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According to Ars Technica
A number of "alt-right," pro-Trump, and self-described conservative social media personalities awoke this morning to find that they had a lot fewer followers on Twitter than they had the night before. The apparent cause was the latest culling by Twitter of accounts that in some way violated the company's terms of service, a Twitter spokesperson told Ars, including "behaviors that indicate automated activity or violations of our policies around having multiple accounts, or abuse." The sweep has some on the right accusing Twitter of politically motivated censorship.
"Twitter's tools are apolitical, and we enforce our rules without political bias," a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement emailed to Ars. The accounts were targeted as part of "our ongoing work in safety," the spokesperson said. "We also take action on any accounts we find that violate our terms of service, including asking account owners to confirm a phone number so we can confirm a human is behind it. That's why some people may be experiencing suspensions or locks. This is part of our ongoing, comprehensive efforts to make Twitter safer and healthier for everyone."
And at Vanity Fair:
Renewed fears of censorship have once again led some users to talk about leaving to join Gab, the so-called free-speech social network that cropped up in 2016 as an alternative to Twitter. And Gab couldn't be more pleased. Utsav Sanduja, the company's chief operating officer, told me on Wednesday that the company had seen "a surge of donations, Gab memberships, [and] user sign-ups" since Tuesday night.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @09:06PM (11 children)
Sign up for an account. Immediately follow Trump. For some people, this alone gets twitter to claim they are a bot, demanding extra verification. (well no thank you, I'd like my privacy, you can't have my phone number)
If that doesn't do it, follow a few hard-right conservatives. There is somebody, I think a Mike Cernovich, that will pretty reliably get you labeled a bot. You could also try Milo or that lady who is all about the border wall. You can also try retweeting a few things from these people.
None of this shit happens if you do the liberal equivalent. Just signing up for twitter, you'll get suggestions to follow leading democrats like Obama and Hillary.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @09:20PM
This is just so, so sad. I am crying right now.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by requerdanos on Thursday February 22 2018, @09:31PM (6 children)
Good observation.
From this, perhaps we can deduce which group of followers is more likely to be bots and astroturfers.
Judging from the outcry, I'd say it's not the Obamas and the Hillarys.
(Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Thursday February 22 2018, @09:48PM (5 children)
One can clearly see how Twitter has been cracking down mercifully on every single questionable post by, and threatening repeatedly to expel, the leader of the right wing in the USA.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @10:55PM (3 children)
Twitter would ditch Trump in a heartbeat if they could do it without shareholders flipping out. Trump is singlehandedly keeping twitter alive right now. Twitter was a dying platform... then Trump saved them.
If you act like Trump but are not Trump, you get banned very quickly.
Numerous republican candidates for office have been banned. Twitter is cutting them off to influence our elections. Given that the majority shareholder is Saudi, there's your foreign election interference right there.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @11:47PM
"He's more Tweet than man, now."
Seems like it goes both ways, and what we say is true, from a certain point of view.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @11:48PM (1 child)
I like this idea, as if all the conservatives are being played. Your last bit about Saudi's doesn't make sense, the Republican agenda is what they want!
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 23 2018, @07:36AM
Allow me to introduce you to https://soylentnews.org/~Runaway1956/ [soylentnews.org]
Conservatives, being played. Runaway had no clue how much he is being played by Ruskies! He even admitted it,once: The Ruskies played the Hypnotoad on him. Either that, or it was Italian whores. But who can tell, and who can remember, let alone Runaway his own self.
(Score: 2) by Virindi on Friday February 23 2018, @07:39PM
It is pretty obvious that the reason they haven't done anything, is because they think Trump's comments only serve to hurt him. Most of Trump's opponents seem to agree on that.
Whether it is actually true, I am not sure.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 23 2018, @04:19AM (2 children)
Hillary and Obama aren't leading shit right now.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 23 2018, @08:56AM (1 child)
> Hillary and Obama aren't leading shit right now.
Depends on what reality you subscribe to. I remember when a few months ago, several Fox News anchors and some prominent Republican politicos slipped multiple times in a span of a week and started complaining -- on camera -- about the Clinton Presidency, the evil deeds of President Hillary, and how President Hillary should be impeached. The whole shitshow clarified quite a few things for me...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 23 2018, @04:07PM
Sources, would love to see such massive fuckups