Twitter Shadow Ban of Freedom Caucus Members an "Error"

[Brian4Liberty]

Twitter appears to have fixed “shadow ban” of prominent Republicans like the RNC chair and Trump Jr.’s spokesman (https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/43paqq/twitter-is-shadow-banning-prominent-republicans-like-the-rnc-chair-and-trump-jrs-spokesman)


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.)

Democrats are not being “shadow banned” in the same way, according to a VICE News review. McDaniel’s counterpart, Democratic Party chair Tom Perez, and liberal members of Congress — including Reps. Maxine Waters, Joe Kennedy III, Keith Ellison, and Mark Pocan — all continue to appear in drop-down search results. Not a single member of the 78-person Progressive Caucus faces the same situation in Twitter’s search.

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

Presented with screenshots of the searches, a Twitter spokesperson told VICE News: “We are aware that some accounts are not automatically populating in our search box and shipping a change to address this.” Asked why only conservative Republicans appear to be affected and not liberal Democrats, the spokesperson wrote: “I'd emphasize that our technology is based on account *behavior* not the content of Tweets.”

Twitter directed VICE News to a May 15 blog post that explained the company’s new approach to combating “troll-like behaviors.” After making changes to its platform, the company said that “[t]he result is that people contributing to the healthy conversation will be more visible in conversations and search.”

Twitter did not respond to a follow-up question.

Twitter’s troll hunt, however, has ensnared some of the most prominent Republicans in the country. Type in the names of McDaniel, conservative members of Congress like Reps. Mark Meadows, Jim Jordan, and Matt Gaetz, and Trump Jr.’s spokesman Andrew Surabian, for example, and Twitter’s drop-down search bar does not show their profiles. The search menu also does not display the verified profile of Rep. Devin Nunes of California, only his unverified one that he seldom uses to post.

That limits their visibility and the ease of finding their profiles compared to their liberal counterparts.
...
More: https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/43paqq/twitter-is-shadow-banning-prominent-republicans-like-the-rnc-chair-and-trump-jrs-spokesman

[Brian4Liberty]

It might be of interest to some that Arizona Senate candidate Kelli Ward was shadow banned under this program, but her competitors in the GOP Primary, Martha McSally and Sheriff Joe Arpaio, were not.

Per another thread, it appears that the "Tea Party is dead" (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?524684-RPLR-Who-Killed-The-Tea-Party-With-Guest-Matt-Kibbe), except in the eyes of the Twitter AI program, which seems to have a list of Freedom Caucus and Tea Party people.

[thoughtomator]

Per another thread, it appears that the "Tea Party is dead" (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?524684-RPLR-Who-Killed-The-Tea-Party-With-Guest-Matt-Kibbe), except in the eyes of the Twitter AI program, which seems to have a list of Freedom Caucus and Tea Party people.

Never attribute to AI what can be more easily explained by human action.

Twitter has a history of anti-conservative censorship. The simplest explanation is that they made an enemies' list and manually added names to that list.

[Origanalist]

Never attribute to AI what can be more easily explained by human action.

Twitter has a history of anti-conservative censorship. The simplest explanation is that they made an enemies' list and manually added names to that list.

Twitter suspends people for pointing out pedophilia so I'm thinking you're right.

[Brian4Liberty]

Never attribute to AI what can be more easily explained by human action.

Twitter has a history of anti-conservative censorship. The simplest explanation is that they made an enemies' list and manually added names to that list.

A list is no doubt part of the process. And such a list could be added to manually.

There are many ways to get the results they desire by just manipulating the criteria by which the AI adds people to the list. There are rumors of "trusted" sources (Twitter users), whose input such as blocking a user or reporting a user post would carry more weight. Put that in the hands of the right people, and they will take care of bumping the people they don't like into the shadow ban lists. Works even better if some of them are "in the know" on the process.

And think about testing. Does Twitter do no testing? Or do they have a very good idea of who will be shadow banned before they put their new code into production?

The left in general is far more likely to report other users for content they disagree with. That knowledge alone means that using user "reports" as criteria has an implicit bias against the right.

There are lots of possibilities. They say they are trying to combat "behavior" that looks like spammers. Does that mean that Tweeting mostly about politics, especially politics that might attack Democrats, is identified as trollish?

[donnay]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64gTjdUrDFQ

[Anti Globalist]

An error? That smells like bullshit.

[Origanalist]

1022247844965769217

[Brian4Liberty]

“Twitter lists the SPLC as a ‘safety partner’ working with Twitter to combat ‘hateful conduct and harassment,’” Hassan impressed. “The platform also includes the Trust and Safety Council, which ‘provides input on our safety products, policies and programs,’ according to Twitter. Free speech advocates have criticized it as Orwellian.”

https://onenewsnow.com/media/2018/06/08/facebook-twitter-google-amazon-in-cahoots-wsplc

[Brian4Liberty]

Flashback:


Twitter: ‘Our Mistake’ For Restricting User Who Criticized Hamas
4:25 PM 05/28/2018
Eric Lieberman | Tech and Law Reporter

Twitter recently blocked a user who posted sharp criticism of Hamas, the militant and political Islamist organization regarded by much of the international community as a terrorist group.

After The Daily Caller News Foundation contacted Twitter to ask why, a representative for the social media giant said there was an error, and that the account’s full capabilities would be reinstated.
...
http://dailycaller.com/2018/05/28/twitter-restricts-user-who-criticized-hamas/

[Brian4Liberty]

No doubt one of the privileged users who gets to dictate who gets banned...


"Conservatives have been raising alarms about censorship...pointing to algorithm changes that abruptly slashed traffic to their sites, confessions of left-wing bias and their collaboration with far-left groups such as the Southern Poverty Law Center."

https://www.wnd.com/2018/06/n-y-times-chief-turns-up-heat-on-social-media-algorithms/

[Brian4Liberty]

A list is no doubt part of the process. And such a list could be added to manually.

There are many ways to get the results they desire by just manipulating the criteria by which the AI adds people to the list. There are rumors of "trusted" sources (Twitter users), whose input such as blocking a user or reporting a user post would carry more weight. Put that in the hands of the right people, and they will take care of bumping the people they don't like into the shadow ban lists. Works even better if some of them are "in the know" on the process.

And think about testing. Does Twitter do no testing? Or do they have a very good idea of who will be shadow banned before they put their new code into production?

The left in general is far more likely to report other users for content they disagree with. That knowledge alone means that using user "reports" as criteria has an implicit bias against the right.

There are lots of possibilities. They say they are trying to combat "behavior" that looks like spammers. Does that mean that Tweeting mostly about politics, especially politics that might attack Democrats, is identified as trollish?

Straight from the horse's mouth (Twitter), for what it's worth being an official press release, which are never a good source for accurate or complete information. This would probably be some, but not all, of the criteria:


Here are some of the signals we use to determine bad-faith actors:

1 - Specific account properties that indicate authenticity (e.g. whether you have a confirmed email address, how recently your account was created, whether you uploaded a profile image, etc)
2 - What actions you take on Twitter (e.g. who you follow, who you retweet, etc)
3 - How other accounts interact with you (e.g. who mutes you, who follows you, who retweets you, who blocks you, etc)
...
“OK, so there was a search auto-suggest issue. But what caused these Republican representatives to be impacted?” For the most part, we believe the issue had more to do with how other people were interacting with these representatives’ accounts than the accounts themselves (see bullet #3 above). There are communities that try to boost each other’s presence on the platform through coordinated engagement. We believe these types of actors engaged with the representatives’ accounts-- the impact of this coordinated behavior, in combination with our implementation of search auto-suggestions, caused the representatives’ accounts to not show up in auto-suggestions. In addition to fixing search yesterday, we’re continuing to improve our system so it can better detect these situations and correct for them.
...
https://blog.twitter.com/official/en_us/topics/company/2018/Setting-the-record-straight-on-shadow-banning.html

[Swordsmyth]

It's deja vu all over again as Jack Dorsey pulled a Zuckerberg and reported a miss - and a drop - in user growth, while warning of even greater declines in the coming quarter.
Looking at the financial results, they were not that bad, with the company reporting Q2 adjusted EPS 17c, just beating the estimate of 16c, with Q2 adjusted Ebitda of $265 million also beating estimates of $261.5 million, on Q2 revenue of $711 million, higher than consensus $697 million, of which ad revenue was $601 million, up 23% y/y, however a slowdown in US ad growth is starting to become obvious, with US ad revenues rising only 9%.
https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/TWTR%20Adj%20revenue%202018-07-27_7-06-57.jpg
However, what spooked the market is that monthly active users were 335 million, a decline of 1 million from the prior quarter largely in the US (where MAUs dropped from 69MM to 68MM), and a miss of the average analyst estimates of 337.8 million.
https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/twtr%201%202018-07-27_7-02-45.jpg
Macquarie's Benjamin Schachter put it well in a note before the earnings came out:

"Despite Trump being perhaps the most high-profile user possible, usage has not dramatically improved over the past couple years. We simply don't see the product improvements having a dramatic impact on Twitter's ability to attract new users.''
He's right: the following long-term chart of user growth shows just how much it has slowed down in recent quarters.
https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/twtr%20user%20growth.jpg
And while the company does not disclose its DAUs, it was kind enough to report that there was a 11% growth there.
Here is how Twitter explained the drop in its monthly active users:

"Average MAUs were 335 million for Q2, an increase of 9 million year-over-year and a decrease of 1 million quarter-over-quarter, reflecting impact from decisions we have made to prioritize the health of the platform, to not move to paid SMS carrier relationships in certain markets and, to a lesser extent, GDPR. In aggregate, these factors reduced MAU by more than 3 million in Q2."
Things only got worse in the company's forecast, where Twitter now expects 3Q EBITDA would drop sharply to $235 million, falling short of estimates of $268 million.
https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/ADJ%20EBITDA%20bridge%202018-07-27_7-06-09.jpg
But the biggest negative catalyst was that Twitter expects the MAU decline to accelerate in Q3, and "to be mid-single-digit millions of MAU":

As a result of our health work, decisions not to renew or move to paid SMS carrier relationships in certain markets, and our decision to allocate resources towards GDPR and health, MAU could decline on a sequential basis in Q3. Based on our current level of visibility, we expect the decline to be mid-single-digit millions of MAU. As a reminder, DAU growth continues to be the best measure of our success in driving the use of Twitter as a daily utility.
Then there was the expense side, where Twitter said it still expects to increase headcount 10% to 15% in 2018 - a la facebook - with hiring focused on health, audience and engagement growth, ad products and sales. The company also sees 2018 capital spending $450m-$500m (375-400 expected).
By this point investors, had had enough, and spooked by what happened to Facebook, decided to sell and ask questions later, sending the share price down between 15 and 20%:
https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/2018-07-27_3-52-50.jpg



More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-27/twitter-crashes-15-after-users-drop-company-warns-more-declines-expected

[Swordsmyth]

Not all conservatives were affected by the censorship, however, with Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro, the National Review’s David French, the Resurgent’s Erick Erickson, and Glenn Beck remaining unaffected.Those are all NeverTrump cucks who pose zero threat to the establishment, in case you haven't heard of them.

More at: http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=58764

[Swordsmyth]

Kaskela Law LLC is investigating Twitter, Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) (“Twitter” or the “Company”) on behalf of the Company’s stockholders. The investigation seeks to determine whether Twitter and its executive officers have violated the federal securities laws in connection with prior statements made to investors.

On July 27, 2018, Twitter reported quarterly financial and operational results for the quarter ended June 30, 2018. As discussed by The Wall Street Journal, “Twitter said its number of monthly users dropped in the second quarter and could continue to fall as it purges fake accounts—illustrating the challenges social-media companies face in trying to clean up their platforms.” Similarly, Reuters detailed how Twitter “reported fewer monthly active users than analysts expected and warned that the closely-watched figure could keep falling as it deletes phony accounts, sending shares sharply lower in early trading. … Twitter had said earlier in July that deleting phony accounts would not have much impact on monthly users, since the purge focused on inactive accounts. Twitter’s relations with advertisers have been strained by concerns about phony accounts bought by users to boost their following.”
Following this news, shares of Twitter’s stock declined approximately 20% in early trading on July 27, 2018, on heavy trading volume.
Twitter investors who have suffered a loss in excess of $100,000 are encouraged to contact Kaskela Law LLC (D. Seamus Kaskela, Esq.) at (484) 258 – 1585, or via email at skaskela@kaskelalaw.com, to discuss this investigation and their legal rights and options. Investors may also receive information about this investigation, and submit their information to the firm, online at http://kaskelalaw.com/case/twitter/ (http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fkaskelalaw.com%2Fcase%2Ftwitter%2 F&esheet=51844286&newsitemid=20180727005402&lan=en-US&anchor=http%3A%2F%2Fkaskelalaw.com%2Fcase%2Ftwitte r%2F&index=1&md5=b25270b9cccb88fe0eab9b4cda7f7e84).
Kaskela Law LLC exclusively represents stockholders in state and federal courts throughout the country. For additional information about Kaskela Law LLC please visit www.kaskelalaw.com (http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kaskelalaw.com&esheet=51844286&newsitemid=20180727005402&lan=en-US&anchor=www.kaskelalaw.com&index=2&md5=8ebdccfdb36c9633bab3dd7bcfb9eaad). This notice may constitute attorney advertising in certain jurisdictions.

Contacts Kaskela Law LLC
D. Seamus Kaskela, Esq.
201 King of Prussia Road
Suite 650
Radnor, PA 19087
(484) 258 – 1585
(888) 715 – 1740
www.kaskelalaw.com (http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kaskelalaw.com&esheet=51844286&lan=en-US&anchor=www.kaskelalaw.com&index=3&md5=ded8849ab19aa9345a157ef468d01536)


https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180727005402/en/

[Brian4Liberty]

1022824465623859200
https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1022824465623859200

[Brian4Liberty]

1022862705659703296
https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1022862705659703296

[Swordsmyth]

1022824465623859200
https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1022824465623859200

1022863925321203712

https://twitter.com/jack/status/1022863925321203712

:rolleyes:

[Brian4Liberty]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUlKG03s-4c
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PUlKG03s-4c

[Swordsmyth]

Rep. Devin Nunes said he is looking at possible legal action against Twitter over the "shadow banning" fiasco that temporarily decreased the visibility he and other Republicans had on the social media platform.
Last week, Vice News reported (https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/43paqq/twitter-is-shadow-banning-prominent-republicans-like-the-rnc-chair-and-trump-jrs-spokesman) that Nunes, along with several other conservative Republican figures, were harder to find on Twitter as their accounts did not show up on the auto-populated drop-down search box.
"It sure looks to me like they are censoring people and they ought to stop it. We are looking at any legal remedies to go through," Nunes, R-Calif., said at the end of a Sunday morning interview on Fox News.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Nunes' comments follow a tweet (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1022447980408983552) by President Trump saying "We will look into this discriminatory and illegal practice at once!"

More at: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/devin-nunes-looking-at-legal-remedies-to-take-against-twitter-for-shadow-banning

[Brian4Liberty]

Rep. Devin Nunes said he is looking at possible legal action against Twitter over the "shadow banning" fiasco that temporarily decreased the visibility he and other Republicans had on the social media platform.
Last week, Vice News reported (https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/43paqq/twitter-is-shadow-banning-prominent-republicans-like-the-rnc-chair-and-trump-jrs-spokesman) that Nunes, along with several other conservative Republican figures, were harder to find on Twitter as their accounts did not show up on the auto-populated drop-down search box.
"It sure looks to me like they are censoring people and they ought to stop it. We are looking at any legal remedies to go through," Nunes, R-Calif., said at the end of a Sunday morning interview on Fox News.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Nunes' comments follow a tweet (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1022447980408983552) by President Trump saying "We will look into this discriminatory and illegal practice at once!"

More at: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/devin-nunes-looking-at-legal-remedies-to-take-against-twitter-for-shadow-banning

The critical question will be is Twitter a user content, social networking application, or is it a media outlet? It is perfectly acceptable for the media to secretly engage in the equivalent of shadow banning, with hidden agendas and censorship. There is no requirement for them to be “fair and balanced”, or transparent.

On the other hand, Twitter has used an official government designation as a public forum to escape lawsuits. Can they have it both ways?

[Swordsmyth]

After months of rumored Twitter "shadowbans" on conservative accounts were finally confirmed by VICE (https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/43paqq/twitter-is-shadow-banning-prominent-republicans-like-the-rnc-chair-and-trump-jrs-spokesman)and other publications, the GOP is taking action ahead of midterms.
https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/1533244419936.jpg
Axios reports (https://www.axios.com/scoop-gop-house-leader-says-twitter-ceo-jack-dorsey-should-testify-1533244528-8ae4c369-2ff8-49d0-8a25-8a64b8f73bf3.html?stream=politics&utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alerts_politics) that House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy sent a letter Thursday to Greg Walden, the chairman of a powerful House committee, to ask that he publicly grill Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey over recent allegations that the platform limits the reach of some conservative accounts.

“Any solution to this problem must start with accountability from companies like Twitter, whose platforms have enormous potential to impact the national conversation — and unfortunately, enormous potential for abuse,” McCarthy said in the letter to House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden.
“In particular, I would like to request a hearing with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey so that the American people can learn more about the filtering and censorship practices on his platform.”
Full Letter below:
https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/2018-08-02_16-48-57.jpg
McCarthy, who has worked on tech issues for years, has pressured social media companies over the way they treat conservatives in recent months. McCarthy and other Republican leaders met with Facebook staffers (https://www.axios.com/scoop-facebook-to-meet-gop-leaders-to-hash-out-censorship-complaint-3e118411-0a4a-4922-a6fd-b59d68e3dc35.html) in June over their concerns, and as recently as last month McCarthy was running ads on Facebook inviting supporters to join him “and President Trump in defending our conservative voice against social media censoring," according to the platform's public database of political ads.

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-08-02/house-majority-leader-demands-jack-dorsey-testify-twitter-shadowbans