Twitter continues to make really bad decisions. No matter how many GOP Senators rip into them, Jack Dorsey sits behind the screen to show that they really are the most biased social media platform ever.
Ted Cruz has taken more than a few swings at Twitter’s CEO to try to get the social media platform to review the way in which they censor information. Yet, Trump and other Republicans continue to get banned. And, now, disinformation from the Chinese government is given a green light?
Senator Marco Rubio has decided to step up to the plate. Twitter decided that no action was better when it came to the way that the Chinese government photoshopped an image of an Australian soldier.
Rubio has demanded that Twitter takes the post down and wants to know why it is that it can take hours to take down one thing and only minutes if it is something posted by a member of the GOP.
The post that has Rubio seeing red is one from Zhao Lijian, the deputy director-general of the Information Department in China. He shared an image of an Australian soldier holding a bloodied knife over an Afghan child with a smile. It was clearly photoshopped.
Lijian wrote that he was shocked by the murder of Afghan civilians and prisoners by Australian soldiers. Then, he goes on to say that China condemns such acts and is calling to hold them accountable.
Why hasn’t Twitter taken action? Clearly, something that is photoshopped is spreading disinformation. Had Trump posted such a thing, action would have been taken within minutes.
As of the time that Rubio tweeted, the image from Lijian had been up for over 36 years. The Florida Senator commented that it “could inspire deadly violence.”
Rubio took it a step further by writing a letter to Jack Dorsey, saying “it defies belief” that Twitter is unaware of the image. Scott Morrison, Australia’s Prime Minister, has already requested the image to be taken down.
But, it wasn’t taken down. Why?
Well, Rubio has a few ideas. “It appears Twitter made an intentional decision not to remove the tweet or even issue a warning label.” He goes on to say that he knows that Twitter has the capability of moving rapidly since the platform has issued warning labels on the tweets from prominent Americans all throughout the presidential election.
Dorsey doesn’t seem to be in the mood to answer. According to a Twitter spokesperson, he has received Rubio’s letter and “intends to respond.”
Meanwhile, Rubio wants to know the answer to some serious questions. When was Twitter informed of the Tweet from Lijian? Was a review conducted? What was the nature of the review? Why is such a tweet safe from being flagged?
Perhaps the scariest aspect of what Twitter is allowing China to do is summed up with the closing statement that Rubio makes in the letter to Dorsey: “Enemies of America are allowed to post falsified and dangerously misleading images with no consequence.”
There are endless examples of how Twitter is choosing to act more as a publisher than they are an aggregator of news. They want to censor what does and does not get in front of the American people.
A tweet was allowed by the Chinese government to say that the coronavirus may enter China through imported frozen food products. Yet, when Trump compares the coronavirus to the flu, it is immediately flagged so that it cannot be read.
Clearly, it appears that Twitter is on the side of China instead of the side of Trump. Whether you like Trump or not is beside the point – he is still the president of the United States. What does it say about an American social media platform that they’re choosing to side with a communist country that is an enemy as opposed to their home country? It may be time for Twitter to go away – or head to China where they’re wanted.
