A new Twitter update will let users see if they’ve been “shadow banned,” Elon Musk said Thursday — the second installment of the “Twitter Files” showing the social media giant used suppression tactics against a number of high-profile conservatives. after. voices.
“Twitter is working on a software update that will show your real account status, so you’ll know exactly if you’ve been secretly banned, why, and how to appeal” Musk tweeted Thursday.
Musk announced the update shortly after freelance journalist Barry Weiss posted a series of tweets about how Twitter has banned or blacklisted accounts over the years.
Most of the censored accounts belong to conservative and far-right users, Weiss said.
A social media company would assign accounts as if with “trending blacklist”, “search blacklist”, “do not reproduce” and other toggles to prevent their tweets from reaching a wider audience.
Some of the accounts Weiss referenced, including conservative talk show host Dan Bongino, Stanford University’s anti-COVID lockdown advocate Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, and right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, had additional flags, such as “NSFW view” and ” the latest abuse scandal” “.
Weiss did not specify whether the accounts were suppressed as punishment for misinformation, inappropriate content or for other reasons.
Former Twitter executives have denied shadow banning of accounts for years, but employees told Weiss that the company engaged in “visibility filtering,” which restricted certain users’ content from appearing in searches or on the trending page.
“New [Twitter Files] The investigation revealed that teams of Twitter employees create blacklists, prevent inappropriate tweets from trending, and actively limit the visibility of entire accounts or even trending topics — all secretly, without informing users. wrote Weiss.
Weiss said one such account, LibsofTikTok, became so popular that a team of administrators was appointed to decide how to suppress its content, resulting in several account bans.
The account’s moderator, Chaya Rayczyk, asked Musk on Thursday when his account would be “fixed.”
“Review it”, he replied.
Musk did not elaborate on what the software update would look like or when it would launch.
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