Posted on 10/11/2023 5:45:52 AM PDT by shortstop
Tapping on the Twitter icon recently, as I have done for a dozen years, I found a notice from the company, under its new name, telling me that I had been permanently banned, that my account was closed and that I would never be allowed to open another.
“After careful review,” it read, “we determined your account broke the X Rules.”
No specifics, no citation, no offending tweet. Just, you’re gone. I’ve never been warned, put on probation or otherwise censured or chastised by the company. All I’ve ever heard from Twitter were entreaties – which I declined – to monetize my account and make money from my posts.
My account had about 29,400 followers and was used by me to provide news, commentary and publicity to people and events primarily in the upstate New York region. Its loss is unpleasant for me, of course, but more importantly leaves unserved the interests of those who followed it or saw it shared.
I can’t speak to its quality, but I do know I attempted to make it useful. And, as a 40-year newsman in radio, newspaper and television, I have the ability to do that. I’m not saying I’m not an idiot, but I have repeatedly been honored by the New York State Broadcasters Association, and have statewide Associated Press awards as a newspaper columnist, radio broadcaster and television commentator. I’m a former Army journalist of the year, have won awards as a photojournalist, and have been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. I host market-leading radio talk shows in Rochester and Syracuse, New York, and I’ve sold more books than Andrew Cuomo.
None of which means anything more than, I can probably handle a Twitter account.
And I attempted to use this Twitter account as a service, a non-monetized product offering conservative commentary and filling a vacuum in an under-served news market. I believe the account over time broke as many news stories in the Rochester and Syracuse regions as the some of the fully staffed newsrooms in those markets.
I posted documents and news tips on the account for other news organizations to follow up on and flesh out for the communities we together serve. I used it as my seat in their news meetings. I have sources throughout the upstate region and often receive confidential information from senior government officials of both parties which I distributed on Twitter.
I used the account to bring attention to worthy people and causes, highlighting exceptional high school athletes and acts of selfless kindness and service. I tried to make it a place where heroes could be highlighted.
The account successfully pushed office holders and companies to change their positions, to address problems and to find solutions for individuals and communities who had been wronged. It got dangling utility wires fixed, unkempt streets swept, dangerous conditions addressed, unpatrolled streets policed and hungry people fed. It became a place where the powerless knew their voices could be heard, whether leaking something about a company or a government, or challenging neglect and unfairness.
And, when they needed it, I kicked the hell out of the powerful. Whether they were in the boardroom or at the anchor desk or in Congress. I tried to make people laugh and think, and I tried to draw them to the account, to establish a platform for the communication of useful information.
And every day I took the account with me to the streets of the city of Rochester, where people and issues and pictures that would otherwise go unseen and unheard got a forum.
And all of that is gone.
With no true recourse or reconsideration. Twitter ignores your challenge of its decision, the politicians and government agencies that might provide relief are probably all glad to see the account gone, and there is no ombudsmen or referee to stand in judgement.
There is no appeal, and there is no explanation why. No identity is revealed for the invisible hand of censorship that decided to extinguish an annoyance. It’s like a sniper shot: You don’t know where it comes from, you just know the lights go out.
Was it Elon Musk, who I criticized for degrading the Twitter product? Was it the online antifa that continually attacks and silences conservative voices? Was it Democrat operatives worried about my attacks on their candidates and office holders? Was it Republican operatives worried about my attacks on their candidates and office holders?
Was it the state government? Was it the federal government? Was it the green-energy titans or the folks at some company, bank or non-profit I had held up to scrutiny? Was it someone I pissed off in law enforcement? Was it the DEI and CRT gurus angered by my persistent opposition? Was it the universities which I routinely fry?
Who was it who decided to destroy this community of communication for doing what journalism is supposed to do?
I’ll probably never know.
Which leaves them free to strike again. Somewhere else, someone else, at their capricious will, crushing because they can. Silencing the new voices of the free press.
And that’s what these accounts are, an organic raising of the American voice. On a TikTok, in a Facebook Live, on Instagram and Twitter. This account had a larger audience than the first two newspapers I wrote for, and it had a more dedicated following.
And what happened to me, can happen to others, and probably has, hundreds and thousands of times over.
Social media companies want you to use them so they can use you. I fear they want to herd you like sheep, feed you videos and memes to piss you off so they can steer your thoughts and control your votes.
But if you think for yourselves, if you depart from the narrative, if you establish an independent following, well, just like with a sniper, the lights go out.
He didn’t give us any of his possibly controversial postings on Twitter. He’s not telling us the whole story.
Yes. In the old days, if twitter banned you for life, you could open a new account which I did. Boom. Banned for life a again. When Musk took over I appealed the ban but was denied.
bkmk
If this guy posted on Twitter all that time and never got tossed in the penalty box until now, while Twitter was banning and censoring other people like crazy, I question his claim that he was providing conservative news, etc.
The only way they could prevent you from registering as a different username is if they are actually banning your “device”. “Device detection” is a real thing. In fact even if you give the device to someone else they will not be able to register that device at Twitter either.
Requires logon.
How about some text?
Cancel culture. He obviously got on someone’s radar to generate complaints sufficient to cause termination.
My $$ is a comment/xtwat on ‘trans’gressions.
IMHO, all posts should be allowed, no matter how crazy, as long as they don’t threaten anyone or anyone’s property. I’ll decide what to believe or not.
There HAS to be more to the story. My own twitter can be pretty radical- and I follow several users who pump out some of the most serious and hard-hitting Conservative content - and they haven’t had Twitter issues since Musk took over.
So - there MUST have been something - could your account have been hacked? Are you sure you didn’t accidentally link to something nefarious?
Seriously - not an accusation, simply trying to process through - as your situation is rather odd in the face of some of the activity on “X” these days.
I banned twitter for life.
Been trying hard to get banned by X (formerly known as Twitter), since signing up several months back. So far, no joy.
I don’t see the twitter handle posted here or on his web page. Generally, when an account is banned - the user name/page still shows, its just locked.
And considering, as my other reply said, some of the content on Twitter/X these days that is even to the far extreme of both political directions - it is just not plausible that his account was banned at the drop of a hat with no warning or previous issues.
He did open a new account.
might help understanding if he provided the text of his last post
Because context is never important to a whine /S
. He may have a valid point, but it’s not interesting enough for me to find out, and I’m not likely to engage in an argument about things when I have no information. I’m not a self righteous Karen, so “splain me, Lucy”.
My tagline says it all. They did the same thing to me. Elon put the worst kind of Marxist in charge. (is there any other kind?).
Musk’s promise of Twitter 2.0 was simply marketing.
Twitter/X denies speech far more than does CCP run TikTok
Its a search of his name on X. Some are saying he was banned because he posted a threat against the Gov.
That’s what happened to me on Facebook. I posted a picture of the crucifixion. I was deleted immediately.
How does anyone know if that really is his new account?
“WHY DID TWITTER GIVE ME A LIFETIME BAN?”
WHY DID X GIVE ME A LIFETIME BAN?
There, fixed it for you.
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