Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Twitter Exec Reveals 2019 Rule Change Made To Accommodate Trump's Racist Tweet–And AOC's Reaction Is All Of Us

Twitter screenshots of Anika Collier Navaroli and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
@Acyn/Twitter

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez questioned Anika Collier Navaroli who testified that Twitter got rid of their rule prohibiting anti-immigrant tweets to accommodate then-President Trump.

New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shut down complaints about anti-conservative bias on Twitter after a former Twitter executive testified the social media platform got rid of their rule prohibiting racist and anti-immigrant tweets to accommodate former President Donald Trump's racist tweets demanding four Democratic congresswomen of color "go back" to where they came from.

According to Anika Collier Navaroli, who worked on Twitter's content moderation team when Trump issued the tweet in 2019, Twitter included an example of using the phrase "go back to your country" in a list of banned language against immigrants.


Navaroli said following Trump's tweet, her team "made the recommendation that for the first time, we find Donald Trump in violation of Twitter's policies and use the public interest interstitial."

Navaroli said she brought her recommendation to Del Harvey, Twitter's vice president of trust and safety, and confirmed to Ocasio-Cortez Harvey "overrode" her assessment, meaning "the trope, ‘go back where you came from,’ was removed from the content moderation guidance as an example."

You can watch their exchange in the video below.

Ocasio-Cortez, who was one of the four members of the multicultural progressive "Squad" Trump was attacking, was livid to hear Twitter had bent its rules to accommodate Trump and allowed racism to live unaccounted for on the platform.

She asked:

"So Twitter changed their own policy after the president violated it in order to potentially accommodate this tweet?”

After Navaroli replied "Yes," Ocasio-Cortez said:

“So much for bias against the right-wing on Twitter.”

Many have echoed Ocasio-Cortez's criticisms and praised her line of questioning.




Conservative complaints about censorship on social media took center stage during the Republican-led House Oversight Committee hearing, which was held to discuss Twitter's handling of a New York Post story about the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop.

Twitter executives said they made a mistake by temporarily blocking the story, which Republicans felt vindicated their claims the platform censored the story to protect Democratic interests and which Ocasio-Cortez referred to as "an abuse of public resources, an abuse of public time."

Conspiracy theories about Hunter Biden's business dealings have been a favorite in conservative circles for some time.

The 2020 New York Post investigation published emails suggesting Hunter Biden introduced his father, President Joe Biden, to an executive with Burisma Holdings–a Ukrainian gas firm–in 2015.

The story received criticism for shaky reporting and Twitter's attempts to block the news outlet from sharing the story received criticism from Republicans who accused the tech giant of censoring conservative voices.

In 2018, while still in office, Trump claimed that Twitter is "SHADOW BANNING prominent Republicans" in response to a news story that alleged accounts owned by Republicans were showing up in a general search of the website but not automatically populating when typing their names in the drop-down bar.

Twitter later issued a response, attributing the issue to a platform bug.

More from People/donald-trump

Screenshots from @harryl1223's TikTok video
@harryl1223/TikTok

Cynthia Erivo Praised For Calmly De-Escalating Tense Confrontation With Agitated Man Outside London Theater

Cynthia Erivo continues to show just how talented she is as she recently debuted her one-woman production of Dracula in London's West End.

Earlier this week, Erivo appeared in the backstage lot to speak to fans after one of her shows. But before she stepped out, an altercation had occurred, and a man was making a scene.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots of Nancy Mace and Tim Walz
@Acyn/X

Tim Walz Has Epic Clapback After Nancy Mace Asks Him To Define 'Woman' During Congressional Hearing

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz had a splendid response after South Carolina Republican Representative Nancy Mace attempted to claim that his support for transgender women would bar him from recognizing fraud in his state.

Walz's appearance at the hearing comes amid conservative claims—offered with little supporting evidence—that Somali-run childcare centers in Minnesota improperly received public funds intended to support childcare for low-income families. Subsequently, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the FBI expanded their presence in Minnesota as federal authorities froze childcare funding statewide.

Keep ReadingShow less
Padma Lakshmi (left) reacts during an appearance on The Daily Show as Vice President JD Vance (right) stands with his wife, Second Lady Usha Vance (right).
@thedailyshow/Instagram; Antoine Gyori - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

Padma Lakshmi Hilariously Roasts JD Vance And His Wife Over Atrocious 'Ranch Dressing' Meal

Padma Lakshmi served up a top-tier helping of judgment for Vice President JD Vance’s questionable meal choice for his wife, Usha Vance.

The second lady, Usha Vance (née Chilukuri), is an American lawyer who made history as the first Indian American and first Hindu to hold the role. Her parents immigrated to the United States from Andhra Pradesh, India.

Keep ReadingShow less
Chloe Kim; P!nk
NBC

Olympian Chloe Kim Just Gushed To P!nk About Loving One Of Her Songs—Except It's Not A P!nk Song

Most of us have gotten our pop queens mixed up a time or two, but few of us have done so on national television—while talking to the pop queen in question.

But Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim sure has!

Keep ReadingShow less
Elmo; Zohran Mamdani
Paul Zimmerman/WireImage/Getty Images; Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images

Elmo Just Asked His Followers 'Where Have You Been?'—And Zohran Mamdani Had The Purest Response

Elmo, the furry red childlike monster from Sesame Street designed by Caroly Wilcox, began his life as a generic "baby monster" background filler in the 1979-1980 season of the long-running children's television program.

Originally having a gruff voice supplied by various puppeteers, Elmo found his falsetto-voiced, loving persona when Kevin Clash took over in 1985. Elmo was transformed into a three-and-a-half-year-old character designed to connect with the show's audience of preschoolers.

Keep ReadingShow less