Michael Shellenberger, who was among the independent journalists behind the release of Twitter Files, looked at this verdict from the site and the arguments PolitiFact used. He rejected the notion that suppressing voters' free speech was "not a threat to democracy." According to Shellenberger, the nonprofit run by the Poynter Institute is "part and parcel of the censorship-industrial complex."
To back up his argument, Shellenberger released a new batch of Twitter Files showing how the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) convinced Twitter (before its transformation as Elon Musk's X) that the Hunter Biden laptop story was misinformation. At the center of the social media platform's decision to suppress the story was Jim Baker, former deputy legal counsel at Twitter. Prior to joining the Big Tech company, Baker had a similar role at the FBI.
Both Baker and the bureau collaborated to convince Twitter that the contents of the so-called "laptop from hell" were hacked from another source by Russian agents. The contents were reportedly put on the aforementioned device that the New York Post made a report on.
"During all of 2020, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies repeatedly primed [Twitter's head of trust and safety] Yoel Roth to dismiss reports of Hunter Biden's laptop as a Russian 'hack and leak' operation," Shellenberger wrote. In contrast to this claim of Russians being active on the platform, "Twitter executives 'repeatedly' reported very little Russian activity."
According to Reclaim the Net, "censorship critics are wary that the U.S. government, despite the country's constitution, has become prone to stifling speech and manipulating public opinion – perhaps because there are 'lessons learned' from decades of doing the same abroad."
PolitiFact denies Vance claim of government censorship
The verdict by PolitiFact, which Shellenberger eviscerated, came in response to a claim made by U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH). The Republican vice presidential nominee said during his Oct. 1 debate with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, his Democratic counterpart, that Vice President Kamala Harris is engaged in censorship.
"I believe that we actually do have a threat to democracy in this country," said the senator. "It is the threat of censorship."
Vance then stated that Harris "is engaged in censorship at an industrial scale" and that she would "like to censor people who engage in misinformation." He continued: "She did it during COVID. She's done it over a number of issues." (Related: Elon Musk says nobody will bother to try to assassinate Kamala Harris because she’s just another "puppet" of the "machine.")
The senator for the Buckeye State also warned that Harris "wants to use the power of government and Big Tech to silence people from speaking their minds." He warned: "That is a threat to democracy that will long outlive this present political moment."
The fact-checking site deemed Vance's claims as false, arguing that the Biden-Harris White House "contacting" social media companies to flag content for removal "didn't cross the line into coercion." It also cited a Columbia University professor who remarked that suppressing "disinformation about COVID or election results" doesn't count as censorship.
Head over to Censorship.news for similar stories.
Watch this clip of J.D. Vance saying that censorship is the real threat to democracy, something PolitiFact dismissed as false.
This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.
More related stories:
John Kerry tells World Economic Forum that "it's hard to govern" because of First Amendment.
Bill Gates shares his vision for shaping AI and controlling "misinformation" with Oprah Winfrey.
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