Twitter claimed it “mistakenly remove[d]” a tweet from The Federalist co-founder Sean Davis about Lisa Page’s congressional testimony Monday but denied employing “shadow banning” tactics against users.
Davis tweeted out a portion of the former FBI lawyer’s testimony last week but soon noticed that the tweet was not appearing for other users, despite still being visible when he was logged into his own account.
Is @Twitter experimenting with shadow bans by deleting tweets so others can’t see them, but keeping them visible to you while you’re logged in? I had to re-publish my original Lisa Page transcript tweet because it was disappeared to everyone but me. pic.twitter.com/RugtpK2MYn
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) March 12, 2019
On Monday, Twitter Support confirmed to Davis that they mistakenly removed the tweet, writing in an email, “Our priority is to keep people safe on Twitter. As part of that work, we sometimes mistakenly remove content that doesn’t break our rules.”
“When those mistakes happen, we work quickly to fix them,” the tech company added. “We have corrected the issue.”
Twitter confirmed to me today via e-mail that it did shadowban one of my tweets about Lisa Page’s congressional testimony in order to “keep people safe[.]” Twitter deliberately deleted the tweet/URL, yet kept it visible for me when I was logged in so I’d think it was still up. pic.twitter.com/Hs1z7H0xJn
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) March 18, 2019
Twitter did not preemptively inform Davis that action was taken on the tweet, nor did they indicate why it was initially removed. Davis noted that Twitter also did not explain why he was still able to see the tweet when he was logged into his account, even while it was removed for other users.
“Is conning users a bug, or a feature?” Davis questioned.
Titter claimed in its e-mail to me that it “mistakenly remove[d]” a completely anodyne tweet about public congressional testimony, but didn’t explain why it left the tweet–and metrics showing no engagement–visible to me when logged in. Is conning users a bug, or a feature? pic.twitter.com/bqtc8Klcam
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) March 18, 2019
Twitter gave me no notice or explanation when it shadowbanned one of my Tweets about Russian interference in our elections. But what’s worse is how Twitter apparently gives its users the fraudulent impression that their tweets, which Twitter secretly bans, are still public.
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) March 18, 2019
When tweets are removed for violations, Twitter uses one of three enforcement options: limiting the tweet visibility, requiring tweet removal, and hiding a tweet while waiting for a user to remove it.
A person familiar with the situation told The Daily Caller that removing the tweet was an “error,” but a Twitter spokesperson denied that the company ever uses “shadow banning” as an enforcement method.
“Shadow banning” refers to situations where an account and/or its content is suppressed without the user’s knowledge.
“Twitter does not engage in bias and we categorically do not enforce so-called ‘shadow banning‘ tactics. Period,” Twitter told the Caller. “We enforce the Twitter Rules dispassionately and equally for all users, regardless of their background or political affiliation. We are constantly working to improve our systems and will continue to be transparent in our effort.”
Twitter has faced allegations of shadow banning before, most prominently this past fall when several Republican congressmen’s accounts were suppressed in Twitter search results. (RELATED: Twitter Algorithm Buried Republicans For Something Totally Out Of Their Control)
Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz announced at the time that he was bringing a Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint against the company, and Republican California Rep. Devin Nunes was said to be exploring legal options.
On Monday, Nunes filed a lawsuit seeking over $250 million in damages from Twitter for allegedly “shadow-banning conservatives” and systematically censoring opposing viewpoints.