Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’

Twitter’s War Against Conservatives Widens

Monday, February 22nd, 2016

Well, lots of activity on the #FreeStacy front, so here’s a quick update:

  • Twitter has now suspended McCain’s backup account @SexTroubleBook.
  • Actor Adam Baldwin’s verified account appears to have been “shadowbanned” (i.e., his account has not been suspended, but none of his Tweets, except the one he has pinned at top, appear are visible to other users.
  • Discussion of the current problem and how to fix it. Including “Dismantle the kangaroo court” and “Fire CEO Jack Dorsey.” “The ‘Trust and Safety Council’ was Dorsey’s brainchild, and he’s the one who chose to give it over to political hacks with an axe to grind. In other words, while Twitter’s user base has been leveling off and its share price has been going down in flames, he’s been busy hatching a scheme to drive away even more of its users.” (Hat tip: Stephen Green at Instapundit.)
  • Conservative writer John Podhoretz’ blue “verified” check-mark on Twitter was breifly removed over the weekend, then restored.
  • It appears more and more that Twitter’s “Trust and Safety Council” should be more properly named “Anita Sarkeesian’s Committee To Ban People Who Say Mean Things About Her.”

    This is a quick post due to Stuff and Things, but possibly more later. Or, as Drudge Report is wont to post, “Developing…”

    Update: Baldwin has announced he’s quitting twitter.

    Update 2: Welcome Ace of Spades HQ Readers! Now Ace just need to add BattleSwarm to the Bloggers in Arms list…

    Twitter Suspends Robert Stacy McCain

    Saturday, February 20th, 2016

    As part of Twitter’s ongoing attempt to silence anti-social justice warrior thought, they have suspended the account of Robert Stacy McCain.

    For now you can follow his alt account @SexTroubleBook.

    In the best Kafka-esque fashion, the Twitter SJW police have refused to tell McCain why his account is suspended, or which offending tweet did the deed:

    Twitchy has more.

    Edited to Add: Reason covers the story:

    Remember a few days ago, when Twitter elevated anti-GamerGate leader Anita Sarkeesian to its “Trust and Safety Council,” an imperious-sounding committee with Robespierre-esque powers to police discussion on the social media platform? The goal, according to Twitter, was to make it easier for users to express themselves freely and safely.

    One user who won’t be expressing himself at all is Robert Stacy McCain: a conservative journalist, blogger, self-described anti-feminist, and prominent GamerGate figure who was banned from Twitter on Friday night. Clicking on his page redirects to this “account suspended” message that encourages users to re-read Twitter’s policies on abusive behavior.

    But as with other Twitter suspensions, it’s impossible to tell which specific policy McCain is accused of violating, or which of his tweets were flagged as abusive.

    Hiring Anita Sarkeesian to define free speech is like hiring Ted Bundy to run a battered women’s shelter…

    Anonymous Takes Down Islamic State Twitter Accounts (Again)

    Wednesday, November 18th, 2015

    Anonymous goes to war, at least in cyberspace:

    Islamic State sympathizers using social media to spread propaganda and recruit fighters are now drawing an increasing amount of return fire from activists who have been knocking some sites offline and infiltrating others.

    The loose hacking collective Anonymous is the latest to draw attention to such campaigns, with members claiming credit this week for having thousands of pro-IS Twitter (TWTR.N) accounts disabled.

    This is not the first time that Anonymous has taken down Islamic State Twitter accounts, as they did so on a wide scale in Operation #TangoDown back in May.

    Will this effort actually damage the Islamic State? Well, slightly, which is to say it will do a damn site more than peace signs with Eiffel Towers or overlaying your icon with a French flag, meaningless feel-good displacement gestures liberals use rather than admitting to themselves they’re doing absolutely nothing to fight radical Islam…

    Tweets About The Paris Attack

    Saturday, November 14th, 2015

    Current news from Paris: the death toll is now at 128 and the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for what French President Francois Hollande calls (correctly) an “act of war.”

    A few tweets about the Paris attacks and reactions to it:

    Coming Soon To a Sitcom Near You…

    Thursday, September 10th, 2015

    Or “Fun With Milo Yiannopoulos and Shanley Kane.”

    (Background and context.)

    And a bonus Shanley tweet:

    Yes, nothing says “Take me seriously, technology world!” like tweeting obscenities and typing things IN ALL CAPS!

    “Gender Fluidity”

    Tuesday, June 30th, 2015

    Just a quick hit from twitter…

    Hillary So Old…

    Thursday, June 4th, 2015

    Another Twitter hashtag I had some fun with:

    Ted Cruz Announces Presidental Run With a Tweet

    Monday, March 23rd, 2015

    Despite advance word that Cruz would announce his run today, he actually did so with a tweet Sunday night:

    Cruz had a very strong social media team for his 2012 Senate race, so this move isn’t a big surprise. Now we’ll see if it, and his early jump, can get him any separation in a very crowded field…

    Jason Villalba, The King of Thin-Skinned Twitter Blockage

    Saturday, March 21st, 2015

    Texas State Rep. Jason Villalba, ostensibly a Republican, seems to be going out of his way to alienate actual Republican voters.

    First he was among the (sadly many) Republican Representatives to vote to reelect Joe Straus Speaker, then got caught praising Straus’ progressive agenda.

    Next came Villalba’s introduction of H.B. 2918, which attacks the rights of photographers, bloggers and CHL holders under the guise of protecting police from being assaulted by cameras.

    Naturally, this has lead to a raft of criticism on Twitter and elsewhere. (There’s aeven a Recall Jason Villalba Facebook group. Since Texas does not have any recall election mechanism for state-level officials, I presume they mean to back a primary challenge to him in 2016.)

    So what has Villalba’s reaction to this criticism been?

    Villiba Block

    So go ahead and add “thin-skinned” to the list of Rep. Villalba’s flaws…

    #TangoDown: Anonymous vs. ISIS

    Saturday, March 7th, 2015

    Here’s something that falls into the category of “undernews,” i.e. potential significant events occurring below the detectable threshold of the mainstream media.

    Hacking group Anonymous (or a certain fraction thereof; things are always murky in the cyberunderground) have decided to purge Twitter of ISIS supporters in Operation #TangoDown.

    This follows ISIS threatening to kill Twitter employees over blocking ISIS-related accounts.

    Within seconds of Anonymous-related accounts @CtrlSec, @CtrlSec0, @CtrlSec1 or @CtrlSec2 designating a Twitter account as an ISIS-supporting account, those accounts are getting suspended.

    This follows previous pro-Islamic website hacking attacks, and resulting Anonymous counterattacks, following the Charlie Hebdo attack.

    One need not approve of all Anonymous’ actions (they’ve targeted Israel over Gaza) to see the elimination of the accounts of several thousand (my estimate) supporters of a designated terrorist irganization as a good thing.

    If members of the Islamic State really want to live in the 7th century, they should just step away from Twitter (and computers, and cell phones, and indoor plumbing) entirely…

    (Hat tip: @ColorMeRed’s Twitter Feed.)