It's the night before the election and I find myself asking - did the leaders of the most powerful tech companies in America, those who are often praised as geniuses on the cutting edge of technology, seriously not foresee what seems like a totally predictable situation?
But first, given today's political climate and bias seemingly everywhere, you should where I approach these topics from.
This Isn't Another Report From An Outsider, Looking At Silicon Valley Like It's Some Kind Of Alien World or Magical Land...
I was born and raised here, worked in tech since I was 15 and photoshopped a drivers license to say I was 18 (remote work at what was the biggest ISP at the time) - I'm in my 30's now so I can publicly confess this.
The goal isn't to make you think less of Silicon Valley - my mood is a lot closer to someone confronting a friend who needs to break an addiction, this is an intervention.
Politically, Sorry To Say - I'm Not On Your Team...
I don't get how it works out this way, but somehow conservative friends say I'm too liberal, and liberal friends say I'm too conservative.
A better way of looking it may be to say I'm also not against your team, somehow maintaining friendships with people on both ends of the political spectrum hasn't been a challenge even as the country becomes more divided.
Before they deleted a single tweet, suspended a single account, blocked the sharing of the first URL killed a single YouTube channel, for political reasons.
Alright, that introduction was to properly frame what comes next - for the reasons above I'm uniquely qualified to dive in head first - favoring no one, and sugarcoating nothing.
Let's take a closer look at what is happening now, in a 'cause and effect' format.
What Happened (the Short Version): Silicon Valley Crossed The Line This 2020 Election Year, Censoring Content That Was Neither Hate Speech or False Information - Only Because They Didn't Like It, For Personal Reasons Only.
Note - the tech companies agree with that statement, it isn't just my opinion. In fact, they always end up on the same page as me, following a 'review' of their actions that lasts for a couple days and ends with them reversing their decision.
The more this happened the more impulsive and emotional they began to appear. While eventually reversing their poor decisions, after the review takes a couple days the damage is already done, and you see how sloppy some of these companies are from the first step to the clean-up that follows.
This is where everything went to hell - when it is now commonplace for these companies to say
'oops, looks like our staff made some irrational choices after losing control of their emotions - we are reversing the actions taken' - I hope the companies involved discuss this in more honest terms privately than they do publicly, because they seem to pull the same trick every time, pretending some new bit of information they didn't have before just came to light, and now they see where they went wrong. This is never really the case.
The best example happens to be the most recent as well - the story about Hunter Biden's laptop data published by the NY Post, twitter deleted all tweets about it, suspended the publication's account, and added the URL to the story to their official blacklist. typically reserved for virus infected links.
But here's where it gets REAL CREEPY - Twitter staff began creating their own stories about the data, apparently so emotionally attached to the Joe Biden family that they invented a story about the data being obtained illegally, via hacking.
Problem is - not even the Bidens' were saying this!
Even worse - the NY Post article included that their source was a legally obtained laptop (left behind for months with bills unpaid at a computer repair shop.)
Let that sink in - Twitter ignored the real story of how the data was obtained, which was already right in front of them, and instead went with an excuse they created themselves - believing their version would help the Biden campaign the most.
While Twitter boldly scolded anyone attempting to share the story, giving them an error that they are not allowed to post it, Facebook also helped in the cover-up, but with a more covert 'throttling' method - where people can post it, but virtually no one sees it.
Another recent incident involves Twitter suspending Mitch McConnel's campaign account for "posting threats"... except the video he posted highlighted threats made against him.
If An Employee Anywhere Else Made A Mistake That Brought A Company This Much Bad PR, They Would Be Terminated...
Has anyone been terminated? None we know of, and honestly I picture these situations ending with a final pat on the back between allies working towards the same political goals.
The Hunter Biden/NY Post decision was reversed with what should be an
embarrassing explanation that from now on the 'hacked content guidelines' will only apply to hacked content.
They gave an equally cringeworthy response when
reversing Mitch McConnel's ban, basically saying
"Upon review we determined he was not posting threats from himself, to himself, which would be against the rules - but rather discussing the topic of threats, which is allowed." - I'm paraphrasing, but it truly is that ridiculous.
This is where things get scary, because you realize that none of the companies mentioned here have someone who offers raw, emotionless, rational opinions at the highest levels of leadership. Because the fact is, this clearly isn't worth doing, and somehow they still haven't caught on.
We Are Adults Capable Of Reading Anything Posted By Anyone, and Coming To Our Own Conclusions...
These tech giants have the power to do things that mankind has never done before. The tools they have at their fingertips would have been the ultimate fantasy of the world's past dictators and authorities.
For the first time in human history, those with this power can focus on a group or individual of their choosing, specifically selecting them among millions of people participating in the exchange and debate of ideas and opinions, and silence them instantly.
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| Senator Ted Cruz asks Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey "who the hell elected you and put you in charge of what the media are allowed to report and what the American people are allowed to hear?" at Senate Commerce Committee hearing last week. |
Imagine a rep from your phone company interrupting a call between you and a friend to let you know they find some of what you said to be very offensive and if it happens again, your phone number will be revoked.
Imagine you're watching Netflix, then the picture freezes - a voice begins speaking, saying that the staff at Netflix decided this would be a good moment to encourage you to read, you've watched enough reality tv trash.
The actions of these tech companies are equally disturbing!
Feeling entitled to this level of control over other adult's access to information feels like someone playing the role of a self-appointed god... but nobody prayed for this.
Is the power so intoxicating they're truly unable to see how ridiculous they look?
The Consequences: There is Now A New Block Of Voters Created By The Blacklash Silicon Valley Brought Upon Themselves. The New Issue Of Tech Companies Ruining The Internet And Violating Free Speech is Their #1 Issue.
"I'm as Liberal as it comes but it's clear the tech overloads have lost their minds. What liberals were saying they can't handle seeing some stupid republicans opinion online? I get excited when I see it and follow many of them just so I can reply to their posts it and tell them they're idiots" a user on Reddit says, summing things up perfectly.
This is how it's supposed to work no matter which side you are on.
So - Zuckerberg and everyone at Facebook, Jack and everyone at Twitter, Sundar and everyone at Google: Time To Take a Deep Breath, and Come To Terms With The Fact You've Been Doing Some Weird Things That No One Wants You To Do. Others in YOUR OWN Political Party Say They Do NOT Want Your Help...
So what could be going on in the minds of people working so hard to do something nobody wants?
“I've decided it's better that you don’t see any of it - for your own good" I can't think of a better example of the mentality of superiority that infects Silicon Valley at it's core.
They really believe their mind can handle seeing everything, but the risk of you not being smart enough to come to the right conclusion is just too high, with this they are revoking the option for you entirely.
Silicon Valley leaders have become so dangerously oblivious to how they appear from outside of their bubble, they don’t get that they now are the creepy person saying that to other adults.
This Resulting In A Massive Final BOOST For The Trump Campaign Is VERY Real Possibility - It's So Real, Biden Campaign Has Changed Their Plans Entirely...
Casual voters who would vote Trump if they made it to the polls, but also had a 50% chance of just not going through the trouble of voting - they're now fully committed to voting today. The idea of telling 'big tech' that they 'do not control freedom of speech in America' is the reason why.
Because the tech companies always favored 1 side in literally every case, they created a situation where voting for Trump is viewed as the only way for the average American to respond to Silicon Valley's latest actions.
Last week every news outlet was sharing data that concluded with something like 'Trump has 1 in 10 chance of winning'. Biden even announced his campaign was over and there would be no more Biden campaign events.
Then as the most recent censorship issue with the NY Post happened, everything started changing. Switching between channels today it seems like every newscast was talking about a 'Trump path to victory' and the statements about 'impossible odds' of a Trump win have seemingly disappeared.
The Biden campaign reacted by completely reversing their decision that the campaign was complete - they now have Biden back out on day 3 of a non-stop blitz of battleground states they considered won - but are now in play again.
In what may be the biggest political plot twist of my lifetime, Trump may win re-election, and Silicon Valley may be the sole factor that brought him across the finish line.
---------Author: Ross DavisSilicon Valley Newsroom / Twitter @RossFM
Ross@TechNews.City
Ross Davis is the Editor In Chief at the Crypto Press Association, and a journalist syndicated via both Apple News and Google News. For stories unrelated to Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency he will also now be found on TechNewsCITY!
