Twitter, What's Taking So Long?
Twelve days into a chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban have taken over the majority of the country, committing heinous acts of violence in the process. Yet, after many have implored social media juggernaut Twitter to ban active Taliban accounts, they have refused to do so.
In a new opinion piece for Fox Business, Parler CEO George Farmer questions why Twitter is choosing to give online safe haven to a terrorist organization, when only months prior, the platform banned former President Donald J. Trump in the aftermath of the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, announcing "we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence."
Twitter has continued to silence (mostly) conservative voices for everything from questioning the validity of the U.S. electoral process to possible treatments for the Covid-19 virus. They've banned people who have questioned the effectiveness of masks and spoken out against vaccine mandates, along with those pondering the origin of a deadly pandemic.
Differing political views are welcome at Parler; terrorist indoctrination and recruitment are not. We cherish the American traditions of debate and open dialogue. We seek to be America's digital public square, where people gather for worthwhile discussions of the pressing policy and political challenges and ideas we encounter.
The Taliban has proven to be uninterested in such free exchange of ideas, and has no desire to be part of the public square.
Banning the Taliban from Parler wasn't a difficult decision for us.
It should concern Americans that this decision is taking Twitter so long.