Evidence contradicts right-wing narrative of tech censorship and bias

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Over the past year, the right-wing narrative of tech censorship and bias against right-wing content has become increasingly strident. Along the way, it’s been amplified by powerful right-wing influencers, far-right racists who want their hateful speech exempt of consequences, Republican politicians commanding legislative hearings, and President Donald Trump himself. For media observers, this narrative has become a case study of the “illusory truth effect” — repeating a lie so often that people start believing it’s true — because hard evidence still doesn’t back it up.

In fact, the numbers prove just the opposite.

In his opening statement at the April 10 Senate hearing titled “Stifling Free Speech: Technological Censorship and the Public Discourse,” presiding chair Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) claimed that Americans are “concerned about a consistent pattern of political bias and censorship on the part of big tech.” But Cruz also admitted that “much of the argument in this topic is anecdotal” (an acknowledgement that hasn’t stopped him from exploiting this narrative to raise money).

As a blog post by the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute pointed out, the “anecdotal evidence” isn’t “super compelling.” It’s true because when analyzed, “many of the episodes used to push allegations of censorship or bias can actually be explained through technical arguments in which political motivations play no role.” For example, there was furor among conservatives when Twitter temporarily suspended the account of an anti-abortion movie resulting in the account also temporarily losing its followers. Yet the action on Twitter’s part was not based on the movie’s content, but on the account being “linked to another account that had violated Twitter’s rules,” which triggered Twitter’s ban evasion mechanisms leading to the suspension. (But the explanations didn’t stop some senators from making the same inaccurate allegations during the April 10 Senate hearing.) And while platforms are known to temporary limit account actions after they detect spam-like behavior to stave off inauthentic activity, prolific social media users Donald Trump Jr. and Dan Scavino, who is also White House social media director, have still used these limitations to claim censorship.

https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/440703-evidence-contradicts-right-wing-narrative-of-tech-censorship-and-bias

[Moostache]

1. Puh-shaww...facts? GOP doesn't do THAT...

Facts are quaint things for libtards and commies dontchakno???

Conservative minds do not function correctly. It is known.

[DBoon]

2. Reality has a well known liberal bias

get used to it

[sharedvalues]

3. And this is *The Hill* opinion section - typically very rightwing.

[Andy823]

4. They are following trump

by trying to play the "victim" in everything, the poor picked on GOP!

[Caliman73]

5. Standard right wing playbook.

It has been discussed here many times. The right wingers "work the refs". It is the same thing they did when they called every media outlet the did not push their hard line bias "the liberal media". I have family members who say that all the time. The Liberal Media. They can't or won't define what that it because it is bull shit, but they still reflexively say it when there is a message they disagree with.

Now they are doing it with other media (online and social apps). The goal is the same, to accuse tech companies of bias in order to do 2 things, 1. create the idea in the mind of their followers that Everything is against them so that they are inoculated against the truth. 2. attempt to force those companies to favor the right wing view point by accusing the companies of bias and triggering a guilt response.

The reality is that the right wing message and ideology is bankrupt and adds little to nothing to the national dialogue so they have to have a strategy that creates the idea of importance rather than having an important message.