It would seem that our social media overseers are increasingly doing away with pretense and just springing for straight-up no-holds-barred censorship:
Twitter on July 28 imposed a blockade on all content from The Epoch Times without explanation, raising further concerns about freedom of speech on the platform and drawing ire from three U.S. senators.
The platform enforced a warning on all links from The Epoch Times. A click on a link directs users to a page titled "Warning: this link may be unsafe," which prompts users to return to the previous page.
"The link you are trying to access has been identified by Twitter or our partners as being potentially spammy or unsafe," the warning stated, citing Twitter's URL policy.
Well, gee, what exactly did the Epoch Times do wrong? Will Twitter let them know?
The platform has not responded to multiple requests from The Epoch Times for clarification.
Hmmm.
I gotta say, censoring one of the most popular upstart news organizations on the Internet, for no apparent reason, apparently indefinitely, seems like a bit of an escalation in tactics.
Meanwhile, at least some Republicans are taking notice:
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), vice chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who serves on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who serves on the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, decried the move as an act of censorship.
"Twitter is blocking all links to @EpochTimes, including a story about a human trafficking survivor, and labeling them as ‘spammy' and ‘unsafe.' Twitter must explain itself for this outrageous act of censorship," Rubio wrote in a July 29 tweet.
I gotta say I have my doubts they'll be explaining themselves anytime soon.
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