Repost: Twitter Admits Censorship In Lead Up To 2016 Presidential Election

This article was authored by myself and originally published with Disobedient Media in November 2017. It is my own intellectual property. Time dated references have been retained.

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Earlier today, social media giant Twitter was reported to have engaged in severe censorship during the 2016 US Presidential election, specifically hiding hashtags which would be harmful to the interests of the Clinton campaign. The news fuels serious questions about the influence of powerful social media companies and their potential role as gatekeepers in favor of the establishment.

The Daily Caller reports that Twitter’s systems hid 48 percent of tweets using the #DNCLeak hashtag and 25 percent of tweets using #PodestaEmails, Twitter general counsel Sean Edgett said in his written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.

The report adds that “Approximately one quarter (25%) of [#PodestaEmails tweets] received internal tags from our automation detection systems that hid them from searches,” Edgett said.

This is incredibly significant not only because it validates widespread claims that Twitter had engaged in censorship that specifically benefitted the Clinton campaign during the run-up to the 2016 US Presidential election.

The Podesta emails and the DNC emails were published by Wikileaks last year, with their contents exposing serious corruption in the Democratic Party establishment. Though legacy press has continually blamed the source of the leaks on 'Russian hacking,' this narrative has been largely debunked.

The latest news regarding Twitter's active censorship adds to questions raised by its inexplicable refusal to verify the account of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and others, despite the plethora of imposter Assange accounts.

Mint Press News reported that "Julian Assange and other well-known government critics are still unverified, leading to speculation that Twitter is purposefully allowing their accounts to remain vulnerable." Independent journalist Caitlin Johnstone has also reported on the matter, arguing that Twitter's refusal to verify Assange serves to promote "pro-war propoganda."

Disobedient Media previously reported on widespread censorship of independent media on the part of media giants like Google and Youtube. However, this latest news serves as confirmation that similar censorship does take place on Twitter in order to apparently protect establishment interests.

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