In the world of politics, accusations are often made without any factual basis. The modern GOP seems to be committed to the idea that Twitter was actively trying to suppress Republicans to help Joe Biden win the election. However, there is zero proof of this claim. In fact, Twitter has been pushing back on anything that suggests political bias and reviewing things based on whether or not they legitimately broke the rules.
Despite this, Republicans continue to insist that Twitter unfairly benefited Democrats. They even held a ridiculous hearing on the matter, which highlighted that Twitter did not try to help Democrats. Instead, they bent over backwards to give Republicans extra chances after they broke the rules, even when the Trump White House demanded Twitter block his critics.
It’s worth noting that if Democrats had held the same kind of hearing regarding Fox News and its editorial choices, many people (not just Republicans) would rightly be up in arms about the 1st Amendment implications of demanding a media company explain its editorial choices.
Separately, in 2021, the Federal Election Commission conducted an investigation to see if Twitter’s handling of the Hunter Biden laptop story represented an illegal “in-kind contribution” to the Biden campaign. The FEC concluded that there was no evidence of Twitter working with the Biden campaign.
Interestingly, in the ongoing lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News, it was revealed that Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of Fox News’ parent company, provided Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, with Fox confidential information about Biden’s ads, along with debate strategy. This potentially constitutes an illegal in-kind contribution to the Trump campaign.
It’s frustrating to see Republicans making unsubstantiated claims about what companies are doing when it turns out that it’s exactly what the GOP itself is doing. Each accusation is more of a confession, both about what levels they’ll stoop to and their inability to comprehend that the other side isn’t so lacking in ethics and wouldn’t stoop to the same level.
In the digital age, social media and 24-hour news cycles have changed the way in which we process and disseminate factual information. However, a recent trend of alleged partisan bias on social media platforms has led to concerns over the accuracy and lack of objectivity in news reporting. In this regard, the recent allegations that Twitter may be supporting Democrats and Rupert Murdoch’s actual support for Trump serve as an apt example of the distinction between political fiction and reality.
On one hand, Twitter has taken significant steps to give Democrats favorable treatment. For instance, accusations state that Twitter has shadow banned Republican voices while amplifying liberal voices on its platform. Moreover, the platform’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, has hosted conversations with a variety of high-profile Democrats including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Kamala Harris. Additionally, Twitter has been accused of manipulating search results to favor Democrats and silencing conservative voices, thus raising questions of bias ahead of the 2020 presidential campaign. However, these allegations remain unproven and Twitter has repeatedly denied them.
On the other hand, there is Rupert Murdoch’s support of Donald Trump, which underscores the stark contrast between political fiction and reality. Murdoch’s links to the Republican Party date back to the Reagan years, and in 2016, Murdoch’s Fox News cabal and Wall Street Journal endorsed Trump for President. The Murdoch media stable has long been known to push for right-leaning agendas, and the media mogul himself donated $3 million to the Republican Governors Association. Further, Murdoch has shown continued support for Trump, including regular appearances and interviews on Fox News networks.
The comparison of the two highlights the importance of recognizing fiction from reality, especially in the highly politicized world of social media and 24-hour news. For search engine optimization (SEO) purposes, media outlets must ensure that their sources are factual and objective, especially when political bias is concerned.
In conclusion, Twitter’s alleged assistance to Democrats versus Rupert Murdoch’s actual support for Trump serves as an essential example of the opposing forces used by different media outlets in today’s world of political interference. To ensure objectivity and accuracy in content creation, media organizations must differentiate between political fiction and political reality, especially in an increasingly politicized world.