MSNBC host Ari Melber seemed to have no idea he was repeating conservative talking points about social media bias as he warned on air Monday against Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover.
SO WHAT
Liberals can’t be this lacking in self awareness, can they?
THE VIDEO
Melber, responding to breaking news that Musk is buying Twitter for $44 billion, warned that the world’s richest man could use the platform to suppress political speech that he opposes.
In a clip from the segment that has been viewed millions of times on Twitter, Melber described how one person who owns “all of Twitter” could even sway elections without anyone knowing.
- “You could secretly ban one party’s candidate, or all of its candidates, all of its nominees, 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,” said “The Beat With Ari Melber” host.
THE REACTION
Conservative commentators pointed out that the nightmarish scenario described by Melber sounded an awful lot like what Twitter has already been doing to conservatives.
In the run-up to the 2020 election, Twitter throttled the reach of a scandalous New York Post story based on files obtained from a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden, the son of then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
- Twitter also locked the Post out of its account for sharing the story.
- On other other hand, former President Donald Trump, Biden’s Republican opponent, was one of many right-wingers Twitter banned following the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
- Twitter has for years banned conservatives and others who refer to biologically male transgender women as men.
A TALE OF TWO TWITTERS
It was no surprise, then, when liberals and conservatives responded very differently to Musk and Twitter’s buyout deal.
A number of dissidents on the right, including Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Mark Levin, rejoined the platform Monday after self-imposed exiles.
- Meanwhile, racial justice activist Shaun King and actress Jameela Jamil were among the high-profile liberals who quit Twitter in protest.