Fact-Checker And ‘Head Of Site Integrity’ For Twitter Has Long History Of Anti-Trump Tweets
Haley Kennington
Posted On May 27, 2020
Yoel Roth, Twitter’s “Head of Site Integrity” is no stranger to censoring and banning conservatives on the social media platform. As a matter of fact, he wakes up every day and spends his time doing just that – silencing others on the platform that he disagrees with for flimsy, questionable reasons.
Roth is in charge of rules being enforced on Twitter such as the warning label that was slapped onto two of President Trump’s tweets yesterday that warned of the dangers associated with mail-in balloting.
Adam Schiff says mail-in voting is perfectly “safe and secure” and we all know he’s a trustworthy individual.
“Voting by mail is safe and secure. Especially during a pandemic. But Trump continues to say – without evidence – it will lead to voter fraud and that it’s not “honest voting.” That’s. Simply. Not. True. RT if you support everyone being able to vote safely by mail in November.”
One Twitter user pointed out the obvious irony of Twitter’s latest implementation of rules against “misleading information”:
“So it’s admittedly isn’t actually “fact-checking” anything but labeling anything false if it could possibly fall under the vague descriptive umbrella “potentially misleading”. Pretty potentially misleading in itself, I’d say,” Twitter user Todd G (@DonutRsuscitate) commented.
So it came as no surprise when Roth’s history of posts bashing Trump on the platform resurfaced as he makes no effort to hide his hatred for our president. Twitter swears they remain politically neutral, but actions by the platform continually prove otherwise.
Roth’s older tweets revealing the executive’s political stance were memorialized on Twitter Tuesday evening by New York Post‘s Jon Levine via a group of screenshots.
In a subsequent tweet, Levine added screenshots of Roth’s education and the different roles he’s assumed since being hired by the social media company.
“Yoel is the Head of Site Integrity at Twitter. He leads the teams responsible for developing and enforcing Twitter’s rules on platform manipulation, spam and API access as well as Twitter’s investigation and attribution efforts related to state-backed information operations.”
Washington Post senior tech policy reporter and MSNBC contributor Tony Romm criticized Levine for posting the public information in tweet form on Roth.
“the Trump family is attacking a Twitter executive with the help of a NY Post staffer? reporter? unclear but nonetheless concerning”
Levine shot back saying the true concern is that Romm doesn’t understand how “publicly available facts work”.
As far back as 2011, tweets can be found of Roth’s political bias that show a clear hatred for the Republican party.
“Every time a cute boy uses an Android phone, I die inside” is the new “Every time a cute boy tells me he’s a Republican, I die inside,” Roth said in a 2011 tweet.
“I occasionally worry that my mother WASN’T joking all those times she told us she was voting Republican.”
Roth’s general disapproval of the Republican party shifted to a laser focus specifically zoned in on the Republican nominee for president in 2016, Donald Trump.
Just before the 2016 election, Roth bragged in a tweet he had just donated $100 to Hillary for America, adding, “We can’t fu*k around anymore.”
“I’m just saying, we fly over those states that voted for a racist tangerine for a reason,” tweeted on November 8th, 2016, just two days after Trump won the presidential election.
“Does the “head of site integrity” at Twitter have such contempt for America that he calls us “flyover states?” How about you, @jack? Do you have equally imperious disdain for every American living between San Francisco and New York as well? #FCCRegulateTwitter,” James Woods asked of Dorsey.
“I’m almost ready to stop dwelling on how my friends are complicit in the election of Donald Trump. Almost,” Roth tweeted a few weeks later.
On inauguration day 2017, Roth responded to another Twitter user who asked “How did we get here? #Inauguration” with, “Sanders protest voters, and racism.”
Later that same evening, Roth tweeted a photo of an anti-Trump protest on Valencia St in San Francisco with a heart emoji.
“Yes that person in the pink hat is clearly a bigger threat to your brand of feminism than ACTUAL NAZIS IN THE WHITE HOUSE.”, Roth said in a January 2017 tweet.
In another 2017 tweet, Roth refers to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as “a personality-free bag of farts.” Quality people Twitter has working for them. Cream of the crop, and so mature too!
With so many employees in control of what is allowed in the 2020 version of the public square, what will that look like moving forward?
Mark Dice tweeted on Wednesday morning, “Mark my words, if Trump loses in November, Twitter will soon ban his account. There’s no way they’ll allow him to have such a powerful voice once he’s out of office. There’s a lot at stake in November. More than most people know.”
Gary Coby replied to Dice saying, “Trend looks like they’ll try to ban him in Sept or Oct @MarkDice.”
Tuesday, Trump 2020 Campaign Manager Brad Parscale issued the following statement on Twitter’s latest policy:
“We always knew that Silicon Valley would pull out all the stops to obstruct and interfere with President Trump getting his message through to voters. Partnering with the biased fake news media ‘fact checkers’ is only a smoke screen Twitter is using to try to lend their obvious political tactics some false credibility. There are many reasons the Trump campaign pulled all our advertising from Twitter months ago, and their clear political bias is one of them.”
Sen. Marco Rubio weighed in on the subject as well tweeting, “The law still protects social media companies like @Twitter because they are considered forums not publishers. But if they have now decided to exercise an editorial role like a publisher then they should no longer be shielded from liability & treated as publishers under the law.”
Twitter has constantly gone back and forth between whether or not the platform is a forum or acts as a publisher depending on how it suits their needs.
In 2018, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) tweeted, “Twitter recently banned a Marine vet & conservative pundit, Jesse Kelly, without explanation. This follows Twitter’s ban of Canadian feminist Megan Murphy for her speech. @jack told Congress Twitter doesn’t target political speech. Is that true?”
Hawley added in a subsequent tweet, “The new Congress needs to investigate and find out. Twitter is exempt from liability as a “publisher” because it is allegedly “a forum for a true diversity of political discourse.” That does not appear to be accurate.”
Howley’s comments were referencing Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act which clearly defines the following: “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” It also states, “The Internet and other interactive computer services offer a forum for a true diversity of political discourse, unique opportunities for cultural development, and myriad avenues for intellectual activity.” Section 230 protects platforms like Twitter, Facebook and others from being held liable for allowing defamatory comments to remain on their site.
Raheem Kassam, co-host of The War Room discusses Twitter being a publisher, not a platform:
“Now that they are editorialising around @readDonaldTrump’s tweets, Twitter can no longer pretend it is a platform. It is a publisher.”
“Twitter decided to editorialize content, they are a publisher now, not a platform… Pain is coming,” Twitter user Lisa (@Rockprincess818) posted on Tuesday.
Wednesday morning, Trump was still very much focused on Big Tech censorship tweeting, “Twitter has now shown that everything we have been saying about them (and their other compatriots) is correct. Big action to follow!”
Twitter users immediately offered up Gab and Parler as alternatives, with Gab explaining President Trump’s move from Twitter to Gab would “shake up the social media landscape”.
“Mr. President if you start posting on alt tech platforms like http://Gab.com and others it would shake up the social media landscape. The way to beat Silicon Valley tyranny is not with government regulation, but with the free market. If you lead, millions will follow,” the social media alternative Gab replied.
“Parler doesnt pull the same tricks. I’m there… http://parler.com/timrunshismouth,” tweeted Tim Young, comedian and Fox 5 DC contributor replied.
Gab also posted a short clip in response to the president’s tweet that highlights Google CEO Tim Cook and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey saying free speech is a joke, and never a mission on their platforms.
The call to break up Silicon Valley’s social media monopoly may finally be answered. It’s safe to say Twitter may have made a mistake in falsely labeling President Trump’s tweets regarding legitimate mail-in ballot concerns as “misleading”. Trump’s tenacious, laser-sharp focus has been shifted to the biased censorship on social media platforms. It’s time for them to all decide if they operate as a platform or a publisher once and for all.
“#TwitterFactCheck is a sick joke, a contrivance to censor any facts or opinions the ever-cheating, repressing Left doesn’t want publicized. Jack seems to have about the same regard for the First Amendment and equal rights as the CCP does,” Philip Schuyler suggested Wednesday morning.
Personally, I like Dan Bongino’s idea here: “We should all spend the day quote-tweeting liberal lunatic tweets on this broken platform and demanding Twitter “fact-checks.” If Twitter wants to editorialize and become a publisher, then let’s hold them to account and make them show their cards.”
Mark Dice called Twitter fact-checkers out on a fake photo saturating the platform, tweeted out by rapper Ice Cube. Dice asked why there was no notice on a tweet where Ice Cube misidentified troll Jonathan Lee Riches as Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis cop fired for his role in the killing of George Floyd.
We’ll leave you with this nugget from 2018 (one month before Dorsey lied to Congress) of the Twitter CEO telling CNN’s Brian Stelter he “fully admits” to the majority of Twitter employees having a “left-leaning” bias after he was accused by President Trump and others of censoring and shadowbanning conservatives on the platform. If Twitter and other social media platforms continue acting as publishers, Congress must recognize them as such and treat them accordingly.
Haley Kennington is an investigative journalist, freelance writer and reporter, as well as a contributor for dozens of conservative news sites, blogs, and independent media outlets. Res & Archive Editor DW's 'What Is A Woman?'• Research Dir & Story Editor #1doc Amazon 2020: 'The Plot Against the President' @PATPmovie
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