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Twitter has been ‘shadow banning’ conservatives, but not liberals — here’s what that means

Some conservatives have had their reach and accessibility limited on Twitter, whereas their liberal Democrat counterparts have not been impacted on the platform, a Vice News investigation has revealed.

Type the names of certain conservative figures in the search bar, such as Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), for example, and the profile doesn’t automatically appear in the drop down results like most public figures do.

“The notion that social media companies would suppress certain political points of view should concern every American,” Republican Party chair Ronna McDaniel told VICE News. “Twitter owes the public answers to what’s really going on.”

Is it just conservatives?

Vice News, in order to test this problem for potential political bias, searched the names of numerous Democrats — Democratic Party chair Tom Perez, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the entire 78-member Progressive caucus — and none of them appeared to be limited like the Republicans Vice tested.

In addition to Jordan and McDaniel, the “shadow ban” applied to Reps. Mark Meadows, Matt Gaetz, Devin Nunes, and Donald Trump Jr. spokesman Andrew Surabian.

What does Twitter say about it?

Twitter pointed to its efforts to eliminate harmful content from its site, which particularly target racist and extreme right-wing figures who participate in “troll-like behaviors.”

“We are aware that some accounts are not automatically populating in our search box and shippng a change to address this,” a Twitter spokesman told Vice News. “I’d emphasize that our technology is based on account behavior, not the content of tweets.”

Continuing problem?

The relationship between conservatives and social media has been fraught with accusations of bias recently. Conservatives in Congress have repeatedly demanded transparency from Facebook and Twitter about how the sites filter news and user accounts, but the processes are still somewhat unclear.

“This type of opaque behavior by social media companies is exactly why conservatives are speaking out and demanding more transparency and accountability,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told Vice.

 

via TheBlaze.com – Stories

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Democratic Leader: Illegal Aliens Should Be ‘Financially Compensated’ By U.S. For Trauma Of Their Detention


He’s the guy who lost in the primary to Ocasio-Cortez, the socialist.

Via Daily Caller:

Rep. Joe Crowley suggested his belief that the families who have been separated at the border for illegally entering the country should be compensated for the pain they experienced while speaking on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

“The damage that has been done to these children will be lifelong, to the families units as well and in fact, I suggest they need to be compensated for what this administration did to them,” Crowley stated.

Keep reading…

via Weasel Zippers

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Twitter Caught Shadow-Banning Conservatives


Busted.

Via Vice:

Twitter is limiting the visibility of prominent Republicans in search results — a technique known as “shadow banning” — in what it says is a side effect of its attempts to improve the quality of discourse on the platform.

The Republican Party chair Ronna McDaniel, several conservative Republican congressmen, and Donald Trump Jr.’s spokesman no longer appear in the auto-populated drop-down search box on Twitter, VICE News has learned. It’s a shift that diminishes their reach on the platform — and it’s the same one being deployed against prominent racists to limit their visibility. The profiles continue to appear when conducting a full search, but not in the more convenient and visible drop-down bar. (The accounts appear to also populate if you already follow the person.)

Keep reading…

via Weasel Zippers

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House Appropriations Committee Passes Spending Bill Providing $5 Billion For Border Wall

On Wednesday, voting along party lines, the House Appropriations Committee voted 29-22 to approve the Homeland Security appropriations bill, which includes $5 billion in funding for the border wall President Trump wants to build along the southern border of the United States.

via Daily Wire

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