Twitter’s announcement that it will begin a crackdown on “synthetic and manipulated media” has led to fears that political memes could be censored in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election.
On Monday, Twitter said that it was “working on a new policy to address synthetic and manipulated media on Twitter.”
According to the Big Tech giant, “synthetic and manipulated media” is “media that’s been significantly altered or created in a way that changes the original meaning/purpose, or makes it seem like certain events took place that didn’t actually happen.”
What’s synthetic and manipulated media? It’s media that’s been significantly altered or created in a way that changes the original meaning/purpose, or makes it seem like certain events took place that didn’t actually happen.
Many pointed out that this description could easily describe memes and other satirical media that is intended to humorous but not necessarily factually accurate.
“The majority of responses back to Twitter Safety’s post was that the move was expected and grounded in hurt feelings of Democrats to put controls on Republicans before the 2020 Presidential election,” writes Kari Donovan.
If Twitter does start to ramp up censorship of memes, it wouldn’t be the first Big Tech outfit to do so.
Earlier this year, Instagram announced it would use “52 global “fact checking partners” to censor “false photos and memes on its platform,” according to Poynter.
Last year, Facebook also announced it was developing a new AI algorithm that can detect and ban “offensive” memes.
Back in September, the Pentagon declared war on memes as DARPA launched a new program to fight “polarizing viral content” before it spreads.
A study undertaken by researchers at University College London found that the most effective memes in the run up to the 2016 presidential election largely originated in two places – the subreddit r/the_donald – a forum devoted to boosting President Donald Trump, and 4chan’s politically incorrect /pol forum.
A VICE write-up of the study acknowledges that the most “effectively spread” memes originated on r/the_donald and /pol.
The Donald subreddit was subsequently placed in quarantine and 4chan has been repeatedly blamed as a radicalizing outpost for mass shooters and right-wing extremists.
“Don’t Be Intimidated” By The Censors – Tucker Carlson Urges Americans To Fight Back By ‘Telling The Truth’
Published
7 days ago
on
25 September, 2023
Zero Hedge
Screenshot
In a brief clip of him speaking in Utica, MI, Tucker Carlson expresses his deep concern over widespread acceptance of dishonesty in public life, lamenting, “what’s true? The true things are the things that you can’t say.”
The former Fox News man rages at the lack of penalties for public figures who lie or display incompetence; contrasting this with the societal backlash against those who aim to speak their own truths, suggesting that in today’s society, “the only penalty is for noting what’s true.”
“Every society penalizes something…” In America, “it’s telling the truth.”
Drawing a parallel with foreign (banana republic) governments, Carlson recounts a recent experience in Buenos Aires that exposed the government’s dishonesty about the Argentine peso’s exchange rate. He emphasizes, “so the government lies about the value of its own currencies,” reflecting on the economic lies and falsehoods and manipulations (think non-farm payrolls jobs data revised lower every month this year for instance) of the US government.
Further into the speech, he points out the pattern of backlash he believes truth-tellers face, noting, “first they’ll tell you you’re hurting someone’s feelings… then they call you insane… the third thing they do is just criminalize telling the truth.”
He raises concerns about the role of significant U.S. institutions like the FBI and CIA, alleging they are partisan, and mentions, “when federal employees… take an aggressive position on the side of one political party, you can’t have a fair election.”
Lastly, he touches upon the 2020 U.S. presidential election, suggesting potential irregularities and fraud, blasting tech oligarchs’ influence in silencing the truth-sayers.
“If some oligarchs… spent nearly half a billion dollars to control the mechanics of the Bolivian election in 2020, we would say it’s not a legitimate election.”
Tucker closes by encouraging Americans to stand up against the censors: “don’t let them,” he exclaims, urging listeners“don’t be intimidated, your children’s future depends on your bravery.”
The media assured us claims Brand was the subject of a coordinated political attack were baseless “conspiracy theories”.
Now the political class, the media and literally *the government*, is carrying out a coordinated political attack to unperson him from all public platforms.