Proof Social Media is Rigged

Diana Rigg as Emma Peal, The Avengers

How Twitter Rigged the Covid Debate

The platform suppressed true information from doctors and public-health experts that was at odds with U.S. government policy.

Inspiration from an article about the connection between the US Government and ALL the tech companies written by David Zweig at The Free Press, here.

Summary via ChatGTP:

It is alleged that both the Trump and Biden administrations in the United States pressured Twitter to moderate content related to Covid-19 and the pandemic in a way that aligned with their agendas. The Trump administration was concerned with preventing panic buying and sought help from tech companies, including Twitter, to combat misinformation. 

The Biden administration focused on promoting fear of Covid-19 and urging people to follow official guidance, and also pressured Twitter to take action against accounts that were skeptical of lockdowns and mRNA vaccines. 

Internal emails from Twitter reportedly show that the White House had direct meetings with Twitter employees and pressured them to take action on certain accounts and content. It is also alleged that Twitter promoted content that reinforced the establishment narrative and suppressed views and evidence that ran contrary to it.

Content from the article:

"Take, for example, Martin Kulldorff, an epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Kulldorff often tweeted views at odds with U.S. public health authorities and the American left, the political affiliation of nearly the entire staff at Twitter. 

 Here is one such tweet, from March 15, 2021, regarding vaccination.

Internal emails show an “intent to action” by a Twitter moderator, saying Kulldorff’s tweet violated the company’s Covid-19 misinformation policy and claimed he shared “false information.” 

But Kulldorff’s statement was an expert’s opinion—one that happened to be in line with vaccine policies in numerous other countries. 

Yet it was deemed “false information” by Twitter moderators merely because it differed from CDC guidelines. After Twitter took action, Kulldorff’s tweet was slapped with a “misleading” label and all replies and likes were shut off, throttling the tweet’s ability to be seen and shared by others, a core function of the platform."

Impressions

Tech companies are being pressured in multiple dimensions; 

1. Lower demand and a decade of overhiring resulted in an unprecedented number of layoffs
2. New technologies built from the ground up threaten the status quo
3. Gaps, chasms, and crevices of trust between platforms and users

At the core of their existence, they are doomed.  Trust is currency and the once defenders of 'free speech' are losing it.

 

Greg, Why is This Important to the Office Technology Realm?

Trust.  Trust holds all of us together - from sales, to support and from prospect to client.  Trust that what we see with our own eyes is true. Trust that what we read and consume is as clean of agenda or presents itself as an opinion when it is.

More importantly, we inherently trust an institution's mission statement and core values, and when it tells us they are telling the truth.  The social media platforms did just that and now we trust everyone a little less.  Well, not everyone.  My unscientific study reveals that although business is good, over 95% of this business is with existing customers, not net new.  

Could this have something to do with trust? 

In the post-fear-of-Covid world, trust is currency, and unfortunately, social media platforms have cultured a distrustful environment.  

"UFOs are swamp fog."

"The riot is basically peaceful."

"Masks save lives."

"The CIA had nothing to do with JFK's assassination."

"Twitter does not censor in a support of a narrative."

One more straw.

But they don't get off scot-free.  Social media companies are businesses with financial goals - they are not charitable organizations.  Their only responsibility is to increase profit, and stockholder value.   It is up to the audience to discern fact from fiction - indeed, it is more harmful to relinquish this responsibility than it is to lie and censor differing views.

Professional selling in Office Technology is about the mutual trust between you and your prospects. When the world is full of covert agendas and shady motivations, building and maintaining trust is more difficult.  Not impossible, just a bit more challenging.

At the end, when the future looks back, hubris not turbulent times, will lay claim to the destruction of these technology social engineers.

Diana Rigg, Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, as Olenna Tyrell on Game of Thrones