'Twitter pretending to be fair, but invested in political system'

Instead of being an active participant in the political process, Twitter should step back and be a ‘neutral’ platform it was always intended to be, says Neil W. McCabe, president of Big League Politics.

Twitter has implemented new rules on December, 18 to combat offensive conduct and abusive behavior on its platform.

After years of allegations that Twitter allowed its platform to become a breeding ground for extremist groups and hate speech, the company has enacted a new set of rules purging a number of accounts.

However, it has been accused of being selective of the accounts it's decided to 'purge.'

RT spoke to Neil W. McCabe, president of Big League Politics, to discuss the new Twitter restrictions.

“I think people at Twitter, just like other social media platforms, are under tremendous pressure because they just see themselves as a sort of neutral players, that other people just show up and post their views. But in the light of the controversies from the 2016 campaign and other political developments – now they have to police this platform. And it is a very difficult situation for them,” he told RT.

Read more

Facebook considers blocking far-right Britain First after Twitter suspends leaders’ accounts

According to McCabe, social media platforms want to be treated like an electric company or “the sort of non-participant utility that just gives electricity to everyone.”

“But in reality, especially Twitter is run by left-wing operatives. Jack Dorsey, a co-founder, and CEO of Twitter is an active participant in the political system on the left, especially when it came to supporting President Barack Obama and #BlackLivesMatter, which is a very radical group, which is very violent and provocative, and a lot of Americans see them as domestic terrorists. BLM is also supported by George Soros. And that alone is enough for Conservative Americans to say “Hey, the fix is in,” McCabe continued.

In his view, “you get into very difficult territory when you start restricting free speech, especially, when you start holding the platform responsible.”

“It is a very difficult place to go because a lot of this hate speech is always going to be tilted against the right wing or the right Conservatives. Just hate speech in, and of itself, the phrase itself is always used against Conservatives, you never hear about hate speech from the left. It is funny that the restrictions are always on Conservatives, never on Liberals,” he noted.

McCabe said he doesn’t take any effort to police Twitter or Facebook seriously as a fair exercise.

“We have a constitutional amendment that protects free speech. Obviously, it is against the law to threaten someone with bodily harm, it is against the law to lie about someone. So, there are always restrictions on speech when you deal with libel or assaulting language. But hateful speech, I don’t even know where that begins and ends, and it seems like it is always up to someone else what hate is,” he pointed out.

McCabe also added that it’s not an easy thing for Twitter to try to play fair because they are invested in the political system.

“Certainly, Twitter is exposing itself because it is pretending to be fair. I think a much safer point of view for them is to just say, whatever happens, happens, and if you don’t want to tune in to the Twitter feed of someone who is hateful - then don’t tune in,” he said.

“But obviously, Twitter is an active participant in the political process on the side of the left… I think it is better for Twitter to just step back and just be that platform that they were always intended to be,” he told RT.