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Sorry, not sorry: Twitter locks Trump's campaign account for posting Biden Ukraine story after shutting down WH Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany's - and DESPITE apology from Jack Dorsey for giving 'zero context'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8844049/Twitter-locks-Trumps-campaign-account-posting-Joe-Biden-Ukraine-story.html
* Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey apologized and called some of the company's actions in banning the sharing of the New York Post article 'unacceptable'

 * He said there hadn't been enough explanation as to why and that it was because 'personal information was shared'

 * He then reposted a series of posts from Twitter where the company claimed it blocked the story because it contains 'personal information'

 * The story contains screenshots where Hunter Biden's old email address and that of Ukrainian businessman Vadym Pozharskyi are shown

 * Facebook says it has reduced distribution of the story until it is fact-checked

 * It won't say though who is checking the story or why it thinks it's incredible

 * Trump called their actions 'terrible' and threatened to remove protections which stops them from being liable for content shared on their platforms

 * The Team Trump campaign Twitter has been locked because it shared the article


How long until web giants start censoring your news? SARAH VINE warns of Facebook, Google and Twitter wielding huge power without any responsibility

Sarah Vine | Daily Mail (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/) (UK) | 18 October 2020

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8851473/SARAH-VINE-long-web-giants-start-censoring-news.html

Excerpt: Perhaps the biggest mystery has been the disappearance of a story about Hunter Biden, son of presidential candidate Joe.

On Wednesday, the New York Post revealed various sordid details about Hunter's private life, including the suggestion that Biden Snr might have met an official from Burisma – the Ukrainian energy firm his son worked for – while he was Vice-President.

Given the seriousness of the allegations, you might have expected them to dominate the news. Oddly, they didn't. Thanks in no small part to the intervention of Twitter and Facebook.
No sooner had the story gone live than Twitter told users the link to the newspaper site was 'unsafe' and blocked them from sharing it in tweets or private messages.

Facebook downplayed the report on news feeds pending 'independent verification' by 'fact checkers' – in both cases effectively suppressing the report.

Their actions did not go unnoticed. The internet was alive with furious accusations of censorship. CEO Jack Dorsey was forced to apologise, calling his company's actions 'unacceptable'.

Facebook remains defiant: several days later, it is still deliberately throttling the story, subject to more 'fact checking'.

Why does any of this matter? Because this is yet another example of how soft power in the hands of a few wealthy, unelected individuals is slowly but surely undermining – and ultimately aiming to replace – the democratic processes which are so key to a free and fair society.

Web giants such as Facebook, Twitter and Google are the ultimate examples of this. They wield huge power without any responsibility.

They publish all manner of harmful, bogus and downright vile material with impunity, claiming that their status as 'platforms' – as opposed to 'publishers' – protects them from the rules that govern mainstream media.

Yet when it comes to something that runs fundamentally counter to their own agenda – in this case a story casting doubt on the propriety of a Democratic candidate – they suddenly develop a conscience, citing safety and accuracy as concerns. Funny that.

Silicon Valley has made no secret of its loathing of Donald Trump. The place is teeming with bleeding heart liberals who sneer at his support base from the lofty comfort of their Palo Alto mansions.

Facebook vice-president Nick Clegg branded him 'abhorrent'. It's a sentiment I don't entirely disagree with. But it is not up to any individual to decide whether he gets a second term; it is up to the American electorate.

And it is simply not right that their ability to make that decision should be skewed by unaccountable tech giants.

In the case of Clegg, there is something distasteful, not to say dishonest, about a man who singularly failed to secure power by open democratic means – the good people of Sheffield kicked him out as an MP in 2017 – and acquired it instead surreptitiously via the back door.

He and his cronies want Biden to win, believing – as all illiberal liberals do – that they know best, and the end ultimately justifies the means.

And the usual rules of honesty, transparency and fair play don't, ultimately, apply to them. And the truth is, they don't.

It's increasingly apparent that whoever controls social media, controls America. Unless people realise this – and stop playing the game according to their rules, we might as well just accept it.

And that includes Britain. Because as with all these things, if it's happening over there, it's only a matter of time before it happens over here.