Yoel Roth, the former head of Twitter's "Trust & Safety" department, last week defended Twitter's controversial banning of the Babylon Bee earlier in 2022 for "misgendering" Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine — a biological male who identifies as female.
Twitter suspended the satire site in March over a tweet pointing to its story titled, "The Babylon Bee's Man Of The Year Is Rachel Levine." The reason was "hateful conduct."
Podcaster Kara Swisher spoke to Roth onstage last week during "INFORMED: Conversations on Democracy in the Digital Age" and told him that while the Bee's piece was "not particularly funny," she "didn't agree [Twitter] should have taken that down."
Roth — who who left Twitter in early November after Elon Musk acquired the company — replied, “I want to start by acknowledging that the targeting and the victimization of the trans community on Twitter is very real, very life-threatening, and extraordinarily serious. We have seen from a number of Twitter accounts, including Libs of TikTok notably, that there are orchestrated campaigns that particularly are singling out a group that is already particularly vulnerable within society. ... Not only is it not funny, but it is dangerous, and it does contribute to an environment that makes people unsafe in the world. So let’s start from the premise that it’s f***ed up."
He continued by saying, "Let's look at what Twitter's written policies are. ... Twitter's written policies prohibit misgendering — full stop. And the Babylon Bee, in the name of satire, misgendered Admiral Rachel Levine."
Swisher seemed to push back a bit, reinforcing that the story was "satire."
But Roth was unmoved: "Nominally — but it's still misgendering ... there can be a very long and academic discussion of satire and sort of the lines there ... but, you know, we landed on the side of enforcing our rules as written."
Swisher replied that Twitter banning the Bee is what led to Musk buying the social media platform in the first place: "He was mad about that, I remember that." Roth smiled at Swisher's recollection.
Content warning: Language:
\u201cYoel Roth, who no longer works at Twitter, claims that satire is dangerous and that Libs of TikTok and The Babylon Bee are dangerous. I\u2019m glad he\u2019s gone. He was bad for Twitter.\u201d— Ian Miles Cheong (@Ian Miles Cheong) 1670131866
Musk reinstated the Babylon Bee last month shortly after taking over Twitter.
Upon hearing the news, the Bee immediately was back to its old tricks and posted its first tweet since its suspension: "We're back. Let that sink in."
The tweet, which as of Monday has received nearly 440,000 likes, presumably references a pun from Musk when he was seen entering Twitter headquarters while carrying a sink.
During the "INFORMED" event Tuesday, Roth also admitted that Twitter should not have censored the Hunter Biden laptop story.
Musk, the following day, tweeted that "the obvious reality, as long-time users know, is that Twitter has failed in trust & safety for a very long time and has interfered in elections."
Kanye West has been locked out of his Twitter account after posting a tweet about Jewish people.
On Saturday night, Kanye posted a tweet that read: "I'm a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I'm going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE."
Kanye appears to make a reference to DEFCON – which is the defense readiness condition alert level used by the United States military.
The rapper added, "The funny thing is I actually can't be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda."
The tweet was deleted, and Kanye's account was restricted for violating the social media platform's policies.
A Twitter spokesman said of Kanye's page, "The account in question has been locked due to a violation of Twitter's policies."
Kanye West's Twitter suspension comes a day after the rapper had his Instagram account restricted.
A representative for Meta – the company that owns Instagram and Facebook – told The Hollywood Reporter that West's Instagram account had been restricted and the social media app had deleted content from the rapper's page. West's Instagram account was still visible, but he was temporarily barred from sharing posts, writing comments, and sending direct messages.
The Meta spokesperson did not specify what post was deleted or how long the suspension would last.
After being locked out of his Instagram account, Kanye vented about Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Twitter.
West told Zuckerberg in the tweet that they used to be close friends and shared a photo of the two.
Kanye tweeted, "How you gone kick me off Instagram."
Elon Musk – who is set to buy Twitter – chimed in, "Welcome back to Twitter, my friend!"
Before last week, Kanye had not tweeted since November 2020.
Last week, West was criticized for comments he made about Jared Kushner during an interview on "Tucker Carlson Tonight."
The American Jewish Committee – a Jewish advocacy group – said on Friday that West had made "incoherent rants laden with racist and anti-Semitic undertones" and "anti-Jewish posts."
In March, the rapper known as Ye had his Instagram account suspended for 24 hours after using a racial slur against "The Daily Show" host Trevor Noah.
Kanye West also made headlines last week by wearing a shirt that read: "White Lives Matter."
After Steven Crowder's heartfelt and carefully worded cold open on Monday's show, the mainstream media decided Crowder needed to be silenced again.
Crowder felt conflicted between his feelings of anger at the FBI raid on Trump's Mar-a-Lago home and making the FBI's actions his hill to die on. "Not literally," Crowder clarified, "but it is time to fight fire with fire."
Crowder made it very clear his belief that it is time to stop playing the losing game of passively allowing agencies like the IRS and the FBI to violate and betray the American people for job security. "There is a reason you feel scared," Crowder explained. "These agencies are coming for you."
"It is okay to be scared. It is okay to be mad. I am," Crowder said.
The mainstream media are ruled by jacked-up priorities, aka lies, and lost their minds over a tweet Crowder posted the night before. The tweet read: "Tomorrow is war. Sleep well." The progressive media pounced and accused Crowder of calling for an actual war because that is what they do when they feel scared: attempt to destroy their opponents with lies.
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What a surprise, the MSM is doing what the MSM always does, which is taking us out of context. pic.twitter.com/89DtQyHIpr
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) August 10, 2022
To enjoy more of Steven’s uncensored late-night comedy that’s funny, join Mug Club — the only place for all of Crowder uncensored and on demand.
The rules on censoring Twitter speech were completely random, inconsistent and fake before. I don't see why it should be any different now.
Hypocritical reporters who long thought of Twitter as their own personal fiefdom are getting a little comeuppance. Good.
So far, it looks like Musk is just paying lip service to free speech and instead surrounding himself with authoritarian leftists.
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