Twitter Silences Pro-Life Messages, But Promoted Female Mutilation
Twitter has never been shy about censoring pro-life messages. The company has blocked advertisements that include pictures of children growing in the womb and ultrasounds, both of which violate its “sensitive content” policy.
Despite this policy, sponsored tweets promoting a practice known as “khafz” were promoted for days in Twitter feeds across the platform, according to Media Research Center’s Newsbusters.
“Khafz” is a type of “female circumcision” practiced among the Dawoodi Bohras, an Islamic subsect, according to Sahiyo, a non-governmental organization that fights what opponents call female genital mutilation.
A tweet promoting the barbaric practice was posted by Dawoodi Bohra Women for Religious Freedom, a group whose stated mission is to defend the rights of Dawoodi Bohra women. “Khafz” is considered one of those rights, according to the group’s “About Us” page.
The tweet lost its promoted status on Sept. 13. According to Newsbusters, Twitter explained that it had taken the action because the tweet violated the company’s “ads policies.”
The tweet was posted on Sept. 9, leaving Twitter on the hook for the time that the tweet was sponsored.
Conservatives might not be surprised at Twitter’s inconsistencies. The platform has been shown to to have a bias against opinions liberals don’t approve of, including shadow bans of some conservatives.
Shadow banning, a practice that CEO Jack Dorsey has publicly denied, is a form of censorship that keeps content from appearing on another user’s feed or search.
Social media censorship has been a huge crisis for conservative media, with tech CEOs cultivating more left-leaning platforms that are sometimes outright hostile to content from the right.
Lila Rose, founder and president of the pro-life group Live Action, complained to The Washington Post as far back as a year ago that Twitter had blocked the group’s advertising because of the content of its website.
In late August, she made her case with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
.@Jack says @Twitter does not ban content based on "viewpoint or ideology."
He's wrong.
My account and @LiveAction's account have been banned from advertising for years. Because we’re pro-life.
Twitter told us our videos, tweets, and even our website content is "inflammatory. pic.twitter.com/7iNKiKzYfU
— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) September 5, 2018
In a commentary piece published by USA Today on Sunday, she wrote that Twitter had “banned our ability to promote (advertise) our content beyond our own followers until we delete all of our tweets that it deems offensive.”
Dorsey previously told Congress that “Twitter does not use political ideology to make any decisions,” according to CNBC.
His company’s actions sure don’t seem to back that claim.
Abortion is definitely a partisan issue, with a Pew study finding the majority of Democrats siding with the practice, and most Republicans rejecting it.
Although the First Amendment only protects you from government censorship, Dorsey still isn’t off the hook yet.
Dorsey can operate his company with a political bias, but he can’t lie to Congress.
Twitter’s zealous censorship may end up being a political and legal land mine for the company.
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