Is This Why Twitter Declared 'Groomer' Hate Speech? Disturbing Possibility Comes to Light After Discovery at Twitter
Some Twitter users who’ve been disgusted by the increasing normalization of child sexualization on the platform think they know why this trend escalated during the past few years.
Many point the blame at Yoel Roth, the former head of Twitter’s “Trust and Safety Council,” citing an alarming trove of his past tweets and academic writings that appeared to accept underage sex and youth homosexuality.
As a reminder, Roth led the team that made and enforced the rules for what kind of content was allowed on the social network.
Emails made public last week by Twitter owner Elon Musk in the now-infamous “Twitter Files” reveal that Roth was also instrumental in banning former President Donald Trump.
Roth resigned on Nov. 10, just two weeks after Musk finalized his acquisition of Twitter.
Since then, many Twitter users who dug through Roth’s past tweets concluded that Twitter’s controversial move to suspend or ban users for using the term “groomer” could have been due to his apparent fetishization of young people.
“Sometimes really beautiful kids just smell like crap, because, THE HORMONES.” —@KGotkin
— Yoel Roth (@yoyoel) February 7, 2013
Can high school students ever meaningfully consent to sex with their teachers? http://bit.ly/bbpH68
— Yoel Roth (@yoyoel) November 20, 2010
(The second tweet links to a 2010 Salon article that questioned the case of a Washington state teacher convicted of having sex with a “minor,” even though the student in question was 18.)
On Sunday, journalist Andy Ngo tweeted, “Disgraced former head of Twitter Trust & Safety @yoyoel appeared to have argued for adult gay hookup apps to be able to extend services to minors.”
“Twitter Files also revealed the extent to which his left-wing political bias guided his censorship decisions.”
Disgraced former head of Twitter Trust & Safety @yoyoel appeared to have argued for adult gay hookup apps to be able to extend services to minors. #TwitterFiles also revealed the extent to which his left-wing political bias guided his censorship decisions. https://t.co/xdL0gLLUox
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) December 11, 2022
In a follow-up tweet, Ngo wrote: “Yoel Roth was responsible for censoring content damaging to Democrats & left-wing orthodoxies, including making calling someone a ‘groomer’ a hate speech violation.”
This is weird (some past writings from ex-Twitter head of Trust and Safety). Yoel Roth was responsible for censoring content damaging to Democrats & left-wing orthodoxies, including making calling someone a “groomer” a hate speech violation. https://t.co/hoU06sIH3D pic.twitter.com/Wy5Pof4uzu
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) December 11, 2022
As a reminder, in July 2021, Twitter bent the knee to LGBT activists who claimed that calling someone a child “groomer” was an anti-gay slur and therefore was “hate speech.”
It’s logical to surmise that Roth’s sleazy past tweets regarding underage sex may have played a role in Twitter’s repeated tolerance for this toxicity.
Absolutely! The real CEO was the head of “Trust & Safety”.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2022
Conservative commentator Tim Young remarked, “This tweet just clarified why the term ‘groomer’ was considered ‘hate speech’ on Twitter.”
This tweet just clarified why the term “groomer” was considered “hate speech” on Twitter…
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) December 10, 2022
Others agreed.
Now I see why so many people were banned for calling child groomers out on Twitter. https://t.co/2XusDLSrEI pic.twitter.com/YX8BZ9yelM
— Festive Doomed Marine (@doomedspacemar1) December 11, 2022
Musk himself suggested that Roth’s explosive past tweets might explain why Twitter was so adamant about banning users who criticized child groomers.
“This explains a lot,” Musk replied to Eliza Bleu, an anti-human trafficking activist who blamed Roth for Twitter’s lax response to child pornography complaints.
This explains a lot
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 10, 2022
In September 2021, Bleu tweeted: “Reminder: a 13 year old minor survivor begged Twitter to remove a video sexually exploiting him. Twitter reviewed the content and said NO. They had his government ID showing that he was a minor at the time.
“The video had over 160k views. Over 2k retweets.”
She added: “The department of homeland security had to step in to get Twitter to remove the video. Twitter refused to take responsibility.”
Bleu then referenced a 2021 federal lawsuit that accused Twitter of refusing to take down the viral child porn video of a then-13-year-old sex trafficking victim because it claimed the lurid video did not violate any company policies.
The department of homeland security had to step in to get Twitter to remove the video.
Twitter refused to take responsibility.
The lawsuit is headed to @US9thCircuit https://t.co/fJzQwqVb0d
— Eliza (@elizableu) September 4, 2022
In a follow-up tweet Saturday, Musk referenced Yoel’s Ph.D. thesis titled “Gay Data,” where he argued that minors should be allowed to access Grindr, a dating app popular among gays seeking casual sex.
Looks like Yoel is arguing in favor of children being able to access adult Internet services in his PhD thesis: pic.twitter.com/1NiBohjhMQ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 10, 2022
The previous day, Musk — a father of 10 — slammed Twitter’s lax protection of children.
“It is a crime that they refused to take action on child exploitation for years!” he tweeted.
Noted liberal Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s former CEO, defensively replied, “this is false.”
Musk reacted by tweeting, “No, it is not. When Ella Irwin, who now runs Trust & Safety, joined Twitter earlier this year, almost no one was working on child safety.
“She raised this with Ned & Parag, but they rejected her staffing request. I made it top priority immediately.”
Musk was referring to former CEO Parag Agrawal and former CFO Ned Segal.
The billionaire fired both leftist executives minutes after he finalized his Oct. 28 Twitter deal.
No, it is not.
When Ella Irwin, who now runs Trust & Safety, joined Twitter earlier this year, almost no one was working on child safety.
She raised this with Ned & Parag, but they rejected her staffing request.
I made it top priority immediately.@ellagirwin
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2022
Since taking over Twitter six weeks ago, Musk has made extraordinary moves to bring transparency, political balance and accountability to the platform.
The establishment media have either ignored or downplayed the explosive “Twitter Files” exposing the left-wing corruption and corporate abuse that had been festering behind the scenes for years.
However, members of the public are paying attention and finally have their eyes open. And that matters — a lot.
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