As Twitter courts controversy by taking measures to issue fact-check claims against President Donald Trump, old comments made by one of the social media giant’s executives show a clear pattern of anti-conservative bias.
Twitter executive Yoel Roth recently outlined the site’s new policy toward fact-checking and censoring some information.
“In serving the public conversation, our goal is to make it easy to find credible information on Twitter and to limit the spread of potentially harmful and misleading content,” reads a blog post published on May 11 and co-authored by Roth, whose official job title is “Head of Site Integrity.”
“Starting today, we’re introducing new labels and warning messages that will provide additional context and information on some Tweets containing disputed or misleading information related to COVID-19,” the post added.
On Tuesday, Twitter used its fact-check label to flag a pair of posts made by President Donald Trump about the potential for fraud with regard to mail-in voting.
Twitter utilized reporting from CNN and The Washington Post, two outlets which themselves are often accused of false reporting about the president, to question Trump’s warning about vote-by-mail fraud.
But Roth, who Breitbart reported is one of those behind the company’s fact-checking policy, has a history of posting disparaging comments about conservatives and Trump.
“I’m just saying, we fly over those states that voted for a racist tangerine for a reason,” Roth wrote following Trump’s 2016 election.
In January 2017, Roth posted: “‘Today on Meet The Press, we’re speaking with Joseph Goebbels about the first 100 days…’ –What I hear whenever Kellyanne is on a news show.”
Other tweets by Roth show a clear anti-conservative sentiment, including one post where he claimed there are “ACTUAL NAZIS IN THE WHITE HOUSE.”
The Washington Examiner reported that a Twitter spokesperson “did not deny that Roth played a part in the decision to add a label to Trump’s tweets,” though the spokesperson said “it’s unfortunate to see individual employees targeted for company decisions.”
Roth’s previous comments were unearthed as Trump and others accused Twitter of using so-called “fact-checks” as a way to censor the platform’s conservative users.
Trump, responding to the site’s fact-check warning on his tweets, threatened to regulate or shut down companies that censor conservative dissent.
Trump accused Twitter on Tuesday of “interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election.”
He further said social media platforms are attempting to “silence conservatives voices.”
“We saw what they attempted to do, and failed, in 2016,” he added Wednesday.
“We can’t let a more sophisticated version of that … happen again. Just like we can’t let large scale Mail-In Ballots take root in our Country. It would be a free for all on cheating, forgery and the theft of Ballots. Whoever cheated the most would win. Likewise, Social Media. Clean up your act, NOW!!!!”
Later Wednesday, Trump again warned of action to come against Twitter censorship.
“Twitter has now shown that everything we have been saying about them (and their other compatriots) is correct,” he tweeted.
“Big action to follow!” Trump vowed.
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