Monday, November 20, 2017

The growth in online censorship by tech titans Facebook, Twitter, and Google's search and YouTube platform is one of the most under-reported stories of the past two years.



...In the latest disturbing development, Twitter, which has been increasingly heavy-handed in censoring center-right content, content providers, and everyday users since last year's general election campaign, has announced that it will unilaterally remove "blue-check" (i.e., "verified") status from groups and users who in its view have violated its Terms of Service — even for offline behavior it considers unacceptable....

Until now, even with the Milo dustup, there hasn't been a person on earth who believed that Twitter's blue check mark was anything more than a form of identity verification. Twitter, for no good reason and entirely on its own, has chosen to make "blue check" status a "badge of approval," and has appointed itself the sole arbiter of who is "approved" and who isn't.

That's an open invitation to a tidal wave of political pressure, false tattle-taling, and free speech marginalization. Expect SJWs to harass Twitter and its CEO Jack Dorsey relentlessly over anyone and everyone it doesn't like who has blue-check status — up to and including President Donald Trump. In fact, the campaign against Trump's blue check has already begun.