HERE’S A DOLLAR, BUY A CLUE: The Columbia Journalism Review pushed a piece today that says “Facebook and Twitter still trying to convince conservatives they aren’t biased.” The story goes on to say that the social media and data business giants are “bending over backwards”:
“That accusation keeps coming up, and both Facebook and Twitter seem almost desperate to prove it’s not the case, to the point where they keep meeting with conservative groups and Trump supporters in an attempt to show good faith. This process is fraught with complications, however, since a) it’s not clear right-wing critics actually have a case for making such a claim, and b) bending over backwards to prove they aren’t biased has blown up in Facebook’s face in the not-so-distant past, and in the process arguably made the situation worse.”
IMHO, this is utter rubbish, in fact misses what’s really going on. Nowhere does either Facebook, Google or the CJR ask about other practices many Instapundit readers have experienced: unfounded removal of “offensive” material; shadow-banning; or account suspension (known as “Facebook jail”).
Until Facebook, Twitter and the media who write about them stop and address what’s going on, the companies are going to plunge into a death spiral, and the media critics who fail to see shadow-banning as a real problem (or even know about it) are going to become less and less trusted or relevant.
It’s as if the Titanic were taking on water and the Captain is boasting about how nice the table settings look.