The Kind Face of Censorship - Twitter Will Start Hiding Tweets That “Detract From the Conversation”
What does all this mean exactly?
"Are you the sort of person who annoys, frustrates, and offends lots of people on Twitter—but manages to avoid technically violating any of its policies on abuse or hate speech?" (If one isn't "technically violating" the rules, that means (s)he is not violating those rules, right?), "[w]hen Twitter’s software decides that a certain user is 'detract[ing] (define "detract?") from the conversation,' all of that user’s tweets will be hidden from search results and public conversations until their reputation improves." (How is one's "reputation" determined? What's the criteria? If not violating the "rules," then what's the basis of one's "reputation?") "And they won’t know that they’re being muted in this way; Twitter says it’s still working on ways to notify people and help them get back into its good graces." (Why not reach out in the first instance and notify the user of their diminished reputation and the objectives reasons affecting it?)
"How will Twitter determine that a user is 'detracting from the conversation'? (sic) Its software will look at a large number of signals, Harvey said, such as how often an account is the subject of user complaints and how often it’s blocked and muted versus receiving more positive interactions such as favorites and retweets. The company will not be looking at the actual content of tweets for this feature—just the types of interactions that a given account tends to generate. For instance, Harvey said, 'If you send the same message to four people, and two of them blocked you, and one reported you, we could assume, without ever seeing what the content of the message was, that was generally a negative interaction.' "
Does anyone else see the problem with this? Most Tweets are sent publicly, so any number of people "similarly situated" could collude to block, mute, or complain. Simply put, if someone doesn't like your politics, your race, ethnicity, your Middle Eastern Location, or your opinions related to events in such Middle Eastern countries, etc., they need to merely complain, mute, or block then, viola, your tweets are hidden and you don't even know it, and maybe, at some unknown point in the future, some Twitter moderator will tell you, "Oh, by the way, you're shadow banned. I'm not sure why you're shadow banned, but you must be saying things that someone doesn't like. You're not breaking any rules, but that doesn't matter because people don't like or agree with what you're saying so you're shadow banned. I don't know how you can fix it because we don't actually read the Tweets in question, so maybe just say just the opposite of what you've been saying regardless of whether or not you agree with what you're saying (Winston Smith?)."
Okay, Einstein, let's parse this out: So, one is deemed to be "annoying, frustrating, and offensive" to lots of people on Twitter" (mind you by NOT violating any rules) so Twitter, merely based on the sheer number of blocks, mutes, complaints (to which there is no rule violation remember?) simply "vanishes" your Tweets. You're "erased" simply because users (or multiple users tied to a specific "special interest group") decide that they just don't agree with what you're saying? Or, that you write in run-on sentences? Or, that you use a comma gun in your posts? Or, that you're critical of a certain Middle Eastern Country?
"In the meantime, their tweets will still be visible to their followers as usual and will still be able to be retweeted by others. They just won’t show up in conversational threads or search results by default." And, ladies and gentlemen, this handy little feature conceals the duplicitous censorship from the user and his/her friends so no one might become the wiser.
Welcome to the New World!