ABOUT a fortnight ago Twitter suspended myself and others who are free software advocates critical of patents on software and life/nature [1, 2]. This was preceded by other sneaky censorship, which had grown increasingly prevalent over time.
"They love to claim that they're cracking down on far right or something violent, but that's an illusion."Well, Twitter has suspended my account again and I have no idea why. I said nothing rude today. Hardly anything controversial, either. They seem to target anyone who does not fit a mainstream narrative, with censorship being applied loosely, based on broad criteria. One theory is that some "HEY HI" (AI) algorithm or some rogue moderators did not agree with me on something I had written, but who knows? They don't even say! Maybe the marketing people, who receive money from Microsoft, have some strings attached to that money. Again, who knows when no reason is specified? That Twitter is suspending users is bad enough. That it now suspends users like myself without explaining the reason or offering the ability to query (ask them why) is another. They love to claim that they're cracking down on the far right or something violent, but that's an illusion. Here they go again, flushing down almost 1 million tweets of mine. Without prior warning or even as much as an explanation. I consider myself to be a left-leaning person, yet I am not allowed to express an opinion in Twitter anymore (account suspended without an explanation), so who is actually allowed to express an opinion there? Corporations and billionaires?
Two weeks ago Twitter was blackmailing Twitter users including myself into deleting tweets which were factual. Without deleting those, the suspension would be permanent. This time there's not even as little as an explanation. It's tempting to say "delete Twitter" after those oppressive measures of theirs and had I known how serious a matter it is, I would have deleted my account myself. Last year I already decided to no longer access Twitter and I downloaded a full archive. Now I cannot even download an archive of my own tweets. As shown in the video, if I press "Download an archive of your data" it says "Your account is suspended and is not permitted to perform this action."
What I think is quite astonishing is that Twitter can magically suspend (disappear retroactively), without even specifying any reason, an account from 12 years ago (one of their early users) with about a million impressions per month (it used to be more) just because of a tweet or two that they don't even specify. If Twitter exists to serve and to hail oligarchs (or advertisers), then the public deserves to know. Twitter needs to be shunned for this. It's fast becoming a selective propaganda network. It throws out the very same people who made it what it is. ⬆