Twitter Hires Straight Up Anti-Trumpers To Head Up Its New Project

As you’ve probably heard, Twitter has been accused of “shadow banning.”

It released a statement on the matter and kinda sorta admitted that it might possibly be engaging in shady behavior.

Emphasis mine–

“We do not shadow ban. You are always able to see the tweets from accounts you follow (although you may have to do more work to find them, like go directly to their profile). And we certainly don’t shadow ban based on political viewpoints or ideology.”

Um…isn’t that what shadow banning entails, at least in part?

Well folks, not to worry! Twitter is rolling out a new campaign designed to zero in on “incivility and intolerance in Twitter conversations.” They’re going to crack down on HATE SPEECH. Isn’t that swell?

The Leiden-led project will primarily focus on two key challenges: echo chambers and uncivil discourse. Based on their past findings, echo chambers, which form when discussions involve only like-minded people and perspectives, can increase hostility and promote resentment towards those not having the same conversation. The project’s first set of metrics will assess the extent to which people acknowledge and engage with diverse viewpoints on Twitter.

The second set of metrics will focus on incivility and intolerance in Twitter conversations. The group has found that while incivility, which breaks norms of politeness, can be problematic, it can also serve important functions in political dialog. In contrast, intolerant discourse — such as hate speech, racism, and xenophobia — is inherently threatening to democracy. The team will therefore work on developing algorithms that distinguish between these two behaviors.

Guess who Twitter’s hiring to head this project up…

Very happy to share the good news! I will be leading one of two projects selected by Twitter to develop and deploy metrics that help assess the health of conversations on the platform. https://t.co/g5j4s5q8pf

— Rebekah Tromble (@RebekahKTromble) July 30, 2018

She’s stoked.

“In the context of growing political polarization, the spread of misinformation, and increases in incivility and intolerance, it is clear that if we are going to effectively evaluate and address some of the most difficult challenges arising on social media, academic researchers and tech companies will need to work together much more closely,” Dr. Rebekah Tromble said in a statement. “This initiative presents an important and promising opportunity for Twitter and our team of researchers to share expertise and work on solutions together.”

Oh. By the way. There’s something you should know about Rebekah. She hates Trump.

Apparently no amount of boot licking guarantees Trump’s loyalty. #ScaramucciOut

— Rebekah Tromble (@RebekahKTromble) July 31, 2017

Gross negligence by Congressional Republicans. Putting party before country. It’s despicable. #resist https://t.co/7jh1pKEmfE

— Rebekah Tromble (@RebekahKTromble) February 14, 2017

Trump on protests that killed 0: Crack down! Bring them to their knees!

Trump on radical-right slaying of 6 Muslims: <crickets>#resist

— Rebekah Tromble (@RebekahKTromble) February 2, 2017

Trump quintupled down on his commitment to white nationalists. They’re just about all he’s got left. Bannon ain’t goin nowhere. https://t.co/qkg7mKx7vw

— Rebekah Tromble (@RebekahKTromble) August 16, 2017

This is the Trump Team. Every last one of them. From top to bottom. https://t.co/TBQyriUNYM

— Rebekah Tromble (@RebekahKTromble) July 13, 2017

Unfortunately, Rebekah’s only one of MANY.

Our amazing interdisciplinary team–@michaelmeffert (@UniLeiden), @patyrossini, @profjsg (@iSchoolSU), @dirk_hovy (@Unibocconi), & @navatintarev (@tudelft)–will examine echo chambers, incivility, & intolerance by analyzing highly polarized & non-polarized political debates.

— Rebekah Tromble (@RebekahKTromble) July 30, 2018

There’s Dr. Patricia Rossini:

Why Donald Trump when you can Trump Donald? pic.twitter.com/ELweBl5oL5 https://t.co/4fggKBIBr1 #TrumpDonald

— Patrícia Rossini, PhD (@patyrossini) January 30, 2017

The end is not near. It’s here #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/f8AXcRnJl7

— Patrícia Rossini, PhD (@patyrossini) July 22, 2016

01/20/2017 – the day reasonable americans will flea to nearly any country that will take them if trump wins. #RNCinCLE

— Patrícia Rossini, PhD (@patyrossini) July 22, 2016

*Flee

Dr. Jennifer Stromer-Galley:

Trump’s proposed budget includes cutting Corporation for Public Broadcasting — the best source for news out there. Of course. #smallhands

— Jenny Stromer-Galley (@profjsg) March 16, 2017

I’m sure she meant #smallhands in the nicest way possible.

Trump looks cruelty in the face and demands more of it. Time’s cover captures that well. https://t.co/E3VJWudELd. The executive order is not a solution. Constant vigilance is still needed.

— Jenny Stromer-Galley (@profjsg) June 21, 2018

Good to know she fell for that totally misleading cover.

And Dr. Nava Tintarev:

“Trump” and “care” don’t really work in the same sentence do they? Keeping you in my thought today ‘merica. Maybe Senate will block it.

— nava (@navatintarev) May 4, 2017

Let us please be wrong. May we yet find a way to fix this. https://t.co/M3ei8qFY0O

— nava (@navatintarev) November 10, 2016

Way to go Twitter! I feel so much better about you guys taking care of all the incivility and bias on your platform!

NOT.

h/t Fox News