Nomiki Konst writes: In 2010, when the countries of Egypt, Tunisia and Libya shut down the Internet during their revolutions, democracies around the globe publicly condemned their governments. Today, as North Korea, China and Iran continue to block access to Twitter and Facebook, our government has labeled their actions as human rights violations. The modern world has come to rely on the Internet and the free press as a democratic tool, giving citizens a position in public discourse. The value of these social media tools is so vast that the U.N. has condemned states that deny the Internet — regardless of reason — through its International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
So it should be a shock to Americans that recently in our own country, a grassroots hashtag being used to debate the stances of one of our presidential candidates was shut down. But it was not shut down by the U.S. government, but rather by Twitter itself. The same Twitter that lobbied for net neutrality and to keep Twitter alive around the world. And now that same Twitter has promoted #SaySomethingGoodAboutTwitter, to counter the criticism it faced for censoring its utility last week.
Twitter has become the front line of the debate over free speech. Should the company ban hateful speech? Bigotry? Sexism? Should it shut down or just monitor the accounts of terrorists and drug lords? Against much public pressure, Twitter has chosen a liberal stance and trusted its community to draw the line on acceptable behaviors.
So why this sudden reversal? Why would Twitter shut down a grassroots hashtag that was leading a discussion regarding a Democratic primary? The answer lies in that old saying, “follow the money.”
Three days after Omid Kordestani, the executive chairman of Twitter, hosted a maxed-out fundraiser for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, a Black Lives Matter activist’s notable protest at another fundraiser inspired #WhichHillary — to open debate about Clinton’s often conflicting record on issues. #WhichHillary exploded within hours of the protest and rose to the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter. Clinton, who canceled several financial industry fundraisers recently (most likely to prevent a Wall Street optics dilemma) has lately been relying on donations from the liberal-leaning tech community.
All this occurred within days of the South Carolina primary. As South Carolina voters were making up their minds, this massive campaign challenging Clinton’s history with the African-American community became the No. 1 most discussed topic on Twitter. Yet it came to a sudden halt and was pushed off the trending topics list as its momentum kept building. (And the hashtag’s creator’s account was even suspended.)
