic-forum" target="_blank" rel="noopener">World Economic Forum</a> and her endorsements of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/social-media-censorship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">content moderation</a>.
Yaccarino, who departed from NBCUniversal this week after serving as the company’s chair of global advertising and partnerships for more than a decade, was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/musk-in-talks-to-name-nbcuniversal-executive-and-top-world-economic-forum-official-as-new-twitter-ceo-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confirmed</a> as the new chief executive of Twitter on Friday. Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1657050349608501249" target="_blank" rel="noopener">remarked</a> that she would “focus primarily on business operations” while he directs his attention toward product design and technology.
Twitter users started to uncover the <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindayaccarino/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">connections</a> that Yaccarino holds to entities such as the World Economic Forum, for which she chairs the Taskforce on Future of Work and sits on the Media, Entertainment and Culture Industry Governors Steering Committee. The World Economic Forum is a leading proponent of stakeholder capitalism, an approach to investing that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/esg-the-invisible-fist-of-the-economy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">encourages</a> executives to consider the needs of employees, communities, and other parties in addition to shareholders, and the use of corporate <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/get-woke-go-broke-amazon-installed-solar-panels-in-an-attempt-to-go-net-zero-they-kept-catching-fire-and-were-turned-off" target="_blank" rel="noopener">power</a> to advance political agendas.
Musk himself <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/are-they-trying-to-be-the-boss-of-earth-elon-musk-attacks-wefs-klaus-schwab-wanting-to-master-the-future" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criticized</a> the World Economic Forum earlier this year for “trying to be the boss” of the entire planet as business leaders and government officials gathered at the organization’s annual summit in Switzerland.
Yaccarino also served as board chair for the Ad Council, an entity which creates public service announcements for nonprofits and governments. She partnered with the Biden administration to launch a campaign featuring Pope Francis in order to promote COVID vaccines.
Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1656898688739057665" target="_blank" rel="noopener">insisted</a> on Friday that Yaccarino would not institute the shadow bans which frequently targeted conservatives under the previous management of Twitter. The phrase &#8220;RIP Twitter&#8221; nevertheless trended on the platform after he officially announced her appointment to work as chief executive.
Users also unearthed an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypZNWjPpOuI" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> Yaccarino conducted with Musk last month in which she pressed him to amend his own spontaneous use of the platform and contended that advertisers “need to feel that there is an opportunity for them to influence” the site with respect to “content moderation.”
Yaccarino and Musk clashed as she asked Musk to reinstitute the “well populated, much loved influence council” that existed before he purchased the company last year. Musk countered that he would be “worried about creating a backlash among the public” should they believe that “their views are being determined” by a handful of elite marketing executives.
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“It’s totally cool to say that you want to have your advertising appear in certain places on Twitter and not in other places, but it is not cool to try to say what Twitter will do,” he remarked. “And if that means losing advertising dollars, we lose it, but freedom of speech is paramount.”
Musk, who also serves as chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, said he acquired Twitter at the end of last year in order to reserve a corner of the public square for open dialogue. The billionaire entrepreneur <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-takes-away-blue-check-verification-from-celebrities-and-news-outlets-confusion-and-hilarity-ensue" target="_blank" rel="noopener">introduced</a> a new revenue structure based on subscriptions rather than advertisements after he noted that a number of companies have ended their relationships with the platform at the behest of leftist organizations, dealing a significant blow to the business.
“Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists,” Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1588538640401018880" target="_blank" rel="noopener">remarked</a> on the platform. “Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America.”

Linda Yaccarino

Musk Draws Backlash For Picking World Economic Forum Leader, Supporter Of ‘Content Moderation’ To Run Twitter

World Economic Forum

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/house-republicans" target="_blank" rel="noopener">House</a> Judiciary Committee Chairman <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/jim-jordan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jim Jordan</a> (R-OH) sent a letter on Monday to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/google" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google</a> parent company Alphabet after the firm failed to comply with a subpoena related to federal government officials working with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/big-tech" target="_blank" rel="noopener">technology</a> firms to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/social-media-censorship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">censor</a> content.
Lawmakers asked executives at Alphabet, as well as Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft, for documents related to their alleged <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jim-jordan-subpoenas-big-tech-executives-in-collusion-investigation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suppression</a> of free speech. Jordan said that Alphabet insufficiently complied with the subpoena, which was issued on February 15 and required a return date of March 23, and redacted information in an improper manner.
“Despite explicit instructions enclosed with the subpoena to produce unredacted documents, Alphabet has frustrated the committee’s review of the responsive material by unilaterally redacting key information necessary to understand the context and content of the material,” Jordan said in the <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2023-05-08-jdj-to-donovan-re-alphabet.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> to Daniel Donovan, an attorney who represents Alphabet. “These redactions do not appear to be based on any applicable privilege, because Alphabet has asserted none, and the committee requires this material to be produced without redactions.”
Jordan said that Alphabet provided 4,049 pages of documents related to censorship efforts, a volume of materials that is not “appreciable” relative to the expected quantity of documents, and insisted that the materials be examined in a reading room, a requirement that “prevents and frustrates the committee’s understanding and use of those documents and fails to comply with the terms of the subpoena without the committee’s consent.”
The subpoena was largely focused on obtaining communications between executives at rival social media companies regarding the coordinated censorship of particular viewpoints. YouTube, the video-sharing platform controlled by Alphabet, most recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/facebook-and-instagram-threaten-to-permanently-ban-project-veritas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">censored</a> footage from Project Veritas in which an executive from Pfizer said that the company uses “directed evolution” to mutate coronaviruses and create more potent variants and vaccines.
Technology companies have drawn particular backlash in recent years for censoring information critical of the federal response to the pandemic and the efficacy of lockdown mandates.
Lawmakers can hold individuals in contempt of Congress for intentionally interfering with a committee’s investigation, a move which would require a committee vote and a simple majority in the relevant chamber. Republicans currently have majorities on the House Judiciary Committee and the House of Representatives.
Jordan added that the committee might be “forced to consider the use of one or more enforcement mechanisms” should Alphabet fail to submit relevant documents on May 22.
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The investigation into the suppression of free speech by technology and social media companies occurs after several installments of the Twitter Files, a set of internal documents Twitter owner Elon Musk provided to investigative journalists, indicated that executives worked with federal officials to censor certain claims, as well as used shadow bans and suspensions against conservative and moderate users.
One <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-new-twitter-files-shows-how-federal-state-governments-monitor-americans-social-media-posts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">edition</a> of the Twitter Files showed that the FBI contacted Twitter about the censorship of so many posts that employees congratulated each other in internal company communications for the “monumental undertaking” of reviewing them. Another <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-twitter-files-show-fbi-paid-twitter-millions-influenced-execs-to-censor-hunter-biden-laptop-story" target="_blank" rel="noopener">release</a> showed that the FBI paid Twitter more than $3.4 million for their “legal process response,” apparently referencing the time executives spent coordinating with the agency.

Twitter Files

Jim Jordan Threatens To Crack Down On Google Parent Company For Not Complying With Censorship Investigation 

Jim Jordan Threatens To Crack Down On Alphabet For Not Complying With Censorship Investigation 

Google

House Republicans

Jim Jordan

<a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/tiktok" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TikTok</a> CEO Shou Zi Chew revealed on Thursday that the <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/social-media" target="_blank" rel="noopener">social media</a> platform has “tens of thousands” of employees dedicated to <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/social-media-censorship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">content moderation</a>.
American lawmakers have raised concerns over allegations that information on TikTok, which is controlled by Chinese technology company ByteDance, can be manipulated by associates of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ccp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chinese Communist Party</a>. Some have also noted that TikTok is one of several large social media sites which tend to censor conservative viewpoints. Chew affirmed in an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zC8-06198g" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> at a TED conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, that his company has a massive content moderation operation based in Ireland which uses <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/artificial-intelligence" target="_blank" rel="noopener">artificial intelligence</a> systems to censor posts.
“There are some bad actors who come on the internet, they post bad content. Our approach is that we have very clear community guidelines. We’re very transparent about what is allowed and what is not allowed on our platform. No executives make any ad hoc decisions,” Chew said. “Based on that, we have built a team that is tens of thousands of people plus machines in order to identify content that is bad, and actively, proactively remove it from the platform.”
Chew added that the content moderation staffers constitute “one of the most important cost items” at his firm but are “completely worth” the expense. He admitted that human personnel are necessary since the AI systems used by his company are “not perfect.”
“You have to complement them with a lot of human beings,” he continued. “A lot of the progress in AI in general is making that kind of content moderation capabilities a lot better. We’re going to get more precise, we’re going to get more specific.”
TikTok has indeed censored a number of commentators for ambiguous reasons. Daily Wire co-CEO Jeremy Boreing noted on Wednesday that Brett Cooper, the host of The Daily Wire’s &#8220;Comments Section,&#8221; had been permanently <a href="https://twitter.com/JeremyDBoreing/status/1648773268004827137" target="_blank" rel="noopener">banned</a> from TikTok for uncertain reasons. Cooper <a href="https://twitter.com/imbrettcooper/status/1649175634986270722" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> on Thursday that she had been reinstated after public and legal pressure.
“We still don’t know why I was banned in the first place. They won’t give us an answer. They never do,” she recounted. “I’m proud to be on a team that never bends a knee, always fights smart, and consistently wins.”
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Beyond the concerns some lawmakers have cited over the company’s content moderation practices, Democratic and Republican officials alike have accused TikTok of permitting members of the Chinese Communist Party to access American user data. President Joe Biden and several state officials have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-unanimously-votes-to-ban-tiktok-on-government-devices" target="_blank" rel="noopener">banned</a> TikTok from government devices over data security and surveillance concerns after reports <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tiktoks-parent-company-in-china-planned-to-use-platform-to-track-locations-of-specific-americans-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">indicated</a> that ByteDance staffers in China used the platform to monitor the locations of specific American users.
Chew insisted in his <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tiktok-ceo-swears-company-is-not-an-agent-of-china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">testimony</a> before the House Energy and Commerce Committee last month that a forced sale of TikTok to an American company would not resolve the national security issues cited by lawmakers. “I am well aware that the fact that ByteDance has Chinese founders has prompted concerns that our platform could be used as or become a tool of China or the Chinese Communist Party,” the executive remarked. “Divestment doesn’t address the fundamental concerns that I have heard, as a change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access. This is not an issue of nationality.”

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