One of the strongest criticisms that Elon Musk makes of Twitter has to do with its moderation policies. The “absolutist of freedom of expression” considers that the platform does not adhere to this principle and today has something to support it. A report of Gizmodo has revealed that Twitter prevented the broadcast of an HBO Max documentary about the origins of QAnon.
Twitter admitted that prevented the promotion of the documentary Q: Into The Storm, directed by Cullen Hoback. The social network revealed that it made this decision as part of his strategy to subtract diffusion from the conspiracy movement associated with Donald Trump. Following the storming of the United States Capitol, Twitter and other platforms took action to limit the reach of QAnon and other extremist groups.
The documentary, divided into six episodes, premiered in March 2021 on HBO Max. Q: Into the Storm explores the rise of the QAnon conspiracy theory and the people involved in it. The miniseries debuted a few days ago on iTunes and its director thought it was a good idea to promote it on Twitter. To his surprise, the social network prevented the purchase of advertising for boost your tweet and decided to reduce visibility.
Twitter considers the QAnon documentary to be inappropriate content
According to Twitter, the documentary violates the policies of the social network for being inappropriate content. After receiving the refusal, the director asked the production company to contact the technology company and received a similar response from the communication department.
In 2021, Twitter made the decision not to allow the promotion of this documentary through advertising on the platform. This decision was in line with actions we took to suspend dedicated QAnon accounts and limit the visibility of QAnon-related content on the platform in general. As a result, the client will not be able to promote this content.
Twitter claims it made a manual review of the content and concluded that it would not promote it. The decision generated controversy and the director charged against the platform for its moderation policies. Hoback hinted the hypocrisy of twitterwho did little to prevent the growth of the movement but did censor a documentary that addresses it.
Far from being a content to recruit followers, as Twitter and some media claimed, Q: Into The Storm take a neutral stance. According to its director, the way to unravel QAnon was to reveal its structure and key characters, not to censor all discussion of it.
Q: Into The Storm has a 57% in RottenTomatoes. Some positive reviews highlight Hoback’s work and his attention to detail to cover all fronts of the movement. The negative review accuses the director of pandering to the conspirators and failing to expose why QAnon attracts hundreds of thousands of followers.
Moderation policies will change with the arrival of Elon Musk
The Twitter’s decision to censor the spread of Q: Into The Storm it took his Hoback and other filmmakers by surprise. Adam McKay, director of don’t look up, he described the action as ridiculous and said that we are having difficulties with freedom of expression in the face of big technology.
The Twitter’s moderation policies could undergo a sea change once Elon Musk takes control. Parag Agrawal, CEO of the company, promised that things would not change for the next few months, although once the deal is closed he does not know in which direction the platform will go.
The Elon Musk’s speech on allowing free speech he has gone down well in far-right circles. Republican Party politicians celebrated the purchase and although there is a possibility that Donald Trump will return to the platformthe ex-president assured that he will not do it since he bets on his Truth social network.