New York Post

Now the Left Wants A Twitter Ad Boycott

- ADRIANA COHEN

WHEN it comes to policing free speech, Democrats are experts in hypocrisy and double standards. They feign “outrage” over alleged misinforma­tion, conspiracy theories and other repugnant speech when it hurts their side but convenient­ly turn a blind eye when it benefits them by weakening their political opponents. Take the latest advertiser boycott happening at Twitter. Scores of socalled woke advertiser­s and cowardly corporatio­ns like food company General Mills, Oreo maker Mondelez Internatio­nal Inc., Volkswagen, Pfizer and other brands have halted their advertisin­g with the social-media network at the behest of activist groups, since free speech enthusiast Elon Musk took over the platform.

“We’re continuing our call to companies to pause ALL advertisin­g on Twitter,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson tweeted recently.

“Hate speech and disinforma­tion have gone through the roof since Musk’s acquisitio­n. Until he makes this a safe space for all communitie­s, companies cannot in good conscience put their money behind Twitter.”

Johnson added, “In our meeting,

Elon Musk made a commitment that he would do his part to protect the integrity of these midterms.

But just days later, he fired employees at Twitter who oversee election mis- and disinforma­tion. So we called on companies to pause all ad spending immediatel­y.”

Of course, these same corporatio­ns and special-interest groups had no issue when misinforma­tion and unfounded conspiracy theories ran wild on Twitter — for years — when its prior CEO, Jack Dorsey, ran the almighty platform.

Under Dorsey, the five-alarm disinforma­tion campaign known as the Russia Collusion Hoax that Democrats waged against former President Donald Trump was allowed to flourish. Without evidence, scores of Twitter users, including Democratic lawmakers and the media, were permitted to falsely accuse the former Republican president of colluding with the Kremlin to steal the 2016 election from Hillary Clinton.

Those lies and tin-foil-hat conspiracy theories amplified on Twitter were based on a bogus dossier commission­ed by the Democratic National Committee and Clinton’s 2016 campaign and were debunked by Congressio­nal investigat­ions and the (2017-2019) special counsel Robert Mueller investigat­ion, which found no evidence of collusion.

“The investigat­ion did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinate­d with the Russian government in its election interferen­ce activities,” stated the Mueller report.

Did any of the current crop of “woke” corporatio­ns and left-wing activist groups call for advertisin­g boycotts back then? Or at minimum, did any publicly condemn those responsibl­e for spreading a massive disinforma­tion and smear campaign against a former duly elected president that harmed our democracy by sowing distrust in US elections? Of course not.

Under Dorsey, Twitter’s leftwing content monitors were censoring conservati­ves en masse, including shadow-banning several top GOP lawmakers on the platform. And in October 2020, Twitter also spiked the New York Post’s factual reporting on Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop and shady overseas business dealings, helping Joe Biden get elected.

Twitter also took the extra tyrannical step of shuttering The Post’s Twitter account for several weeks

‘ It’s all about Democrats’ unquenchab­le speech.’ desire to control

at a critical time leading up to a major election, violating longstandi­ng norms surroundin­g a “free press.”

Again, did these “woke” corporatio­ns band together like they’re doing now and suspend their Twitter advertisin­g in protest? Nope!

But now, with Musk, who has publicly criticized the Democratic Party on Twitter and recently encouraged independen­ts to vote for Republican­s in the latest midterm elections, the “woke” mob is pressuring companies to yank their advertisin­g revenue from the platform.

“Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertiser­s, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists. Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America,” Musk tweeted recently.

Bottom line: The one-sided advertisin­g boycotts are political. It’s all about Democrats’ unquenchab­le desire to control speech and public discourse to maintain power. Anyone who gets in their way pays a price.

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