Content criticizing US President Joe Biden on Twitter and Facebook has been censored 646 times in two years, according to a new report.
According to the Media Research Center, the various content censored through its CensorTrack database included comedic memes and generic posts targeting the commander in chief, who entered the White House in January 2021.
Users who posted such content saw their comments get deleted, their activities on the platforms got restricted or got banned outright.
The report’s release comes as the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, struck a deal to buy Twitter worth $44 billion, in a transaction that would see control of the social populated by millions of users and global leaders -Media platform will shift.
The self-proclaimed “freedom of speech absolutist” wants Twitter’s algorithm for prioritizing tweets to be public and opposes giving companies that advertise too much power over the service and has said he wants to stop banning users.
The CensorTrack report looked at bans between March 10, 2020 and March 10, 2022. This period includes the time when Biden ran his presidential campaign, culminating in his 2020 victory, and his first year in the White House.
The largest category of banned posts related to Biden’s reputation for inappropriate contact, CensorTrack said. Biden was forced to address this during his campaign.
In one example cited by the organization, a user told CensorTrack that Facebook deleted one of their posts that showed Biden kissing someone – allegedly his granddaughter – on the lips.
A caption read, “Find someone who will kiss you like Joe Biden kisses his granddaughter.” Screenshots sent by the user indicated that Facebook claimed the post violated its community rules on “nudity or sexual content.” Activities” violated.
Now, more than a quarter of the 646 actions taken against users were related to the New York Post’s Hunter Biden story, which investigated his family over alleged corrupt foreign deals.
Criticism of US President Joe Biden on social media platforms Twitter and Facebook has been censored 646 times in two years, a new report has found
Twitter went so far as to suspend the Post’s account for 17 days and placed a “warning label” on the GOP House Judiciary Committee’s website after linking to the story.
Last month – after initially dismissing the story, the Washington Post finally admitted Hunter Biden’s laptop is genuine, nine months after he first received a copy and a full year after authenticated it.
The Washington Post had cyber forensics experts validate the footage on the abandoned laptop hard drive, using similar methods experts from had used back in March 2021.
His admission also followed a similar admission by the New York Times, which quietly wrote 1,200 words in a lengthy story published in early March, that it had also validated footage from the laptop.
Some have suggested that some of the media’s suppression of the story may have contributed to the 2020 election result being in Biden’s favour.
CensorTrack also reported on an example where Big Tech companies banned users blaming Biden for the current inflationary crisis.
In one case, it said Facebook censored Heritage Action — the advocacy arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation — after the group released a video on March 15 quoting Biden’s statements on energy policy.
The video in question showed Biden and other officials in his administration explaining how energy policies would cause gas prices to rise.
In response, the Silicon Valley giant suppressed the post’s reach on its platform.
CensorTrack details 232 cases — more than a third of anti-Biden content — that were categorized as “comedic memes, videos, or general posts about Biden’s behavior.” The group also said some were banned for citing the incumbent president for making him appear less competent.
In an example cited by CensorTrack and posted to Twitter by the Breaking 911 news outlet, Biden sarcastically quoted, “Freedom! … I have the freedom to kill you with my COVID. No, I mean come on! Freedom?!’ The post has been deleted.
The site shared a list of users who have been censored by Facebook or Twitter, including a number of influential figures in the United States.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump, along with lawmaker Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), were among the senior politicians to face bans or action from the big tech companies was.
Other people whose accounts have been reprimanded include Donald Trump Jr., actor James Woods and media personalities such as Daily Wire’s Candace Owens and radio hosts Sebastian Gorka and Dana Loesch, CensorTrack said.
Former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany saw her Twitter account suspended for attempting to share the Hunter Biden story in the post.
Media outlets were also targeted, including the New York Post, The Washington Free Beacon, The Federalist and The Babylon Bee – a satirical website.
MRC Free Speech America’s research used a database collected by CensorTrack, which logs and describes why people have been censored on social media.
CensorTrack said it has received a total of 3,600 reports so far from people who have seen their activity on big tech platforms censored for discussing a variety of issues, including climate change, race, Covid-19 and elections.