Twitter has recently implemented new reply and muting functions, in addition to a host of “safety”-related features. But at least one user says the changes also include censorship in the form of stealth bans—and she’s offering proof to back up her claims.
Writing on the culture commentary blog CursedE, a transgender writer active within the anti-social justice scene (@EdesruC) says that her account was suspended for being “abusive,” but says Twitter declined to provide her with any proof of the allegedly punishable actions. Furthermore, it appears that tweets calling for her unbanning are being filtered from view.
The user, who says she’s been banned five times in the past, has documented evidence that she says shows that some of the tweets in support of CursedE are being suppressed by Twitter from being seen by other users in myriad ways.
The issue she’s facing is similar but not identical to Twitter’s hidden “quality filter,” which we wrote about last month. In her case, users calling for a lift of her suspension may actually be “shadowbanned,” and not simply flagged by the quality filter.
Twitter hasn’t responded publicly to her claims or to previous claims and speculation that the site shadowbans some users to stifle certain discussions.
Some of her supporters attempted to create a hashtag calling for her account suspension to be lifted, but their posts cannot be found in the search engine. The original tweets are also hidden from view when other users reply to them, unless directly linked. That makes it look like Twitter users are simply posting @’s to each other, rather than as replies to an original post.
Likewise, tweets like the one @Nutt007 wrote do not appear on the search engine when you look up the #FreeCursedE hashtag. As we’ve previously discovered, the search results are also inconsistent, and vary depending on whether you’re logged in or out.
Ian Miles Cheong is a journalist and outspoken media critic. You can reach him through social media at @stillgray on Twitter and on Facebook.