Trump Claims Twitter Engaged in 'Illegal Practice' of 'Shadow Banning' Republicans

[DonViejo]

Source: Mediate



by Caleb Howe | Jul 26th, 2018, 8:27 am

On Thursday, Donald Trump tweeted that Twitter has been “shadow banning’ prominent members of the GOP, and called it “discriminatory and illegal”, and said that the administration will “look into” it.

Link to tweet

The president is likely referring to a story published by Vice News on Wednesday about the practice. Twitter has admitted in the past to using the practice, which is a way of limiting the visibility of certain types of tweets or particular users, hiding them from search results and the news feeds of other users, but has stated it is only used for abusive accounts or content.

Vice Reports that Twitter says the shadow banning of GOPers “is a side effect of its attempts to improve the quality of discourse on the platform,” but points out that it does not appear to affect top Democrats. Among the accounts the listed were GOP chair Ronna McDaniel, Republican Reps. Mark Meadows, Jim Jordan, and Matt Gaetz, and Donald Trump Jr. spokesman Andrew Surabian and others.

The president did not explain how it would be an “illegal” practice.

###

Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/online/trump-claims-twitter-engaged-in-illegal-practice-of-shadow-banning-republicans/

[2naSalit]

1. Whiners.

[Roy Rolling]

2. Not an Attorney

I'm not an attorney and didn't write this opinion, but I think the legality of this issue was settled in the case of Boo v. Hoo.

[underpants]

10. You got me. I'm stealing that.

[machoneman]

16. Funny! Great line! n/m

n/m

[blugbox]

19. Hahaha got me good!

Perfect amount of setup.

We all just got "Roy Rolled"!!

[Wuddles440]

21. It's still early....

but this may win the award for "Line of the Day". Well done!

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

3. He shouldn't be bitching bc

he breaks the rules most everyday. Hopefully, they'll ban him. He acts like he owns everything.

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Fake News Generator and BS Tweeter calls kettle black

[riversedge]

5. Twitter Is Not 'Shadow Banning' Republicans New York Magazine

Twitter Is Not ‘Shadow Banning’ Republicans



http://nymag.com/selectall/2018/07/twitter-is-not-shadow-banning-republicans.html



July 25, 2018 4:36 pm
By Brian Feldman @bafeldman


The concept of the “shadowban” has existed practically since the inception of the web forum. The idea is simple: Instead of banning a user outright and informing them of such punishment, a shadowban makes a user’s post visible only to themselves. In other words, they think that they’re still part of a community, but nobody is able to see or interact with them. The shadowban is useful in that rather than someone immediately being locked out and possibly retaliating by, for example, making a new account, the user fades away gradually due to the lack of interaction from other users.

As forums have evolved into social-media platforms, the shadowban and its descendants have come along with them. Facebook argued that the best way to dispel misinformation from places like Infowars, which argues that the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting was a staged hoax, was to secretly minimize their distribution in the site’s News Feed — a similar but not identical tactic. I myself have previously argued — tongue in cheek — that Twitter should shadowban (or “hellban”) President Donald Trump, who most recently threatened a cataclysmic war against Iran. The idea being that he gets the feeling of communicating with his followers while his actual posts are hidden from the (volatile) world.

More than anywhere else, though, the shadowban has persisted among the conspiracy-minded, as a great weapon of censorship, generally thought to be perpetrated by liberal Silicon Valley operatives at the expense of conservatives. That right-wing voices are being “shadow banned” by Twitter and Facebook has become all but an article of faith among internet-native conservative activists and publishers — despite little evidence to support the claim.


It’s no surprise, then, that a Vice article claiming that Twitter is “shadow banning” Republicans has already taken hold in the minds of the most online right-wingers. At issue, though, is not “banning” but Twitter’s search mechanism. Usually, Twitter will automatically complete a search query and suggest an account when a user begins typing in Twitter’s search bar. If you type in “Donald,” for example, brings up Trump’s account as an easily accessible hyperlink, so that you don’t have to click through to the results page; if you type in “Hillary,” you’ll get a similar autocomplete suggestion of Hillary Clinton....................................



A quick search via google:




About 138,000 results (0.30 seconds)
Search Results
Story image for what is shadow banning from New York Magazine
Twitter Is Not 'Shadow Banning' Republicans
New York Magazine-16 hours ago
The concept of the “shadowban” has existed practically since the inception of the web forum. The idea is simple: Instead of banning a user ...
Republican feels 'victimized' by Twitter 'shadow banning'
The Hill-10 hours ago
Twitter 'Shadow Banning' Prominent Republicans
Highly Cited-National Review-18 hours ago
Twitter has placed 'shadow bans' on prominent Republicans: Report
In-Depth-Washington Times-17 hours ago
Twitter slammed for 'shadow banning' prominent Republicans
Highly Cited-Fox News-17 hours ago
EXCLUSIVE: GOP Rep. Gaetz Threatens Twitter With FEC Complaint ...
In-Depth-The Daily Caller-10 hours ago

[dalton99a]

7. +1

[lark]

14. Wonder if this is really about russian bots getting kicked out?

I know it really pissed him off when he lost millions of pro-drumpf posters in a few days. Of course none of these were real people, just russian fakes.

[machoneman]

18. Yes I'd say. It's easy for small-minded wingers to make the connection...

between the huge loss of fake followers and now the shadow-banning issue which has been a conspiracy theory among all those home-schooled clowns for a long time now.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Hypocrite bans CNN corrrespondent

and demands censorship every day

Autocrat Dictator

[riversedge]

15. well you know the cnn reporter hurt Trump's ego. she had to be punished! that is what Trump does!

[Dave Starsky]

8. He violates their posted terms of service on literally a daily basis.

They should have really banned HIM ages ago.

[sinkingfeeling]

9. How is it illegal? This is the same government that just shot down net

neutrality. The same party that has fought 'Government regulation' of private business for decades.

[turbinetree]

11. He's still a traitor..................another deflection for his treason

he just lies in bed every night, thinking of how to just whine and blame every one for his own misery that he creates for the next day.....................................

"Twitter “SHADOW BANNING” prominent Republicans. Not good. We will look into this discriminatory and illegal practice at once! Many complaints."


Your one to talk asshole...................your lackey the lying evangelical Sarah "Red Hen" Huckster and your bunch of traitors ..................have now thrown out a reporter from CNN..................I'm filing a complaint and discriminatory practice against traitors this coming November...........................so there.................ban your bunch forever into prison.................

November 2018 cannot get here fast enough...................vote


We need Paper Ballots.........

[forgotmylogin]

12. Twitter is still a business, and people post for free as guests on their platform.

It is not illegal nor discriminatory to throttle people who abuse their platform rules and make their sponsors look bad.

[NewJeffCT]

13. Twitter is a private corporation

so, they can ban who they want.

[titaniumsalute]

17. Pretty sure he bans people on his Twitter page?

Isn't that shadow banning?

[Snellius]

20. Bc normal (nonTrumpeters) people don't post fake and abusive content

This shit news comes COMPLETELY from followers of the Bullshiter in Chief.

[haele]

22. No, it's only a big deal when it happens to them on twitter.

Liberals and liberal subject searches are slowed down, put in time out, or banned all the time in Twitter.

According to spouse, who is big on twitter, one of the first ways you can tell a subject or poster is being reviewed or has been banned for content issues when the "hashtag auto fill" on a subject or person you've been posting on suddenly stops working.

And if you've been banned or are under review, it's made very, very clear to both you and everyone else.

Haele

[apnu]

23. Fine, the Orange Monon can delete his account.

Go have fun on 4Chan!

[jmowreader]

24. He's right, they shouldn't shadow ban Republicans

They should outright ban them.