Parag Agrawal hasn’t been CEO of Twitter long, but he’s already abused his power of banning and suspension greatly. Needless to say, this power has been primarily utilized to silence political opponents or those who lead others to question the leftist narrative, especially on the vaccine, but these small “victories” may wind up in a massive loss.
As first reported by the New York Post, Agrawal has taken it upon himself to ban the likes of Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for spreading “COVID-19 misinformation” when what she really posted came from the CDC itself. Permanently, it also banned Robert Malone from the country. Malone was a co-inventor the mRNA technology used in the creation of vaccines to combat COVID-19. Malone had questioned the vaccines and how effective they were in terms of fighting the Coronavirus, which is not allowed under Agrawal’s watch.
The Post highlighted Prof. Michael Makris’ suspension. The University of Sheffield professor was forced to delete a tweet for simply talking about a new type of COVID-19 vaccine in development, facing a ban if he didn’t. Makris uploaded the tweet as a photograph when his account was activated. This allows you to see how extreme Twitter can be about certain things.
I’m back on Twitter. Twitter banned my account because I was spreading misleading information and possibly harmful material about COVID19. You can decide if this tweet is really so terrible. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/b1XodkPQ3I
— Michael Makris (@ProfMakris) December 23, 2021
The Post reports that bans continue to be placed according to The Post
Just The News founder John Solomon was suspended for tweeting an article on the Food and Drug Administration’s statement that the fully approved Comirnaty vaccine is “legally distinct” from the emergency-approved Pfizer-BioNTech product, which is more widely available in the United States.
Popular news aggregator Politics for All — founded by Spectator social media editor Nick Moar — was also reportedly banned for unspecified “platform manipulation.”
Twitter has been removed for good. Mystery Grove Publishing Company is a small press that publishes rare books such as the memoirs by Pyotr Warel, last White Russian commander-in-chief.
Twitter may call this limiting the spread of “misinformation” but to everyone else, this looks a lot like narrative control. One type of opinion is allowed, while expressing the opposite results in silence.
Agrawal may be violating Section 230 by taking his business outside its legal boundaries. He’s no longer a platform, he’s a publisher, and the protections 230 offers no longer apply. It’s something Minority leader Kevin McCarthy made clear to all of big tech recently, promising that should the GOP seize the majority in the House, then it’s something that they’ll push to happen.
“Twitter (all big tech), if you shut down constitutionally protected speech (not lewd and obscene) you should lose 230 protection. Acting as publisher and censorship regime should mean shutting down the business model you rely on today, and I will work to make that happen,” he tweeted.
“From President Trump to Dr. Malone to Congresswoman Greene, big tech’s censorship is out of control and must be addressed. A House GOP Majority WILL fight to hold them accountable,” he said in a follow-up tweet.
From President Trump to Dr. Malone to Congresswoman Greene, big tech’s censorship is out of control and must be addressed. They will be held accountable by the House GOP Majority.
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) January 4, 2022
It is unclear if they will. Although the GOP has a reputation for making big statements about protecting free speech, they do very little. They only look at CEOs with stern eyes and ask difficult questions.
There will no doubt be some changes in this area. As the GOP votes move forward with the election, it will likely become a bigger issue. It shouldn’t get to a point where it’s unfixable and the GOP should make Section 230 one of the chief concerns for the incoming GOP majority if they seize it.
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