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Meta launches Twitter rip-off "Threads" application, immediately starts censoring users for voicing unapproved thoughts

By ethanh // 2023-07-09

It has been just a few days since the official launch of Threads, the new Twitter wannabe social media platform from Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. And already several prominent figures and personalities have been censored or banned from the platform for violating its "Community Guidelines" or otherwise spreading "misinformation." Shaney Yricch of "The Street Poller" was notified that a thread he posted on Threads was removed just moments after he shared it "because it goes against our Community Guidelines." "Following our guidelines is the only way to prevent your account from being deleted, including your posts, archive, messages and followers," a prompt further threatened Yricch. The post in question had to do with the recent discovery of a baggie of cocaine at the White House during a visit by Joe and Hunter Biden, as well as the rest of the Biden Crime Family. According to Threads, posting about this incident "goes against our guidelines," because apparently talking about the Biden Crime Family is off limits on the social media platform. (Related: The ranks at Facebook, Twitter, and many other social media platforms – probably Threads, too – are overwhelmingly infiltrated with federal agents posing as "employees.")

Threads warns users against following Donald Trump Jr. because his account has "repeatedly posted false information"

One does not even have to try to post anything on Threads in order to receive a nanny state prompt like this. Numerous accounts that have tried to follow Donald Trump Jr. under the handle "donaldjtrumpjr" are receiving notices asking them if they really want to follow him after all. "This account has repeatedly posted false information that was reviewed by independent fact-checkers or went against our Community Guidelines" reads said prompt, forcing users to either confirm that they want to follow Trump Jr. or to cancel if they change their mind based on the prompt. The "DC_Draino" account run by Rogan O'Handley tweeted about the same prompt showing up for his Threads account. Users who try to follow DC_Draino are presented with the same prompt as shown when trying to follow Donald Trump Jr. Perhaps the worst part about the Threads platform is its privacy invasion protocols. In order to use Threads, a user must agree to have data collected on: • Health & Fitness • Financial Info • Contact Info • User Content • Browsing History • Usage Data • Diagnostics • Purchases • Location • Contacts • Search History • Identifiers • Sensitive Info • Other Data This covers just about anything else a person does on his phone or device, meaning Threads collects everything private that a user does, including unrelated browser activity. "So it censors you for posting facts that might make people in power look bad, tries to dissuade you from following one side of the political aisle, and tracks everything you do," is how Not the Bee described this massive privacy invasion. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) also complained that when she tried to use Threads, it took just five minutes for the app to become "bricked," as she described it. "... it was just as I hit send on a long post of Queens food recommendations," AOC wrote about the Threads app just freezing and closing when she attempted to post something. It might seem like something to just laugh off, but the reality is that if Threads succeeds, it will capture 80 percent of the global market share outside of Russia and China, according to journalist Michael Shellenberger. "As such, it's reasonable to expect that Meta will censor precisely the same way the large news media corporations, including the New York Times, and corporate advertisers want it to," Shellenberger warns. Big Tech just will not quit in censoring voices online. Learn more at Censorship.news. Sources for this article include: NotTheBee.com Newstarget.com

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