Today Elon Musk announced that Twitter’s new policy is “freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach,” then explaining that the platform would be using the same shadowbanning system that has unfairly affected conservatives and has been criticized for years. Musk also announced that the Babylon Bee, Jordan Peterson, and Kathy Griffin had been restored to the platform, but that the “Trump decision has not yet been made.”
Twitter has long been criticized for “shadowbanning” accounts, often those of conservative users. Shadowbanning means that Twitter limits the reach of these accounts, with tweets from the affected account not appearing on followers’ timelines, likes being deleted or hidden, and the visibility of the account negatively affected.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images
When Musk took over the platform he promised that the platform would be one focused on free speech. Now he’s introduced essentially the exact same system Twitter had before. In a tweet he has since deleted following significant criticism, Musk says that the “new” Twitter policy is “freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach.”
He adds: “Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter. You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from rest of Internet.” This is exactly how shadowbans have worked in the past.
Musk also announced the reinstatement of the accounts of Jordan Peterson, The Babylon Bee, and Kathy Griffin, the leftist comedian who famously held a fake severed head of former President Donald Trump as part of a photo shoot for photographer Tyler Shields.
Jordan Peterson responded to Musk’s decision with a hysterical rant against anonymous accounts.
Musk immediately received significant pushback on his shadowbanning policy.
However, Musk has yet to return former President Donald Trump to the platform and when asked in another tweet if InfoWars host Alex Jones would be returned to the platform, Musk definitively stated “No.”
This decision also drew significant criticism from Twitter users who accused Musk of not actually changing any of Twitter’s policies or enacting any form of “free speech” as he had promised:
Breitbart News reported earlier today that Twitter offices were shut down on Thursday after hundreds of employees resigned from the company, refusing to comply with Elon Musk’s demands for an “extremely hardcore” reset of the company.
Read more about the ongoing Twitter saga at Breitbart Tech here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan
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