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** Why is the Left so Afraid of Twitter? ([link removed])
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by Alan M. Dershowitz • November 4, 2022 at 5:00 am
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* "[W]e have nothing to fear from the demoralizing of some if others are left free to demonstrate their errors, and especially the law stands ready to punish the first criminal act produced by false reasoning. These are safer correctives than the conscience of a judge." — Thomas Jefferson, 1801.
* Jefferson's distrust of "the conscience of a judge" would probably be even greater if the censors were the CEOs of companies that rely on advertisers for their profits.
* [C]ensorship requires censors, and once censors are given the ability to pick and choose what the public will hear, this slippery slope moves us away from freedom and toward repression.
* The issue is whether in an open society we must endure these pains in order to avoid being in even great pains of selective censorship.
* The Framers of the First Amendment chose to endure the pain of too much speech over the dangers of speech controlled by the government. But Twitter is not the government. Neither is Facebook or YouTube. They are giant media companies that dominate and control the flow of speech throughout the world. And the dangers of putting control of those flows in the hands of invisible elitist censors threatens to undercut our most important freedom.
* The first casualty of divisive extremism is nuance. And it is nuance that is sorely needed with regard to this issue of internet censorship.... Let nuanced proposals be offered and discussed.
* And most important, let free speech not become weaponized as a partisan issue.

A campaign is underway by left-wing organizations and politicians to demand that Twitter continue its practice of censoring hate speech and other "objectionable" postings. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are giant media companies that dominate and control the flow of speech throughout the world. And the dangers of putting control of those flows in the hands of invisible elitist censors threatens to undercut our most important freedom. Pictured: Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, California, on October 28, 2022 . (Photo by Constanza Hevia/AFP via Getty Images)

A campaign is currently underway by left-wing organizations and politicians to demand that Twitter, now owned by Elon Musk, continue its practice of censoring hate speech and other "objectionable" postings.

A letter sent to Twitter's top 20 advertisers, signed by 40 activist organizations, including the NAACP, the Center for American Progress, GLAAD and the Global Project Against Hate and extremism, contained the following veiled threat:

"We, the undersigned organizations call on you to notify Musk and publicly commit that you will cease all advertising on Twitter globally if he follows through on his plans to undermine brand safety and community standards, including gutting content moderation."

This means that Musk must not roll back what Twitter has on the books now, and commit to enforcing the existing rules. In other words, Twitter advertisers have been asked to boycott Twitter unless it continues to censor.

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