On Saturday (June 5), Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was heckled by one activist Laura Loomer during the Bitcoin 2021 conference organised in Miami in the United States. The incident took place after Loomer was aghast at the censorship rules of the micro-blogging site.

Disclose tv wrote, “JUST IN – Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey heckled over censorship during a Bitcoin event.” The popular Twitter handle had also shared a video wherein Jack Dorsey was being shouted down by the activist. During the event, Loomer had accused the Twitter CEO of undue censorship of free speech through his platform. While labelling him as a ‘giant hypocrite’, she said that he was interfering with people’s rights through the implementation of new censorship rules.

“How can you say that this is a currency for everyone in the world when you are the king of censorship. Bitcoin is all about decentralisation. You have no right to be here,” she lambasted the Twitter CEO. “Censorship is human rights violation…It’s almost as if Twitter hates Jews and conservatives. When is Jack Dorsey going to stop censoring conservatives? When am I going to get my Twitter back? I’ll be here as long as it takes,” Loomer was quoted as saying. It must be mentioned that the Twitter CEO had claimed to make the micro-blogging platform censorship-free.

While responding to the accusations made by the activist, Dorsey claimed, “By creating a new (social media) platform … inspired entirely by Bitcoin, we want to do the same thing for Twitter…I know you don’t believe me, I know you’re calling me ‘liar.’ I’m going to prove it to you.” Following the verbal confrontation, Loomer was escorted out of the event by the security officials. The 44-year-old Twitter CEO was joined by Alex Gladstein, who serves as the chief strategy officer of the Human Rights Foundation and a Bitcoin advocate.

In November 2018, the activist was banned by the micro-blogging site over a tweet criticising Islamist Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar. Loomer had called Omar “anti-Jewish” and emphasised that she was a follower of a religion where women are abused, forced to wear a hijab, and homosexuals are oppressed. She had 2,60,000 followers on Twitter prior to her ban. In her defense, she said, “Everything I said is 100 percent true and factual. It’s not malicious, it’s not mean, it’s not hateful.” She had reportedly protested against the ban by handcuffing herself to a glass door, which led to Twitter’s headquarters in Manhattan, US.

Often dubbed as ‘far right’, ‘conspiracy theorist’ and ‘anti-Muslim’ by left-leaning news platforms, the 28-year-old political activist was the Republican nominee from Florida during the 2020 US House of Representatives elections. However, she lost the election to Democrat nominee Lois Frankel. Reportedly, Loomer had worked for Project Veritas until 2017, which conducts undercover investigations to unearth the propaganda of left-leaning organisations, groups, and news portals.

Nigeria suspends Twitter indefinitely for censoring President’s tweet

Nigeria has banned Twitter from the country for interfering in the country’s politics. The Nigerian govt on Friday announced that it has indefinitely suspended Twitter’s activities. The move came two after Twitter had deleted a Tweet by president Muhammadu Buhari warning against secessionist movements.

The decision was announced by Information Minister Lai Mohammed on Friday. He said, “the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence”. He didn’t elaborate further on how the suspension will be executed. According to Reuters, the Twitter website and apps are still working in the country.

The move is seen as a response to Twitter deleting the president’s tweet, and suspending his account for 12 hours.

Yesterday, Lai Mohammed took had slammed Twitter for deleting the tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari who issued a warning to troublemakers in Nigeria. “We have a country to rule, and we will do so to the best of our ability. Twitter’s mission in Nigeria is very suspect, they have an agenda. The mission of Twitter in Nigeria is very suspicious,” he had said.

In the now-deleted tweet, Buhari had made a reference to the country’s 30-month civil war in 1967-1970, and had warned “those who wanted the government to fail” to desist from fomenting trouble.

“Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigeria civil war. Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand”, the tweet posted by the president on Tuesday night had said.

Twitter had deleted the president’s post on Wednesday, following criticisms from some social media users. Slamming the deletion, Lai Mohammed had said, “Twitter may have its own rules, it’s not the universal rule. If Mr. President, anywhere in the world feels very bad and concerned about a situation, he is free to express such views”.

He also said that Twitter allowing tweets by troublemakers and secessionists in Nigeria.

“When people were burning police stations and killing policemen in Nigeria during End SARS, a decentralised social movement, for Twitter, it was about the right to protest. But when a similar thing happened in the United States, it became insurrection,” Mohammed had said.

References:

OpIndia