Elon’s new “censorship” chief was just unmasked and he’s a double-agent

Submitted by Dave Hodges on Monday, August 21, 2023 - 22:24.

Here’s what Mike Benz, the founder of the Foundation for Freedom Online, had to say about this “double-agent.”

Twitter's current censorship recruiter Aaron Rodericks promotes the most scandalous censorship agency in the federal gov't: DHS's CISA.

And he backs up CISA's head of "mis, dis & malinformation" subcommittee, Kate Starbird.

He's actively working against Musk's professed vision https://t.co/KD1zLTtIFv

— Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber) August 16, 2023

He’s working under a false banner of free speech, but his past posts reveal that he despises everything that genuine free speech stands for. What’s truly concerning is that this “double-agent” persona may enable him to continue this tactic for an extended period. It seems that conservatives are being lulled into a false sense of freedom, and that’s concerning.

The “censorship” Czar might despise everything you represent, but we’re confident he’ll approach things with complete fairness and unbiased judgment—yeah, right.

Twitter's election censorship recruiter, Aaron Rodericks, basically hates you.

"the ginger-bearded guy whining about welfare queens and high taxes" (he means @AintGottaDollar)

"the Daily Wire freaks" (he means @benshapiro)

yeh his new censorship hires will be neutral pic.twitter.com/FTWLZsaQV3

— Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber) August 16, 2023

Meet the new X — it’s basically the same as the old Twitter.

Linda Yaccarino's censorship squad recruiter at X, Aaron Rodericks, promotes Kate Starbird -- one of the chief architects of the mass censorship of the 2020 election & 2022 midterms.

100% of the "repeat misinformation spreaders" Starbird labeled were Trump supporters. pic.twitter.com/0qczkuRG2j

— Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber) August 16, 2023

Here’s a closeup of the images:

We’re not convinced that this situation will unfold any differently than our last nightmarish encounters with Twitter under Jack and Parag’s progressive leadership. We’re dealing with the same dubious cast, operating under a new clever guise of “free speech.” Meanwhile, Elon’s new CEO has made it clear that content deemed “lawful but awful” will be censored and suppressed. Who determines what’s awful? Her team of blue-haired liberals, of course.

As Glenn Greenwald points out, it seems that nothing has really changed at the platform formerly known as Twitter:

Elon’s eyebrow-raising pick for Twitter CEO, Linda Yaccarino, is putting her more ad-friendly policies into action—And it’s sounding a lot like the old censorship regime:

?? New “brand safety” & “content moderation” tools

?? Deamplifying & repressing “lawful but awful” speech

?? Teams of employees filtering out “unhealthy” speech

Of course there are commercial realities to consider.

But it’s hard to argue this is anything other than a total break with the promise to only take action against First Amendment violations.

Elon's eyebrow-raising pick for Twitter CEO, Linda Yaccarino, is putting her more ad-friendly policies into action—And it's sounding a lot like the old censorship regime:

?? New "brand safety" & "content moderation" tools

?? Deamplifying & repressing "lawful but awful" speech

??… pic.twitter.com/XVqWdnqsRb

— System Update (@SystemUpdate_) August 18, 2023

When Elon bought Twitter, he touted himself as a staunch supporter of free speech. However, it seems he’s learning the hard way that “free speech” in America is very hard to come by these days, especially if you want to stay in business and actually turn a profit.