Twitterâs commitment to free speech is being questioned by the co-founder of a major conservative outlet.
On Thursday, Jeremy Boreing, a co-founder of The Daily Wire, released a lengthy Twitter thread about an attempted deal to premiere the documentary âWhat is a Woman?â
âTwitter canceled a deal with to premiere What is a Woman? for free on the platform because of two instances of âmisgendering.â Iâm not kidding,â Boreing wrote.
The documentary âWhat is a Woman?â focuses on the debate over transgender surgeries and gender.
He noted the conservative outlet released the documentary a year ago and approached Twitter about streaming it on the platform for free.
âWith Twitterâs recent commitments to free speech, we thought it would be the perfect place to distribute the film and drive the conversation forward on one of the most important topics of our day,â he wrote, adding, âTwitter responded with enthusiasm and offered us the opportunity to buy a package to host the movie on a dedicated event page and to promote the event to every Twitter user over the first 10 hours.â
However, Boreing wrote Twitter apparently changed its mind about the idea after reviewing the film.
âAfter reviewing the film, though, Twitter let us know that not only could we no longer purchase the package they offered, they would no longer provide us any support and would actually limit the reach of the film and label it as âhateful conductâ because of âmisgendering,'â he explained.
He added, âSpecifically: In the film, a father refers to his 14-year-old daughter as âher,â and a store owner uses the âwrongâ pronoun in a confrontation with a trans person.â
Twitter officials also told Boreing that while the platform removed a mention of âmisgenderingâ from its policies, it considers ââmisgenderingâ abuse and harassment.'â
Boreing went on to allege Twitter threatened to limit the filmâs visibility if The Daily Wire posted it so that even the outletâs followers would not see it in their feeds.
He noted The Daily Wire started hosting its shows on the platform because âwe believed Twitter was committed to free speech, especially on this issue.â
âAfter all, the was silenced on Twitter over this very issue, and that in part prompted to purchase the platform, he added.
Finally, Boreing wrote, â is not beholden to conservatives. He has the right to run his business as he sees fit. But if Twitter is going to throttle one side of one of the most important debates facing society, it cannot claim to champion free speech.â
âI hope will reconsider this awful policy. If we canât debate these issues on Twitter, where can we debate them? If conservatives arenât welcome on Twitter, where are they welcome? Itâs unlikely another centibillionaire will come along to offer an alternative,â he added.
He also stated The Daily Wire still planned to stream its documentary on Twitter and asked, âWill Twitter make good on their threat to throttle it and label it âhateful conduct,â or will Twitter live up to its great promise?â
As of Thursday morning, Twitter owner Elon Musk had not publicly tweeted about Boreingâs thread.
