A Hillary Clinton-linked dark money group is reportedly leading a campaign to pressure advertisers into dropping Twitter unless the social media network agrees to a list of “non-negotiable” stipulations.
The group, Accountable Tech, has teamed up with a whole host of far-left groups — including GLAAD, UltraViolet, Black Lives Matter, and Media Matters — to prepare a letter for advertisers that lays out the situation.
The letter claims billionaire Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter “will further toxify our information ecosystem and be a direct threat to public safety, especially among those already most vulnerable and marginalized.”
The letter continues by noting that prior to Musk’s purchase of the social media network, Twitter had implemented certain “safeguards” to protect the so-called “vulnerable,” but that these “safeguards” have since been jettisoned by the billionaire.
As our letter from May signed by 25+ organizations explains, Twitter advertisers must uphold 3 nonnegotiable standards of community trust and safety.
Or else Elon Musk’s Twitter will become a dangerous cesspool of hate and misinformation.
See our letter: https://t.co/ObEUz2K4Ts pic.twitter.com/2LhWITCyFV
— Accountable Tech (@accountabletech) October 27, 2022
“Twitter has outsized influence in shaping both public discourse and industry-wide platform governance standards. While the company is hardly a poster-child for healthy social media, it has taken welcome steps in recent years to mitigate systemic risks, ratcheting up pressure on the likes of Facebook and YouTube to follow suit,” it reads.
“Musk intends to steamroll those safeguards and provide a megaphone to extremists who traffic in disinformation, hate, and harassment. Under the guise of ‘free speech,’ his vision will silence and endanger marginalized communities, and tear at the fraying fabric of democracy,” it continues.
The letter then urges advertisers to demand that Twitter “continue to uphold the practices that serve as guideposts for other Big Tech platforms.”
“We call on you –Twitter’s top advertisers – to commit to these standards as non-negotiable requirements for advertising on the platform,” it reads.
These practices include keeping accounts that were suspended for committing “egregious violations” banned, tweaking the algorithm “to prevent bad actors” from being heard, and continuing “Twitter’s commitment to transparency and researcher access.”
“As top advertisers on Twitter, your brand risks association with a platform amplifying hate, extremism, health misinformation, and conspiracy theorists. Under Musk’s management, Twitter risks becoming a cesspool of misinformation, with your brand attached, polluting our information ecosystem in a time where trust in institutions and news media is already at an all-time low,” the letter then concludes.
“Your ad dollars can either fund Musk’s vanity project or hold him to account. We call on you to demand Musk uphold these basic standards of community trust and safety, and to pull your advertising spending from Twitter if they are not,” it reads.
Accountable Tech is reportedly linked to both dark money and Hillary Clinton.
“Accountable Tech is not a standalone organization. Instead, it’s a fiscally sponsored project of the North Fund, a nonprofit incubator closely tied to a billion-dollar dark money network managed by the Arabella Advisors consulting firm, Washington D.C. business records show,” according to Fox Business.
“The left-wing group is also closely linked to Hillary Clinton’s Onward Together nonprofit, which the failed presidential contender created following her 2016 loss to Donald Trump to allow her to be a part of the resistance. In December 2020, Accountable Tech joined Onward Together as an official partner, according to a press release,” Fox Business notes.
Thank you to the 2,000+ members of the wider @OnwardTogether family who joined yesterday’s partner call.
Our big news is that we’ve welcomed two new partners to round out 2020: @HigherHeights and @AccountableTech. pic.twitter.com/Fi77DDgvO1
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) December 18, 2020
.@HigherHeights‘ mission is to build Black women’s power in and out of the election cycle, with some incredible wins in 2020.
.@AccountableTech is taking on the companies at the center of the misinformation crisis that has destabilized our democracy.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) December 18, 2020
.@OnwardTogether will work with both groups to provide grants, advice, and other support as these organizations take their work to the next level.
Here’s to building power behind the values we share, and even more wins, in 2021.
Can’t wait to get started.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) December 18, 2020
Critics say that what Accountable Tech and its allies are doing vis-a-vis Twitter is gross.
“It’s perfect Accountable Tech leads the posse of groups attacking Elon Musk and Twitter. These groups are cancel culture incarnate, mixing left-wing advocacy with Democratic Party politics,” Capital Research Center president Scott Walter told Fox Business.
“Accountable Tech spawned from the heart of the left — the multibillion-dollar Arabella Advisors empire of ‘dark money’ — and then was passed to Hillary Clinton’s empire at Onward Together. Americans of all political stripes should fear for their freedom if these front groups and their billionaire backers can bully Twitter,” he added.
The irony is that one of the left’s biggest complaints about Musk’s purchase of Twitter has been that he’s a billionaire. Yet it seems all of his top critics just happen to be bankrolled by billionaires themselves …
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