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Here's a little experiment anyone can do to test this. Click any tweet from a prominent Republican politician. If the tweet is new, especially very new, the rep

Here's a little experiment anyone can do to test this. Click any tweet from a prominent Republican politician. If the tweet is new, especially very new, the replies will be relatively supportive/agreeing with the politician. Within moments/minutes, anti-Republican messages will dominate the replies something like 95 to 1 and the first few replies will almost certainly be extremely rude, crude and emotionally vitriolic. The opposite happens to Democrat politicians, "thoughtful and sane" echoing replies are boosted to the top. Twitter gaslights conservatives and anti-gaslights the left. I saw this happen for the first time in real time when Trump first expressed his outrage when Twitter first amended his tweet that set off the whole S230 discussion. The first 5 minutes were nothing and I mean nothing but supportive tweets. After about 5 minutes, almost all the replies that were visible at the top were vitriolic and expressing anti-Trump views. Since then, I've been spotting this pattern everywhere, just not in real time. I think what probably happened is that the censors at twitter were scared of applying their gaslighting in light of Trump's threats, but that's just a guess. It's extremely obvious to me though that Twitter is purposely gaslighting conservatives by editorializing which anti-Republican replies get the most visibility.

Nursie 5y ago
That's twitter users, not the platform itself. I don't see any "free speech" alternative being any different. In fact presumably such mobbing would be more prevalent and more vitriolic there, as there would be no standards of content or behaviour. What you're asking for there is a republican safe space that suppresses dissent, not free speech.
- leereeves 5y ago
  I would agree that the group of people who spend tons of time on social media tends to lean left, but it doesn't help that the platforms are actively driving away non-leftists. In other words, it's hardly surprising that the user base of Twitter leans left. (For example, when they suspended Jason Whitlock for tweeting "Black Lives Matter founder buys $1.4 million home in Topanga, which has a black population of 1.4%. She's with her people!".)
  - Nursie 5y ago
    How are they actively driving away non-leftists?
viraptor 5y ago
And yet, the anti-democratic spam became a meme https://mobile.twitter.com/its_menieb/status/1411831790331912192 https://mobile.twitter.com/its_menieb/status/141183179033191... Looking through the recent Biden's posts, I don't see the opposite effect you mention. There's lots of criticism at the top.
- Covzire 5y ago
  When I click that Biden tweet, 8 out of the first 10 replies on my timeline are supportive, 1 questions vaccine safety and one is the meme you showed. For a prominent Republican that would be an amazing ratio of the first 10 replies especially if the tweet was older and has a lot of likes or retweets.
  - Nursie 5y ago
    So? That's free speech, don't you like free speech?
  - viraptor 5y ago
    That's not even close to what I see. The top for me contains 4 "this person got a reaction after the shot, are you going to pay for their costs?" tweets and other not-quite-positive messages. Maybe check the comparison again while logged out?
    - Covzire 5y ago
      In a private window for me it's 9 out of 10 supportive replies. Edit: Conversely here is one of the house minority leader's most recent tweets celebrating the 4th:https://twitter.com/LeaderMcConnell/status/1411656038793814025?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/LeaderMcConnell/status/14116560387938140... 8 out of the first 10 replies for me are anti-Republican talking points and anti-McConnell memes. The replies / discussion on every politician is clearly astro-turfed to create a specific narrative that always flows one direction. The house minority leader can't even celebrate the 4th without getting a lot of hateful replies and gaslighting in that anti- replies are boosted even if they have no or few likes or retweets.

Nursie 5y ago

That's twitter users, not the platform itself. I don't see any "free speech" alternative being any different. In fact presumably such mobbing would be more prevalent and more vitriolic there, as there would be no standards of content or behaviour. What you're asking for there is a republican safe space that suppresses dissent, not free speech.

leereeves 5y ago
I would agree that the group of people who spend tons of time on social media tends to lean left, but it doesn't help that the platforms are actively driving away non-leftists. In other words, it's hardly surprising that the user base of Twitter leans left. (For example, when they suspended Jason Whitlock for tweeting "Black Lives Matter founder buys $1.4 million home in Topanga, which has a black population of 1.4%. She's with her people!".)
- Nursie 5y ago
  How are they actively driving away non-leftists?

viraptor 5y ago

And yet, the anti-democratic spam became a meme https://mobile.twitter.com/its_menieb/status/1411831790331912192 https://mobile.twitter.com/its_menieb/status/141183179033191... Looking through the recent Biden's posts, I don't see the opposite effect you mention. There's lots of criticism at the top.

Covzire 5y ago
When I click that Biden tweet, 8 out of the first 10 replies on my timeline are supportive, 1 questions vaccine safety and one is the meme you showed. For a prominent Republican that would be an amazing ratio of the first 10 replies especially if the tweet was older and has a lot of likes or retweets.
- Nursie 5y ago
  So? That's free speech, don't you like free speech?
- viraptor 5y ago
  That's not even close to what I see. The top for me contains 4 "this person got a reaction after the shot, are you going to pay for their costs?" tweets and other not-quite-positive messages. Maybe check the comparison again while logged out?
  - Covzire 5y ago
    In a private window for me it's 9 out of 10 supportive replies. Edit: Conversely here is one of the house minority leader's most recent tweets celebrating the 4th:https://twitter.com/LeaderMcConnell/status/1411656038793814025?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/LeaderMcConnell/status/14116560387938140... 8 out of the first 10 replies for me are anti-Republican talking points and anti-McConnell memes. The replies / discussion on every politician is clearly astro-turfed to create a specific narrative that always flows one direction. The house minority leader can't even celebrate the 4th without getting a lot of hateful replies and gaslighting in that anti- replies are boosted even if they have no or few likes or retweets.