In a recent interview on the Joe Rogan Podcast, the CEO of twitter Jack Dorsey and global lead of legal, policy, trust and safety Vijaya Gadde were interviewed by Joe Rogan and Tim Pool, a right wing independent journalist. The fact that an interview of this magnitude took place on a free youtube podcast says a lot about the changing media landscape, but that is an issue for another time.
In the interview, Twitter was accused of furthering their own political agenda and ideology in the enactment and enforcement of their platform rules, namely banning hate speech and the harassment of users. It is fairly easy to recognize that Twitter, and most new technology platforms and services for that matter, lean left in their ideologies and outlooks. The issue boils down to whether Twitter is a private service provider who are able to regulate content creation in ways that they see fit, or whether they have reached the level of a public service for public discourse where everyone should have the uncensored right to free speech.
Right wing journalist Tim Pool made the argument that as an American entity that has enormous influence on elections in the country, through online lobbying and foreign involvement in the political process, they should conform to the rules of the United States when it comes to free speech. He feels that by censoring those who are proponents of free speech, and who may engage in hate speech, Twitter is unfairly limiting the viewpoints of those on the right.
I feel that most of us will have fairly similar views on hate speech and will side with Twitter in their position that they will not allow the promotion of violence against, threatening, or harassing other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease.
I feel that as a private platform that is not a public right but rather a privilege, it is fair for Twitter to monitor and regulate behaviour and content how they see fit. In order to foster productive conversation on pressing topics, one must have the ability to speak freely regarding their viewpoint, however I do not think this extends to harassing or abusing others on the basis of their viewpoints.