That was social justice activist Shaun King on Twitter on April 27, reporting that if Elon Musk, the new 100 percent owner of Twitter, follows through with his plan to take the company private and make it a free speech platform, it will be promptly removed from the Apple and Google Play stores, and Amazon Web Services, too - just like Parler was in 2021 in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
King's report came a day after Media Matters for America President Angelo Carusone urged Apple and Google to deplatform Twitter, writing in a Twitter statement, "Musk will unwind a whole range of very basic protections against harassment, abuse, disinformation. Effectively, he'll open the flood gates of hate and lies. And, he'll use Twitter as a cudgel against other social media companies to press them to backslide."
Carusone added, "Apple should make clear and reiterate that Twitter won't get special treatment. Some of what Musk plans to do will violate Apple's requirements for the App Store and Apple needs to make it clear they will enforce their rules and uphold their requirements."
In 2021, Parler was removed from Apple phones, Google android phones and Amazon's web servers supposedly for a failure to police advocacies of violence on its platform, even though similar examples of unpoliced advocacies of violence could be found on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and message boards everywhere.
The very terms of service that restrict unpopular speech on the internet, whether on social media like Twitter, or on Apple, Google or Amazon, have come about directly as a result of Environmental, Social and Governance investing including Diversity & Inclusion goals that clearly favor "Safe spaces" over the freedom of expression.
Since the reported actions now targeted at speech on Twitter by Apple and Google Play - if true - are the direct result of ESG objectives; and fit the same pattern of targeting Parler in 2021, give the appearance of anticompetitive collusion.
Musk on April 27 on Twitter said he will reveal Twitter's new content policy soon, but promises that political hardliners will not be happy: "Attacks are coming thick and fast, primarily from the left, which is no surprise, however I should be clear that the right will probably be a little unhappy too. My goal is to maximize area under the curve of total human happiness, which means the ~80% of people in the middle."
Sunday, May 1, 2022
Apple and Google Play threaten to remove Elon Musk's Twitter from your phones if free speech is allowed on the platform
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