Twitter’s free speech agenda is not for all…
Social media platform Twitter went abuzz with the hashtag #TwitterExposed after two employees of the platform came out to a personal interview with Project Veritas.
Project Veritas secretly recorded the interviews while both employees was making revelations.
Employee 1 – ‘Twitter favours the Left’
The now viral video of the interview with Twitter’s Senior Engineer, Siru Murugesan revealed that Twitter’s agenda is focused on the left-wing; they are censoring most of the conservatives (Right wing).
In international politics, left-wing is a term used to describe those with liberal values. Left-wing politics is the support of social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition of social hierarchy. Democrats, in American politics, are considered left-winged; these include Barak Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden.
The right wing, on the other hand, push for more conservative values. The Right includes social conservatives and fiscal conservatives, while a minority of right-wing movements, such as fascists, harbor anti-capitalist sentiments.
He also admitted that the culture in the Twitter office is intensively far left. Where workers are ‘commie as f**k.’
‘Commie’ is a derogatory word for communist.
The engineer also confirmed that Elon Musk’s impending takeover was not generally accepted among employees, but was the final decision of the board. According to him, the board members were avoiding possible legal suit by Musk.
According to the engineer, Employees also fear that the censoring of the right-wing might stop.
He said, “They hate it. Oh my God. I’m at least okay with it. But some of my colleagues are like super left.”
He said, “Ideologically, it does not make sense because we’re censoring the right and not the left.”
This can explain why Elon Musk has been open about his complaints about the left-wing leaning on Twitter—mainly pointing out how Steve Bannon and Donald Trump are banned on Twitter while the other left-wing extremists remain on Twitter.
This implies that Twitter is politically tilted to favour Democrats (the left). The debate now is how free is speech on twitter if the Right gets censored most of the time?
Employee 2- ‘Twitter makes less money because of ideology’ & ‘Elon Musk will mess things up’
Another video by Project Veritas went viral on social media on May 17 where Twitter’s Lead Client Partner, Alex Martinez, was seen mocking billionaire Elon Musk for having Asperger’s syndrome, a condition on the Autism spectrum. Those who have Asperger’s often have difficulty relating to others on a social level.
People with Asperger’s syndrome find it difficult to socialise and may need communication therapy. Elon Musk had himself revealed in an episode of Saturday Night Live that he has Asperger’s. The condition, which was earlier included in the ‘Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders’ is now put under the Autism Spectrum disorder.
Martinez was also caught on camera saying that Twitter as a company cares more about ideology than making money. But simultaneously, the employee expressed that Twitter’s rules are what keeps advertisers happy.
In the video, the Twitter employee said that the company is not profitable because of their awakened ideology and that the company puts “right” ideas in front of people; in this case, ideologies of the Left-wing.
In the video Mr Martinez can also be seen on stage criticizing Mr Musk’s views on free speech, “The rest of us who are here believe in something that is good for the planet and not just free speech to people.”
“People don’t know how to make rational decisions if you don’t put out – the right things that should be out in public, right?” They said.
He said, “Well, right now, we don’t make a profit. So it’s gonna say ideology. Which is what’s led us into not making profits.”
He added, “If we’re implementing all these rules… and Elon wants to dismantle them, then technically our ideology has led us to not making money because we’re not making money, and Elon wants to turn it the other way so that we can make money, do you get what I mean?”
Martinez alleged that the advertisers were freaking out because Musk is continuously tweeting about free speech. “Yeah. Like who really knows what that even means?” he told the Veritas agent.
He said, “As an advertiser, as my business is what I do every day and why I go out is like, we want (Twitter) to be as fair and transparent and accurate as possible. And if that means there’s a level of censorship to make it correct. Quote, unquote again. And what does correct mean? I guess, like, it just kind of goes into the idea of like, well, what is correct?”
Basically, the employees expose that Twitter’s free-speech agenda is only favourable to users with Left-Wing ideologies. This goes against the company’s mission statement which states that they exist to give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly without barriers… ‘a free and global conversation.’
These videos also position twitter as a more political tool, gatekeeping and framing information, rather than a business offering the value of free speech for profit.
