Election interference by Twitter

Elon Musk struck the most brutal blow yet against the Woke Leftist Establishment yesterday. He flatly accused Twitter’s Old Management of interfering in the Election of 2020. In fact he accused the old team of interfering in elections – plural. We deal here, not with manipulation of votes cast, but with the withholding of information necessary to an intelligent vote. In so saying, Musk signaled yet again his willingness – indeed, desire – to make Twitter a reliable, unbiased conduit of information. He simply will not permit the kind of skewing of information that prevailed under the Jack Dorsey and Parag Agrawal regime.

The specific accusation of election interference

Reportage on the election interference accusation comes from Zero Hedge and The Post Millennial. The latter organ has three relevant articles about the:

1. Admission (or rather, accusation) by Musk about election interference by Twitter,
2. Accusation by Steve Bannon that the former Trust and Safety Officer at Twitter knew exactly what he was doing, and
3. Latest threat by the European Union to block Twitter from client computers on the European continent. (The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is no longer a member of the European Union.)

Reuters started it two days ago. They tweeted their article about their interview with Yoel Roth, the last Trust and Safety Officer before Elon fired him.

Roth in fact took an active role in suppressing the Hunter Biden Laptop Story, even to locking the Twitter account of The New York Post. Now he said that had been a mistake – though he defended the suspension of then-President Donald J. Trump.

User “Eva Fox” angrily replied that Twitter had not been “safe” for ten years.

Elon not only seconded that, but added the election interference accusation.

That accusation hit the Twitter user community like a thunderclap.

Other accusations against Roth beyond election interference

Nor were Elon or “Eva Fox” the only accusers of Roth yesterday. Here are some further examples:

About that last: another user pointed out that the new management acted swiftly to remove the child exploitative material.

In fact, such material is in direct violation of the Twitter Rules, and always has been. Its very presence was arguably the worst example of selective application of the Rules. As that user pointed out, that material is nowhere to be found on Twitter any longer.

That aside, this tweet expresses the desirability of freedom of speech best of all:

Elsewhere, Steve Bannon excoriated Roth as a “liar” on the Hunter Biden laptop matter:

Twitter knew full well that the Laptop was real actionable information—They Knew it was Real .. and Twitter Executives SUPPRESSED it …

Elon has promised to publish certain documents that detail the discussion and decision to lock the New York Post account.

To add fuel to that particular fire, even the legacy media now admit that the Hunter Biden Laptop was real. Had the American people known about that, perhaps Donald Trump would be President today. (Or might not, given the allegations against State and local election officials in seven States.)

European powers-that-be want more censorship

As noted above, the European Union has threatened to block Twitter from client computers on the continent of Europe. The Financial Times carries the details.

Apparently Musk had a video call with EU Commissioner of Digital Services Thierry Breton. Commissioner Breton spoke of an “‘arbitrary’ approach to reinstating banned users,” and insisted on “aggressive” moderation and even an “extensive independent audit” of Twitter within a year.

In fact the Twitter Rules have not changed, except for Musk revoking the COVID-19 Medical Misinformation Policy. The selective application of the rules has changed. CNAV wonders whether Commissioner Breton even read the Twitter Rules before sounding off.

Furthermore, European continental users account for a very small portion of Twitter’s accounts. The overwhelming bulk of account holders are United States citizens and residents. Besides which, technically savvy sources tell CNAV that any European user could easily access Twitter through a Virtual Private Network.

Laying that aside, the European Union seems to be demanding that Twitter continue the election interference that characterized Old Management. In other words, Commissioner Breton wants Twitter to go back to being a State actor. To obey such an order might constitute “levying war against the United States,” one of the two definitions of treason. Surely Musk knows this – as he also knows he would lose precious little business to any ban.

Toward a neutral public square

Reaction to Elon Musk’s tweet about election interference runs fifty-fifty pro and con. This represents an improvement on two counts. First, before Elon bought the company, the Moderators might have suspended his account just for saying it. Second, the fifty percent “pro” replies largely represent conservatives who joined the platform recently. Musk has noted phenomenal growth in the user community lately. This growth largely follows the reinstatement of Donald Trump’s account.

As CNAV noted, Andrew Torba’s prediction that Twitter would lose all its users if Musk bought it, has failed. Again, Twitter is addictive, so the “fragile worldview” of leftist users manifests itself in logical fallacies but not actual leavetaking.

The world still awaits the release of the “Twitter Files” Musk promised. They will likely tell many tales of election interference – again by withholding of information. And again, by merely mentioning it, Musk signals that he will not allow it in future.

Update

Apple has backed down on its threat to disallow Twitter from its App Store, according to The Post Millennial. Elon Musk himself tweeted this assurance to the user community.

So now Apple CEO Tim Cook says his company “never considered” such a disallowance. At least one user suggests Musk should proceed anyway with his plans for a new smartphone and smartphone OS.