What a state this world has been driven into by the political, commercial and military interests of governments and corporations. Once it was possible for citizens to rail against injustice human rights violations and tyranny on social media platforms, but all that has changed. Following in the wake of censorship, character assassination and exclusion; to those who dissented and questioned on the Covid narrative, and efficacy and safety of experimental medicines injected into the public. A worrying new orthodoxy is taking root. In this dark new chapter there exists only one source of truth, fact can be assured solely through government agency or it’s approved corporate media partners. Any genuinely independent or critical voice is censored, dismissed, questioned or publicly smeared as unreliable, biased and misleading. All very Orwellian, including the operation of double-think.
Because the same authorities imposing such totalitarianism and censorship are doing so to ‘protect freedom, democracy and individuals’. Free-speech is under a vicious assault, particularly across the internet and social media, which Governments are striving to dominate. They have been helped in that objective by a number of compliant and ethically corrupt platforms, including Twitter, whose previous position on open debate and opposition to censorship has been replaced by an unquestioning obedience to the dictate of Governments and corporate interests. We saw this during the past two years, blocking people who dissented or questioned the drugs corporations and safety of their Covid products. Affirming only the narrative of health authorities and the political elite, to the banishment of any opposing view.
Sad to see such a venal decline, but here we are, having been psychologically groomed into an unthinking and servile condition by our own authorities. Hypocrisy now rules. While a media, which would have us believe they uphold the values of freedom-of-speech, objective reportage and balanced, independent journalism are little more than corporate and governmental whores. Too extreme? Not really. Take the current psychological warfare being conducted to sway and control public opinion on the situation in Ukraine, with only one version of events being allowed. Western media regurgitating word-for-word, without critical examination, every assertion and claim from the Ukrainian authorities. As governments and media corporations are banning Russian broadcasters, denigrating their output as lies and biased.
Now Twitter has announced it would no longer recommend tweets from Russian state-controlled media outlets for amplification. This means they would not be featured in the home timeline, notifications, or anywhere else on the platform. The reason offered to justify such censorship is interesting:
“When a government that’s engaged in armed conflict is blocking or limiting access to online services within their country, while they themselves continue to use those same services to advance their positions and viewpoints – that creates a harmful information imbalance,” Twitter’s Head of Site Integrity, Yoel Roth said.
Convinced? Reasonable? But hang on a minute what about imposing similar restrictions on China? After all it’s engaged in a war of cultural genocide against Tibetans and Uyghurs, operates forced labor-camps. Torture, forced sterilizations and executions are widespread. The Chinese regime has blocked Twitter from operating in China. While at the same time the platform’s timeline and various feeds are full of Chinese government orchestrated propaganda concealing such atrocities and misleading public opinion. Surely if Twitter held as a core principle its opposition to regimes exploiting their platform for purposes of disinformation while engaged in human rights crimes and imposing a violent tyranny it would have no objection in launching restrictions against Chinese government Twitter accounts and effectively block their output and visibility in the same way it is doing so against the Russian authority?
Of course it hasn’t done so and is unlikely to do so, demonstrating the nauseating hypocrisy at work and exposing the hollowness of such posturing. Like other social-media platforms Twitter is conforming to the double-standards and geo-political agenda of western states, who while condemning Russia’s actions are suffering a specific and acute amnesia on their blood-drenched invasions and roles in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and Yemen!
This post was originally published on TIBET, ACTIVISM AND INFORMATION.
