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    “Gross Betrayal of the Free Speech Promises”: Twitter Slammed for Daily Wire Documentary Decision

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    The Daily Wire ripped into Twitter and its leadership on Thursday after the platform for what they argued was an incorrect labeling of Matt Walsh’s famous documentary “What is a Woman,” which Twitter initially labeled “hate speech” because of “misgendering” in the movie.

    The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh drew attention to that on Twitter, saying, “Read this thread. We are streaming “What Is A Woman” free for all on Twitter tonight. Despite signing an agreement with us, Twitter now says they will label the film hate speech and suppress it. This is a gross betrayal of the free speech promises they have made to their users.”

    Continuing, Walsh went on to say both that the Daily Wire would be posting the video despite the attempts at censorship of it, saying, “Twitter wants us to censor the film if we’re going to post it. We will not do that. It will still stream tonight, uncensored, at 8 ET no matter what. We’ll find out if Twitter is truly a free speech platform or not. We are putting the ball back in their court.”

    He then noted that the supposed violation the Daily Wire was being accused of is the same thing that led Elon to buy Twitter in the first place after the Babylon Bee was censored, saying, “Censorship around “misgendering” is one of the primary catalysts that drove @elonmusk to buy Twitter in the first place. If this is allowed to stand, it will all be for nothing.”

    Daily Wire CEO Jeremy Boering also drew attention to the suppression of the documentary in a Twitter thread, describing what happened and why.

    Despite the outcry, the film was initially labeled “hate speech” and had its distribution limited by the platform because of that, so the video could not be retweeted and distribution of it was suppressed. However, the restriction has since been lifted:

    Elon later quote tweeted the video, saying “Every parent should watch this” and “Consenting adults should do whatever makes them happy, provided it does not harm others, but a child is not capable of consent, which is why we have laws protecting minors.”

    He did not say why he initially let the video be suppressed and restricted. Initally he said there was a mistake, telling Boering “This was a mistake by many people at Twitter. It is definitely allowed. Whether or not you agree with using someone’s preferred pronouns, not doing so is at most rude and certainly breaks no laws. I should note that I do personally use someone’s preferred pronouns, just as I use someone’s preferred name, simply from the standpoint of good manners. However, for the same reason, I object to rude behavior, ostracism or threats of violence if the wrong pronoun or name is used.”

    Despite that claim from Elon, the video was still initially suppressed. Leading to people questioning why Elon bought the platform if he was just going to run it the same way as before.

    Whatever the reason, the suppression was eventually fixed after much anger and outcry and Elon started commenting on tweets as a form of what looked like damage control. For example, tweeted “Fixed” when the restrictions were lifted. That was in response to a tweet from an account saying, “So disappointing… This is terrible news for free speech on this platform. The “What Is A Woman?” Documentary was a major inspiration to me to start speaking out on my detransition experience. How many other kids are out there waiting for that spark?! @elonmusk @JeremyDBoreing @MattWalshBlog”

    He also said, in response to a tweet from Matt Walsh telling people how to share the video, “Works now. Only limit is that it will not be placed next to advertising.”

    In another series of tweets he said “We’re updating the system tomorrow so that those who follow
    @realDailyWire will see this in their feed, but it won’t be recommended to non-followers (nor will any advertising be associated with it)” and “Commenting & deliberate sharing will be allowed. Sensitive content just won’t be pushed to people unless they ask for it or a friend sends it to them.”

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