Twitter’s 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 “What is a Woman?”
“Twitter canceled a deal with [The Daily Wire] to premiere What is a Woman? for free on the platform because of two instances of ‘misgendering.’ I’m not kidding,” Boreing wrote.
The documentary “What is a Woman?” 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.
2/16 One year ago today, we released What is a Woman?. To celebrate the occasion and expand the movie’s already enormous impact, we decided to give it away for free for 24 hours on Twitter.
— Jeremy Boreing (@JeremyDBoreing) June 1, 2023
“With Twitter’s 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,” he wrote, adding, “Twitter 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.”
However, Boreing wrote Twitter apparently changed its mind about the idea after reviewing the film.
“After 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 ‘hateful conduct’ because of ‘misgendering,'” he explained.
He added, “Specifically: In the film, a father refers to his 14-year-old daughter as ‘her,’ and a store owner uses the ‘wrong’ pronoun in a confrontation with a trans person.”
7/16 Specifically: In the film, a father refers to his 14-year-old daughter as “her,” and a store owner uses the “wrong” pronoun in a confrontation with a trans person.
— Jeremy Boreing (@JeremyDBoreing) June 1, 2023
Twitter officials also told Boreing that while the platform removed a mention of “misgendering” from its policies, it considers “‘misgendering’ abuse and harassment.'”
Boreing went on to allege Twitter threatened to limit the film’s visibility if The Daily Wire posted it so that even the outlet’s followers would not see it in their feeds.
He noted The Daily Wire started hosting its shows on the platform because “we believed Twitter was committed to free speech, especially on this issue.”
“After all, the [The Babylon Bee] was silenced on Twitter over this very issue, and that in part prompted [Elon Musk] to purchase the platform, he added.
Finally, Boreing wrote, “[Elon Musk] 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.”
“I hope [Musk] will reconsider this awful policy. If we can’t debate these issues on Twitter, where can we debate them? If conservatives aren’t welcome on Twitter, where are they welcome? It’s unlikely another centibillionaire will come along to offer an alternative,” he added.
15/16 I hope @elonmusk will reconsider this awful policy.
— Jeremy Boreing (@JeremyDBoreing) June 1, 2023
If we can't debate these issues on Twitter, where can we debate them?
If conservatives aren't welcome on Twitter, where are they welcome?
It’s unlikely another centibillionaire will come along to offer an alternative.
He also stated The Daily Wire still planned to stream its documentary on Twitter and asked, “Will Twitter make good on their threat to throttle it and label it ‘hateful conduct,’ or will Twitter live up to its great promise?”
As of Thursday morning, Twitter owner Elon Musk had not publicly tweeted about Boreing’s thread.
