Milo Yiannopoulos has formally requested that Twitter supply the personal data the company has on him as the fallout over his ban from the social network intensifies.
The conservative provocateur has invoked Subject Access Request, a European law obliging Twitter to release the data the company has on him in its office in Ireland, within 21 days of the request being filed.
Milo was banned from Twitter after they objected to the role he played in the online abuse meted out to black Ghostbusters actress Leslie Jones following his review of Ghostbusters on Breitbart, where he is the Tech Editor.
But Milo himself, who never addressed Jones directly or sent out any racist tweets, is searching for information on why he was banned and previously had his verified checkmark removed.
Milo told CNBC about his request: “I can request every piece of information that Twitter holds on me and they’re obliged to provide everything they have within 21 days.
“That includes any information that led to the decision—making about [my] suspension or about removing my verified check. So we’ve done that, and they now have 20 days left to respond.”
Milo added that Twitter was being dishonest about their reasons for his suspension, which he believes infringes freedom of speech: “I want Twitter to be honest with its users about the reasons for suspensions, bannings and all the other punitive actions they take on their platform.
“Twitter hasn’t been honest so far. I’d like to force the hand a little bit because I think users deserve to know…the reasons they gave were garbage.”
Milo also attacked Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who was in contact with Jones shortly before the ban was implemented: “Twitter has a CEO who behaves in some ways very childlishly, using the network like his own private political fiefdom. That is not what investors want, it is not what users want.
“One of the consequences of that is if you make the wrong joke about the wrong person, you could find yourself banned; like me, like Azealia Banks, the rapper. They will come for anyone.
“This is a big problem because this ‘utility,’ which is how Dorsey has always described it and how he has wanted Twitter to be perceived, is actually being run along nakedly partisan, political lines.”
He added: “Who is to say what is a civil level of discourse? Plenty of people enjoy the rough and tumble of political debate, people enjoy tabloid journalism, people enjoy all sorts of different kinds of discourse.
“If Twitter wants to start regulating how we can speak, the tone in which we can have debates, the language we can use, it’s going to find that all of the interesting people on its network, all the creators, all the fascinating personalities are going to leave.
“It might not be possible to monetize Twitter’s product whatsoever, (but) it definitely isn’t possible to monetize it without free speech at all.
“What they’re doing to drive all of the most interesting personalities away from the platform in my view is going to stall user growth even more drastically than the terrible product they have!”
Milo, a Donald Trump supporter, is attending the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia after canceling a trip to a Gay Pride march through Sweden’s Muslim ghetto for security reasons.
He said: “I love the Bernie’s supporters, they’re our kind of people. They hate the establishment, the crony capitalism, the Washington elites, many of the same things that articulate Trump supporters.”
https://twitter.com/tillywrites/status/756232808951971840
