TWITTER SUSPENDS FOLLOWERS OF CONSERVATIVE UK GOVERNMENT MINISTERS
Following the events in the USA on January 6, 2021 and Twitter’s actions to suspend some 70,000 accounts, within which many innocent users were caught up, I urge all official government departments and elected representative to diversify their use of social media to alternative platforms other than the big two, Twitter and Facebook, preferably those which champion free speech such as Gab.com. Democratically elected governments should not be using platforms which actively practice the undemocratic censorship of their users.
MP’s and Ministers’ social media audience members are being removed against their will. British citizens are being prevented from seeing important information published by the UK Government, MP’s, Councillors and other organisations using these platforms.
Many millions of people rely on social media for their daily news consumption. However, Twitter has suspended many thousands of their users’ accounts for allegedly “violating Twitter rules”. The true number could be much higher than 70,000, possibly millions. Many Britons have also been affected by the purge.
Former culture secretary Matt Hancock said the bans showed they were now “taking editorial decisions”, but it is far worse than that! This not only means that those users’ voices are being censored but their hearing and sight is too. It’s like having one’s morning newspaper stolen by the paper boy. This is nothing short of an “Iron fist of censorship”.
By using these “tech giant” platforms exclusively, government is handing over huge power to those companies to control what information actually reaches their social media audience members. Diversification of government communication strategy with regard to social media platform use is an absolute necessity all the while these tech giants behave in this way.
I do not condone illegal behaviour on social media. Illegal material and persistent offenders should quite correctly be reported to the appropriate authorities and the content taken down. But Twitter seems to think they can act as judge and jury and there’s nothing users, law-abiding or otherwise, can do about it.
A huge proportion of suspended users reportedly have no idea of the reason for their suspension other than having allegedly “violated Twitter rules” or for “violations of [Twitter’s] civic integrity policy”. Honestly, this is like a scene from the film ‘Demolition Man’ in which fines are issued for “violation of the verbal morality statute”.
I personally have no clue why my old account was suspended. I certainly have never knowingly engaged in sharing harmful QAnon-associated content for example. (see article linked below). The closest I have got is to question the possibility (not probability) that electoral fraud could have taken place in the US given their voting systems and procedures are reportedly full of loopholes. I have submitted an appeal and await a response. In the meantime my account is locked. I can’t deactivate my account or have my data removed. I am locked in suspended animation. Twitter is holding my data hostage. They have not even responded to my GDPR Subject Access Request.
In a blog on Friday, 8 January Twitter said its public interest framework existed “to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly“, except that’s only the case when it suites Twitter. Twitter account suspensions are completely at odds with their own policy.
It remains to be seen what can be done to better regulate the behaviour of social network platforms. In the meantime, government departments and elected representatives should not put all their communication eggs in one (or two) basket(s). Tech giants must be sent a clear message that they must not have control over what the public hears from elected officials and world leaders. The public must be able to hear from them via multiple alternative platforms. Government must adopt a policy of putting out official communications via multiple platforms, especially those which promote free speech and oppose censorship like Gab.com.
By the way, Gab.com reportedly has a reputation for being a far-right platform. It may well have had a relatively high number of far-right users in the past, but as more and more ordinary moderate users get kicked off Twitter and Facebook and migrate to Gab.com so its user base will become far more balanced. Users are reportedly migrating at a rate of 10,000 per day.