Glenn Greenwald Blasts Twitter Shadowbans: 'No Transparency,' Hiding 'People I Decide to Follow'

The Intercept co-Founder and Pulitzer Prize winner Glenn Greenwald slammed Twitter for its attempts to deny “shadowbanning,” or covertly restricting user content, in a series of tweets earlier today.

Greenwald’s comments followed news that Twitter was suppressing search results for prominent Republicans, something which the company has since corrected, although it denied shadowbanning the accounts. President Trump condemned Twitter for censorship, promising to take action against the company for “discriminatory” and “illegal” behavior.

Greenwald attacked Twitter for its lack of transparency, and said its denials of shadowbanning were “sanctimonious” and “obnoxious.”

Greenwald also called it a “huge mistake” to beg “Silicon Valley execs to control political content on massive platforms.” Although he didn’t single any group out as being responsible for the creeping power-grab of Silicon Valley, it has mostly been corporate media like CNN (see: Oliver Darcy lobbying Facbook to ban InfoWars), Democrats and left-wingers demanding social media censorship. The only exception is globalist Rupert Murdoch, who also wants Silicon Valley to clamp down on “scurrilous news sources.”

It’s not the first time Greenwald has expressed concern with Silicon Valley censorship. In 2017, when Rose McGowan’s account was suspended, Greenwald remarked: “at some point, it will hopefully become clear that demanding Silicon Valley executives regulate online speech is a terrible idea.”

It’s a point the journalist has repeated many times over the past two years, as pressure on Silicon Valley firms to clamp down on so-called “fake news” and “misinformation” intensified. He argues that Silicon Valley censorship is just as likely to affect “marginalized” groups and left-wingers as it is to affect conservatives. In addition to criticizing Twitter, Greenwald has also attacked Facebook for similar behavior.

Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter, Gab.ai and add him on Facebook. Email tips and suggestions to allumbokhari@protonmail.com.