Conservatives must fight Twitter censorship or risk losing their voice – The Post Millennial
David Frenchs recent commentary on the conservative response to social medias, in particular Twitters, escalating suppression of political speech challenged me to fully understand my own position. A few years ago, when Milo Yiannopoulos was banned from the platform, and various purges began to occur, I argued firmly that Twitter was a private company and we were using it freely. If they wanted to remove certain commentary that offended other users, it was their right to do so. I no longer hold this view.
French wrote, in six tweets: "When you hear increasing right-wing... calls for government oversight of social media speech policies, it's vitally important to understand some of the career/economic context. Many of the people most alarmed made a gamble.
"They invested enormous time, energy, and effort into a platform they didn't create, don't control, and use for free. They've built impressive followings here, sometimes through edge-lord behavior, skating at the outer margins of Twitter's policies.
"As progressive speech values shift (after all, this is a site created by progressives and run by progressives) some of that on-the-line tweeting is going to cross newly-created lines, thus jeopardizing all that effort and risking extinguishing their primary public presence.
"That's why the debate often takes on a slightly-crazed tone. It's not merely an abstract debate over constitutional principles and corporate values. Lots of folks went all-in on creating an edgy presence on arguably the most progressive social media site.
"They don't want to start over on Facebook. They don't want to flee to Gab. Nor do they want to start from scratch on TikTok... or Snapchat or YouTube or Reddit. And they're certainly not content to 'only' write on the platforms they own.
"So here we are, in the grips of an incredibly self-interested effort to pull more and more of the government into social media regulation, even to the point of potentially overriding long-cherished First Amendment freedoms. It's important to understand one reason why."
Over time, my position changed as I saw the power and influence that Twitter, in particular, held in the political conversation. While the focus was on the more extreme styles of political commentary coming from the right, Milo was, after all a strong proponent of free expression, similar in nature to leftwing heroes like Madonna and Lady Gaga, a larger picture came into focus. Just like the removal of Confederate-era statues today, the left was not simply going to stop once the more abrasive elements were removed.
In 2015 and prior, President Obamas official account tweeted, certainly. But it was the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump that demonstrated the power of this platform for political speech. Ever since then, the primary outlet for direct speech from elected leaders, across the spectrum, is via Twitter. We have watched establishment leaders to brand new voices all shake the political ground from coast to coast with mere tweets, 280 characters. The honest and directness of this communication is unlike anything we have seen before.
The news in its form from just a few years ago has dramatically shifted to this platform. Journalists live-tweet and share video of current events directly rather than through the filter of a news broadcast. The method of communicating political ideas in long form such as this essay are shared across many platforms, but it is Twitter where they receive direct and immediate commentary. An article on Facebook may receive thousands of comments, but the author of a tweet sees every response directly.
While French is correct that Twitter is a progressive platform created by progressives, he does not yet recognize that the medium has grown exponentially beyond being just another platform to express ideas. All major social media platforms are progressive platforms. It is an ideological monopoly, and despite dismissal from many who grew up without such concepts, represents not only a record of modern life, but access to it as well.
Frenchs argument is based largely on an older idea of social media stating, evidenced by his statement that They invested enormous time, energy, and effort into a platform they didn't create, don't control, and use for free. They've built impressive followings here, sometimes through edge-lord behavior, skating at the outer margins of Twitter's policies.
While he is accurate in his assessment of many voices in politics, he does not recognize that Twitter is made up of all of our voices and it functions as a live conversation of the human experience.
Many who agree with Frenchs assessment of Twitter, and social media in general, see only the origin and the purpose, but do not understand the impact. Twitter is powerful because the media came to it and chose to use it as a primary method of communication. Politicians did the same. World leaders, national and world organizations, public health officials, the police and so on have come to rely on the platform for widespread, instantaneous mass communication. The world chose Twitter for its technological ability, just as the world chose radio, television and telephones in prior eras, not its ideological purpose.
Twitter is a method of communication, not just a private company offering a free service. It is how the nation and the world engages in political speech and participation in this conversation is vital for said speech. While alternatives like Parler offer a space to express ideas much more freely, they simply cannot duplicate what Twitter is, functionally. Twitter is not just a platform to express personal ideas, it is very literally access to the public square and political conversation.
Twitter only works because of its universal usage by all media, advocacy and political voices. Segregating ourselves away from it will be like creating our own shortwave radio station. Sure we can speak without concern of suppression, but who will hear us? The point of political speech is to be able to hold our politicians accountable and increasingly, hold our media accountable. Today that requires the ability to respond directly to the media and to politicians. Not simply commenting on them in our own space.
What French and others on the right who mock or dismiss or even denounce the argument in favor of some form of regulation or government oversight into social media do not recognize is that the ability to participate in the political conversation is moving exclusively to this medium.
Whereas in the past a conservative could publish a scathing opinion, expose a political lie or correct a media story in a weekly column or monthly magazine, or in a book a year later, today relevance in the political world requires instantaneous and direct response. If we leave or are forced off of Twitter, we lose the ability to participate at all.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was necessary not only because powerful political authorities denied black Americans access to their civil rights at the local and state level, but because they were also prevented from participating in common life necessary for individual liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Many on the right argued the private property aspects were outside of the Federal governments authority, and they were correct. But the nation required unique action to address a reality created by a small population of bigots that held the power to prevent Americans from participating in common life based solely on who they were.
I believe we are in a similar scenario today. It is not only the fact we are actively marginalized as individuals based on who we are, but the very nature of our speech and our worldview has been labeled unacceptable to be heard at all. In this national and global conversation, a small, powerful group has decided that not only should we not be allowed to participate in what has become the common public conversation, but our very ideas must be erased from it.
And for me, that is the breaking point of this issue. We talk about Twitter in the same way we do Walmart or Amazon. But in reality Twitter is much more like the highway system, national phone lines, television or the electric and water company. We could survive without them, but we would simply not be participating in common life if we did.
More to the point, we deserve a voice in the political conversation and we should be strong enough to demand it. What Frenchs commentary assumes is a life beyond the internet and social media. What he simply does not yet recognize is that era has passed. If conservatives want to have a voice in politics today and certainly in the future, our only option is to fight for our right to participate in it equally, even if we must go against our normal instincts to do so once again.
Continued here:
Conservatives must fight Twitter censorship or risk losing their voice - The Post Millennial
- China Censors Trump's Bomb Threat on Beijing - Newsweek - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Review | How censors tried and failed to keep LGBT voices out of the movies - The Washington Post - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- UN AI summit accused of censoring criticism of Israel and big tech over Gaza war - Geneva Solutions - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- From gr*pists to nip nops, how self-censorship shapes the language of TikTok : Code Switch - NPR - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Corrido Censorship: The paradox of funding and criminalizing cartel stories - The Oakland Post - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- 'Ready or Not' Devs Unveil a Mod to Remove Censorship In-Game For a More Brutal Experience - player.one - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Centre flays X over 'censorship' claim, says platform delayed unblocking accounts - Times of India - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Turkey blocks Grok content, becoming first country to 'censor' the AI chatbot - Middle East Eye - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- X blasts India censorship order on thousands of accounts - New Age BD - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- 'JSK' Producer Suresh Kumar On Its Censorship: All Issues Began With 'L2: Empuraan' - The Hollywood Reporter India - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Some patriotic reflections on Independence Day - The Verge - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- AI, Fair Use, and the Arsenal of Democracy - RealClearDefense - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Democratic nomination for Ithaca Common Council seat decided by just 11 votes - WSKG - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- A Summer Reading List for Americas 250th Anniversary - Ash Center - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- DEEP DIVE: $500 MILLION IN MEDIA FUNDING. BUT WHO'S CALLING THE SHOTS BEHIND THE HEADLINES? Its not just censorship its coordination. In Episode 2 of... - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Emergency: The Indian cartoonist who fought the censors with a smile - BBC - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Media in the Balkans: the rise of oligarchs - Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- From Censorship to Fascism to Extermination: PW Talks with Will Potter - Publishers Weekly - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- 'There is real fear': How Israel's attack on Iran enabled an assault on press freedoms - Middle East Eye - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Vilifying the Vylans or: How I learned to stop censoring and call for death to the BBC - Freedom News - - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Ready Or Not Studio Reveals What Exactly Has Been Censored And It's Not A Lot - TheGamer - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- The EUs Internet Law, a Blueprint for Global CensorshipIncluding on American Platforms? - The Daily Signal - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Blasphemy, Censorship, and the Future of Free Expression in Britain - Quillette - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Ready or Not Dev Releases Before-and-After Screenshots as It Battles Against Censorship Backlash and Steam Review-Bomb Campaign - IGN - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- The humanities must have a role in overseeing AI censorship - Times Higher Education - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- YouTube, Trump Having Productive Discussions Over Censorship Case - The Information - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- 'Warned Not to Talk About It': Overseas Boys' Love Censorship Is Sending Young Women to Jail - Comic Book Resources - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- China is rushing to develop its AI-powered censorship system - Global Voices - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Gov. McKee signs Freedom to Read Act into law - Rhode Island Current - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- 'Ill-conceived from the beginning': Judge ridicules Trump admin for 'slapdash' censorship of public health websites - Law and Crime News - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- How censorship affects the artistic expression in film - Times of India - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- What is The Ready or Not Censorship Controversy? Review Bombing Explained - Insider Gaming - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Self-censorship and the spiral of silence - Insight News - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Louisiana wants to censor citizen science, but residents are fighting back - News From The States - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- The many complex truths within the censoring of youth parliament - The Spinoff - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Free Speech Victory in Australia for Billboard Chris as X post censorship overturned - Alliance Defending Freedom International - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Read this: Pixar's self-censorship of Elio's queer themes may have doomed it - Yahoo - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- China is rushing to develop its AI-powered censorship system - Global Voices Advox - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- 'The censorship is a step too far': Ready or Not is getting review bombed after developers sanitise the game to adhere to stricter console standards -... - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Keep Them On The Shelf - The Progressive - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- SCOTUS Ruling Condoning Book Censorship Is a Grave Misjudgment. - GLAAD - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Read this: Pixar's self-censorship of Elio's queer themes may have doomed it - AV Club - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- How the Internet Works, and How China Censors It - ChinaFile - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- New Study from ChinaFile | The Locknet: How China Controls Its Internet and Why It Matters - Asia Society - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- The Witcher, The Bad Batch, and Cosmic Censorship - GamingTrend - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- The Censor Board Is A Back-Door For Govt To Control The Film World: Director Of Stalled Movie On Slain Punjabi Activist - article-14.com - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Censorship? Ready or Not eliminates nudity and reduces violence to hit consoles - Toy News Online - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Ready Or Not Will Be Censored Before Launching On Consoles, And It Could Even Affect The PC Version - TheGamer - June 29th, 2025 [June 29th, 2025]
- Nonviolence and the Battle Against Self-Censorship - Pressenza - International Press Agency - June 29th, 2025 [June 29th, 2025]
- Kneecap Defy Censorship Threats with Provocative Glastonbury Set - Consequence of Sound - June 29th, 2025 [June 29th, 2025]
- WATCH | Joseph Maximilliam Dunnigan On How Censorship Of Books Exists Across The World, From The US To China - Outlook India - June 29th, 2025 [June 29th, 2025]
- Artist Ai Weiwei: Democracy and freedom do not necessarily enable the creation of great art - - June 29th, 2025 [June 29th, 2025]
- Baihe and Danmei: Chinese GL and BL in an Age of Censorship - Daily Kos - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Death by a thousand cuts in Hong Kong - Index on Censorship - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- In an act of political censorship, Deutsche Bank terminates publisher Mehring Verlags account - World Socialist Web Site - June 26th, 2025 [June 26th, 2025]
- The photographer using AI to reconstruct stories lost to censorship - The Verge - June 26th, 2025 [June 26th, 2025]
- Bernie Sanders Roasts Joe Rogan for Siding With Government Censorship - Cracked.com - June 26th, 2025 [June 26th, 2025]
- JCDecaux and Global accused of 'censorship' of anti-HFSS campaign - Campaign - June 26th, 2025 [June 26th, 2025]
- Emergency Films: 6 Movies That Faced Bans and Censorship in 1975 - Deccan Herald - June 26th, 2025 [June 26th, 2025]
- Hotbed of digital censorship: MAGAs war with Ireland over freedom of speech - Newstalk - June 26th, 2025 [June 26th, 2025]
- Iran-Israel war: What tools are used to censor reporting? - DW - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- FTC Comments Accuse Big Tech of Widespread Censorship - The Daily Signal - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- How we are ending Irans and all other governments power to censor online - The Hill - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- Amid Silence and Censorship, Alabama Students and Professors Reflect on a Year Under SB129 - ACLU of Alabama - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- Iran-Israel war: What tools are used to censor reporting? - Yahoo - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- Western Tech Companies Are Capitulating to Russian Censors. Here's How Russians Can Fight Back. - The Moscow Times - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- Book censors and the Trojan horse of decency - Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- Censorship, arrests and merger of news agencies tools to control media during 1975 Emergency - The New Indian Express - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- Tunnel Vision: Anti-censorship Tools, End-to-End Encryption and the Fight for a Free and Open Internet - Freedom House - June 22nd, 2025 [June 22nd, 2025]
- A Banner Year for Censorship: More States Are Restricting Classroom Discussions on Race and Gender - The Chronicle of Higher Education - June 22nd, 2025 [June 22nd, 2025]
- Advocates, Authors Call for Investigation Into Florida Book Removals Without Review | Censorship News - School Library Journal - June 22nd, 2025 [June 22nd, 2025]
- From LA to Letcher County, Anna Gomez takes her anti-censorship crusade on the road - Daily Independent - June 22nd, 2025 [June 22nd, 2025]
- Censorship into art: why Iranian director Jafar Panahis subversive stories are getting the worlds attention - Pancouver - June 22nd, 2025 [June 22nd, 2025]
- How does Israel restrict its media from reporting on the Iran conflict? - Al Jazeera - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Censorship: See the National Park visitor responses after Trump requested help deleting negative signage - Government Executive - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Why defunding research on misinformation and disinformation isnt what Americans want - Fast Company - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Oscar entry, but banned at home: This Sunita Rajwars acclaimed film faces censorship in India - Times of India - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Why Is The EU Really So Scared of Hate Speech? - The European Conservative - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- PRESS RELEASE: In win for academic Speech, OK Supreme Court says higher ed is off-limits from censorship law - Oklahoma City Free Press - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- What are the 20 most controversial album covers of all time? - Euronews.com - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]