MSNBC’s Ari Melber is warning that Twitter could move to censor stories ahead of an election — prompting conservatives to recall its handling of a sensitive 2020 story.
During a segment of his show Monday, Melber reacted to Telsa CEO Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter and discussed the ability social media platforms have to potentially influence an election.
“If you own all of Twitter, or Facebook, or what have you, you don’t have to explain yourself. You don’t even have to be transparent,” he said. “You could secretly ban one party’s candidate, or all of its candidates, all of its nominees.”
He continued, “Or you could just secretly turn down the reach of their stuff and turn up the reach of something else. And the rest of us might not even find out about it until after the election.”
“Elon Musk says this is all to help people because he is just a free speech, philosophically clear, open-minded helper,” he added.
Watch the video below:
“You could secretly ban one party’s candidate…secretly turn down the reach of their stuff and turn up the reach of something else and the rest of us might not even find out about it until AFTER the election.”
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) April 26, 2022
pic.twitter.com/yPMbtSN2wx
It did not take long for conservatives to note that Twitter, which was a public company in 2020, blocked a story from the New York Post about a laptop belonging to President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden just weeks before the presidential election.
Check out some of the reactions below:
Ari, this is what Twitter was already doing! Come on… https://t.co/bDhlakulbl
— Madison Gesiotto Gilbert (@madisongesiotto) April 26, 2022
Yes. Imagine this happening. https://t.co/5fNQhM23s9
— BDW (@BryanDeanWright) April 26, 2022
https://twitter.com/thejcoop/status/1518922862723223554
“Or, imagine if a presidential candidate’s son had all kinds of shady business partners, and lost his laptop…" https://t.co/vZkhpvYNwS
— Jim Geraghty (@jimgeraghty) April 26, 2022
Remember this?https://t.co/0CsYJ58zgn
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) April 26, 2022
Sounds familiar… https://t.co/DnlRbDT2JN
— Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) April 26, 2022
It’s like watching a 42 year old baby take his first steps. https://t.co/J81N4s51fR
— Jerry Dunleavy IV 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) April 26, 2022
The utter lack of self-awareness in this clip is the thing that makes it. https://t.co/f56uUrVllt
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) April 26, 2022
Today is a big day because Elon Musk bought Twitter and also Ari Melber woke up from a 4 year coma. https://t.co/kQmQ4YVXZE
— Abigail Jackson 🇺🇸 (@abigailmarone) April 26, 2022
you don’t say!
— Will Cain (@willcain) April 26, 2022
pic.twitter.com/2kGCmd3kxb
There is truly nothing funnier than this MSNBC host ranting about what Elon Musk could do to Twitter, and accidentally giving a perfect description of how Twitter has actually operated for the last five years
— Cabot Phillips (@cabot_phillips) April 26, 2022
pic.twitter.com/bskfBHQGON
In October 2020, Twitter locked the New York Post’s Twitter account after it shared a story about Hunter Biden’s business dealings based on emails retrieved from a laptop that reportedly belonged to him.
Twitter also prevented users from sharing the story, which it said violated the company’s “hacked materials” policy.
However, then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey called the decision to block sharing of the story “wrong,” and the company later let users share it.
A spokesperson for the company said it would allow users to share the story because “the information had spread across the internet and could no longer be considered private.”
Melber’s comments come after Twitter accepted Musk’s offer to buy the company, as IJR reported.