Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Sen. Cory Gardner goes after Twitter CEO on Trump, Iran censorship for 'Holocaust denial'

Sen. Cory Gardner goes after Twitter CEO on Trump, Iran censorship for 'Holocaust denial'

Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., questioned Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing with tech giants Wednesday, on how the social media company dictates what it will and will not censor on their platform.

“Mr. Dorsey, do you believe the Holocaust really happened?” Gardner asked the Twitter CEO.

“Yes,” responded Dorsey.

“So you would agree that someone who says the Holocaust may not have happened is spreading misinformation?” Gardner pressed.

“Yes,” Dorsey answered again.

Gardner voiced his surprise at Dorsey’s answers and cited tweets posted by Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that have suggested the Holocaust never happened.


“It’s strange to me that you’ve flagged the tweets from the president, but haven’t hidden the Ayatollah’s tweets on Holocaust denial and calls to wipe Israel off the map,” Gardner said.

The Colorado senator was referring to previous tweets posted by the president that were flagged by Twitter.

The social media outlet first flagged a tweet by President Trump in May after he claimed that mail-in ballots are fraudulent. Twitter then slapped the tweet with a warning label that advised that the post had "potentially misleading information about voting processes."

Trump has had several tweets regarding coronavirus and mail-in voting flagged by Twitter in the months leading up to election.

Dorsey told the hearing panel Wednesday that Khamenei has had his account flagged on previous occasions along with other world leaders, but said that his tweet claiming the Holocaust did not occur did not fall into their categories of “misinformation.”

“We have a policy against misinformation in three categories, which are manipulated media; public health, specifically COVID; and civic integrity, election interference and voter suppression,” Dorsey explained to Gardner. “That is all we have a policy on for misleading information.”

“We do not have a policy or enforcement for any other types of misleading information that you’re mentioning,” he added.


Trump has had at least one tweet removed by the media company for violating Twitter’s policy against glorifying violence, when the president tweeted “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” following unrest that occured after the death of George Floyd earlier this summer.

Gardner did not mention any of the content in Trump’s tweets that were flagged by Twitter, but condemned their use of censorship as bias.

“With your answers on the ayatollah and others, I just don’t understand how Twitter can claim to want a world of less hate and misinformation while you simultaneously let the kind of content that the ayatollah has tweeted out flourish on the platform, including from other world leaders,” Gardner told Dorsey. “It’s no wonder that Americans are concerned about politically motivated content moderation at Twitter.”

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai also faced tough questioning from senators as the Trump administration have contested the legal shields afforded to social media companies under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Trump along with GOP officials believe social media outlets are attributing to bias against and censorship of Republicans.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Spain in Ecstasy: "We Feel Unbeatable, We Taught the Whole World a Lesson"
Spain and UK Dismantle Gibraltar Border Following Landmark Schengen Integration Treaty
Hungary's "Puppet" President to Be Ousted, Orbán Fumes: "Democracy Is Dead"
Forget Tinder: The Surprising Platform Where People Find Love
Harvard Astrophysicist to Lead U.S. Scientific Advisory on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena
Emergency Sirens Activated Across Bahrain as Interior Ministry Issues Shelter Directives
World Cup Visitors Turn American Big-Box Stores Into Souvenir Stops
Netflix Weighs Always-On Channels, Bundles and Short-Form Video
Passenger Is Pulled Partly Outside Ryanair Jet After Window Fails Mid-Flight
The AI Invoice Shock: Layoffs Didn't Save Managers Money — They Cost Them More
Concern: Sexually Transmitted Bacterium Among Men Develops Antibiotic Resistance
Passenger Partially Pulled Out of Ryanair Jet After Cabin Window Fails Mid-Flight
Severe Heatwave Drives Dangerous Ground-Level Ozone Pollution Across Two Thirds of European Union
The Physical and Electronic Barriers Disrupting Domestic Wireless Networks
France and Morocco Open World Cup Quarter-Finals as Collina Defends Refereeing
Tech Pulse: The Future of AI and Screen Culture
Global News Briefing: Escalating Geopolitical Tensions and Corporate Shakeups
Global News Brief: Escalating Conflicts, Public Health Crises, and World Cup Drama
French Court Allows Le Pen to Run for Presidency, but with an Electronic Tag: "I Will Appeal, and I Will Run"
$1.4 Trillion: The Lawsuit That Could Crush Meta
Europe's Growing Struggle with Extreme Heat and Air Conditioning
Anthropic Reengineers Agentic Architecture to Shift Autonomous Workplace Automation to the Cloud
Logic Flaw in Windows 11 Permission Architecture Silently Consumes Hundreds of Gigabytes of Local Storage
Apple Advances Late-Stage Operating Systems with Fourth Beta Deployments
Global Crisis Alert: Escalating Middle East Tensions and UK Political Upheaval
Japanese Technology Firm Fujitsu Launches Advanced Artificial Intelligence Tool for Corporate Disclosures
South Africa Officially Launches Nationwide Campaign for Highly Contested Local Government Elections
United Kingdom Commits Additional Funding for Unexploded Ordnance Clearance in Laos
Singapore Announces Stringent New Greenhouse Gas Regulations for Commercial Cooling Systems
Cambodia and Thailand Hold High-Level Border Security Talks at United Nations Headquarters
Myanmar Military Government and China Sign Major Agreement to Upgrade Media and Cultural Cooperation
Knife Attack at Swiss Train Station Leaves Three Injured in Suspected Act of Domestic Terrorism
Transnational Extortion Gang Threatens Canadian Police With Army of One Thousand Armed Operatives
Australia Imposes Forty-Two-Day Quarantine on Cruise Ship Passengers Following Deadly Hantavirus Outbreak
International Monetary Fund Unlocks Seven Hundred Million United States Dollars for Sri Lanka Following Economic Reforms
Australia Launches Record One Point Four Billion Dollar Lawsuit Against Chemical Giant 3M Over Contamination
China and Canada Foreign Ministers Meet in Ottawa in Effort to Stabilize Strained Diplomatic Ties
Indonesia Demands Urgent United Nations Security Council Reform Amid Escalating Global Conflicts
Extreme Weather Patterns Trigger Severe Drought in Madagascar and Destructive Flooding in East Africa
Indian State of Karnataka Faces Political Upheaval as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Abruptly Resigns
Philippines and Japan Reaffirm Defense Ties as Crucial for Indo-Pacific Regional Stability
Norway Joins French Nuclear Deterrence Initiative in Major Shift for European Security Architecture
Global Critical Mineral Alliances Expand as Western Nations Move to Counter Chinese Supply Dominance
United States Imposes Fifty Percent Tariffs on Mexican Steel and Aluminum Ahead of Trade Pact Review
European Union and China Head Toward Major Trade Conflict Over Clean Technology Exports
United States Economic Growth Severely Downgraded to One Point Six Percent as Stagflation Fears Mount
World Health Organization Warns Central African Ebola Epidemic is Outpacing Containment Efforts
United States Treasury Department Conditions Sanctions Relief on Reopening of the Strait of Hormuz
Iranian Air Defenses Intercept and Destroy United States Military Drone Over Bushehr Province
Iranian Armed Forces Launch Ballistic Missiles Toward Unspecified Targets Prompting Regional Condemnation
×