Twitter is Currently Undergoing a Period of Truth and Reconciliation Leading to a Bill of Rights
Elon Musk's experience growing up in South Africa is contributing to the process he's conducting at Twitter. Will it work? Will it lead to a Bill of Rights for the Digital Public Square?
By Alexander Muse ¡
I canât help but wonder if the process Elon Musk is taking Twitter through has been influenced by the process of truth and reconciliation1 South Africa went through in the 1990s. The billionaire was born and raised in Pretoria, South Africa, and is no doubt very familiar with the commission chaired by Desmond Tutu. South Africaâs Truth and Reconciliation Commission was crucial in the nationâs transition to full and free democracyâcould Elon Musk be taking a page from Nelson Mandela at Twitter?2
STEP ONE: RESTORE SUSPENDED ACCOUNTS
Almost immediately after the transaction closed Elon Musk began restoring previously suspended accounts including my own. In South Africa, the Commission found that more than 20,000 people had been victims of gross human rights violations.3 It is estimated that as many as 20 million conservatives on Twitter were victims of suppression, censorship, and/or suspensions.
Twitterâs targeting of conservative accounts began shortly after the 2016 presidential election as fears that Trump had colluded with Putin were stoked by Democrats with the help of the FBI. Shortly after the 2020 election, Twitter drastically increased the number of suspensions ultimately catching me in their dragnet. My verified account had more than 120,000 followers and earned more than 150 million tweet impressions per month. My infraction? Undermining election integrity by discussing claims of widespread election fraud and supporting the wrong political party.
Elon Musk has been systematically restoring wrongfully suspended accounts and removing shadow and search bans. This move was decried by Democrats, the mainstream media, and even governments. The EU told Musk that if he wanted Twitter to remain available in Europe he would need to adhere to a checklist of rules including âditching his arbitrary approach to reinstating banned usersâ.4
STEP TWO: REVEAL THE TRUTH
Shortly after Elon Musk began restoring the accounts of those wrongfully suspended he opened the companyâs secret archives of emails, texts, and slack messages to two reporters from both sides of the political spectrum. In South Africa releasing evidence of marginalization and exclusion was vital to âopen significant discursive space for new public positions and forms of agency.â
The so-called #TwitterFiles have revealed what everyone had suspected and the company had denied - Twitter was engaged in widespread suppression of conservatives through various arbitrary and nefarious means. They also revealed that Twitter acted as if it were a âsubsidiaryâ of the FBI to censor and suppress conservatives on the platform. and @TK News revealed that Twitterâs Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth exchanged over 150 emails with the FBI since Biden took office in 2020 and the FBI had more than 80 employees dedicated to working with Twitter to remove content objectionable to the Biden administration. Not surprisingly the mainstream media is ignoring the revelations in an attempt to suppress the story.5
Elon Muskâs decision to open the #TwitterFiles has provided millions of Americans the evidence proving they werenât crazy. Twitterâs executives were lying to the world, to congress, and to usersâElonâs decision to share the truth is necessary if we want to heal and move on.
STEP THREE: SUSPEND THE ELITES
For the past six years, Twitter had a two-tier system for enforcing its rules. At the end of the day, the rules simply didnât apply to Democrats and their willing accomplices in the mainstream media. For example, Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz used the platform to doxx Chaya Raichik who runs the previously suspended account in clear violation of the platform's Terms of Service. While South Africaâs first black government pursued forgiveness over prosecution it was able to choose reparations over retaliation.
I argue that Elon Muskâs recent suspension of reporters for violating Twitterâs newly clarified rule on real-time doxing is a form of reparations. He originally suggested the suspensions would be for seven days, but Musk ultimately lifted the suspensions early after polling Twitter users. Interestingly the EU who had previously threatened Musk for unbanning suspended conservatives switched gears and threatened Twitter with sanctions for banning âprotectedâ users.6
With just a dozen suspensions Elon Musk was able to focus the worldâs attention on Twitter, censorship, and elicit calls from governments to protect free speech on the platform.
STEP FOUR: BILL OF RIGHTS
Like South Africaâs Truth and Reconciliation Committee did in the 90s, Elon Musk has created the circumstances necessary for BOTH conservatives and liberals to create a bill of rights for Twitter users.
Iâve got a NUMBER of ideas and proposals for inclusion in a so-called Bill of Rights for Twitter users. If called to serve on a committee to draft the Bill of Rights I am willing to serve. I am passionate about Twitter.
Here is a little background of my complicated relationship with Twitter:
