Twitter announced on Tuesday its plans to form a “Trust and Safety Council,” stating the council would serve as “a new and foundational part of our strategy to ensure that people feel safe expressing themselves on Twitter.” In effect, Twitter is ramping up its tweet policing program.
From Twitter:
“In developing the Council, we are taking a global and inclusive approach so that we can hear a diversity of voices from organizations including:
- Safety advocates, academics, and researchers focused on minors, media literacy, digital citizenship, and efforts around greater compassion and empathy on the Internet;
- Grassroots advocacy organizations that rely on Twitter to build movements and momentum;
- Community groups with an acute need to prevent abuse, harassment, and bullying, as well as mental health and suicide prevention.”
While this all sounds wonderful and well-intended, the concerning part is how it may stifle the speech of the many conservatives on Twitter. . Daniel Payne at the Federalist is not pleased with the news, especially since Twitter already allows users to mute or block anyone that harasses or bothers others. In fact, users can block another for any reason they wish. With these features available, why even form a “Trust and Safety Council?”
Payne goes further:
“The seemingly superfluous formation of a ‘Trust and Safety Council,’ then, suggests a kind of procedural overhaul of Twitter’s internal speech policy—and there is reason to believe this new order will not be kind to the many conservatives and other right-leaning folks who currently use Twitter for social media outreach. The ‘Trust and Safety Council’ features some good anti-bullying groups, but it also features a number of high-profile liberal organizations that promote speech censorship—Feminist Frequency is one, and GLAAD is another.
Yet the council features not one advocacy group of any real conservative bent. The only group with any religious implications whatsoever, meanwhile, appears to be the ‘Wahid Institute,’ which seeks to spread ‘plural and peaceful Islam.’ “
Not included in the council are any advocacy groups like The Catholic League, the Alliance Defending Freedom, or the Independent Women’s Forum, all of which Payne suggests would provide valuable input in Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council.
Any conservative active in social media will tell you that conservative opinions already face quite a bit of scrutiny from those that disagree. In recent years, Facebook has become more active in removing posts it deems sensitive or inappropriate.
If Twitter goes down the path of allowing liberals to define and carry out its policies, the platform will likely become an unwelcome place for conservative thought.
Read the rest at the Federalist. Do you think it’s time for conservative media to start thinking about some sort of exit strategy?
Featured image via YouTube
