The Manipulators

by Peter J. Hasson

  19. “Me. We. Us. The World. #GrowTogether,” Company, Twitter, September 2017, https://about.twitter.com/en_us/company/our-culture.html.

  20. Avery Anapol, “Twitter Employee Who Deleted Trump’s Account Reveals Himself,” The Hill, November 29, 2017, https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/362468-twitter-employee-who-deleted-trumps-account-reveals-himself.

  21. Jamie Weinstein, “White Nationalism Leader Richard Spencer Defends Meager Conference Attendance Compared to Bronycon,” Daily Caller, November 24, 2016, https://dailycaller.com/2016/11/24/white-nationalist-leader-richard-spencer-defends-meager-conference-attendance-compared-to-bronycon/.

  22. Joseph Wulfsohn, “Ben Shapiro Shames The Economist after Referring to Him as ‘Alt-Right’: ‘That’s a Vile Lie,’ ” Fox News, March 29, 2019, https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/ben-shapiro-shames-the-economist-into-changing-headline-after-referring-to-him-as-alt-right.

  23. Jack Dorsey (@jack), “We’re Committing Twitter To Help Increase the Collective Health, Openness, and Civility of Public Conversation, and To Hold Ourselves Publicly Accountable,” Twitter post, March 1, 2018, https://twitter.com/jack/status/969234275420655616.

  24. Ibid.

  25. “Statement of Nick Pickles Before the Committee on the Judiciary,” U.S. House of Representatives, July 17, 2018, https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU00/20180717/108546/HHRG-115-JU00-Wstate-PicklesN-20180717.pdf.

  26. Alex Thompson, “Twitter Appears To Have Fixed ‘Shadow Ban’ of Prominent Republicans like the RNC Chair and Trump Jr.’s Spokesman,” Vice News, July 25, 2018, https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/43paqq/twitter-is-shadow-banning-prominent-republicans-like-the-rnc-chair-and-trump-jrs-spokesman.

  27. Peter Hasson (@peterjhasson), “In This Interview with @guypbenson (Who Asked All the Right Questions), @jack Accurately Notes That Twitter Shifted to a Ranked Timeline Two Years (Left),” Twitter post, August 2, 2018, https://twitter.com/peterjhasson/status/1025377568676036608.

  28. Vijaya Gadde and David Gasca, “Measuring Healthy Conversation,” Company, Twitter, July 30, 2018, https://blog.twitter.com/official/en_us/topics/company/2018/measuring_healthy_conversation.html.

  29. Gadde and Gasca, “Measuring Healthy Conversation.”

  30. Peter Hasson, “Twitter Plans ‘Hate Speech’ Crackdown after Backlash from Upset Employees,” Daily Caller, August 8, 2018, https://dailycaller.com/2018/08/08/twitter-jack-dorsey-hate-speech-policy/.

  31. Ibid.

  32. “Man,” Dictionary, Merriam Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/man

  33. “Woman,” Dictionary, Merriam Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/woman.

  34. Daniella Greenbaum, “Here Is the Column That Business Insider Spiked,” Washington Examiner, July 11, 2018, https://www.weeklystandard.com/daniella-greenbaum/here-is-the-column-about-scarjo-that-business-insider-spiked-to-appease-a-social-justice-mob.

  35. Joe Simonson, “Business Insider Takes Down Conservative Column after Employees Revolt,” Daily Caller, July 10, 2018, https://dailycaller.com/2018/07/10/business-insider-column-revolt/.

  36. Peter Hasson and Henry Rodgers, “Ilhan Omar Urges Kieth Ellison To Investigate USA Powerlifting for Barring Biological Males from Women’s Events,” Daily Caller, February 6, 2019, https://dailycaller.com/2019/02/06/ilhan-omar-transgender-powerlifting/.

  37. Peter Hasson, “Democrats Unanimous as House Passes Bill Forcing Schools To Let Male Athletes Compete in Girls’ Sports,” Daily Caller, May 17, 2019, https://dailycaller.com/2019/05/17/house-equality-act-transgender-womens-sports/.

  38. Peter Hasson, “Every Democratic 2020 Frontrunner Supports Bill Forcing Male Athletes into Girls’ Sports,” Daily Caller, June 18, 2019, https://dailycaller.com/2019/06/18/2020-democrats-transgender-athletes-equality-act/.

  39. Meghan Murphy, “Twitter Wants Me To Shut Up and the Right Wants Me To Join Them; I Don’t Think I Should Have To Do Either,” Feminist Current, November 20, 2018, https://www.feministcurrent.com/2018/11/20/twitter-wants-shut-right-wants-join-dont-think-either/.

  40. Vijaya Gadde and Del Harvey, “Creating New Policies Together,” Company, Twitter, September 25, 2018, https://blog.twitter.com/official/en_us/topics/company/2018/Creating-new-policies-together.html.

  41. Louise Matsakis, “Twitter Releases New Policy on ‘Dehumanizing Speech,’ ” Wired, September 25, 2018, https://www.wired.com/story/twitter-dehumanizing-speech-policy/.

  42. Rachel Stoltzofoos, “Twitter Suspends Another Porminent User for Stating Basic Truths about Transgenderism,” Daily Caller, May 17, 2019, https://dailycaller.com/2019/05/17/twitter-suspends-transgenderism/.

  43. Ibid.

  44. Niel Munro, “Twitter Blacklists Famed Gender Dysphoria Researcher Ray Blanchard,” Breitbart, May 13, 2019, https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/05/13/twitter-blacklists-famed-gender-dysphoria-researcher-ray-blanchard/.

  45. “Pope Francis: It’s ‘Terrible’ Children Taught They Can Choose Gender,” Catholic Herald, August 3, 2016, https://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2016/08/03/pope-francis-its-terrible-children-taught-they-can-choose-gender/.

  46. Ibid.

  47. Amber Athey, “Two Conservatives Suspended from Twitter—One for Tweeting about Brussels Sprouts,” Daily Caller, January 3, 2019, https://dailycaller.com/2019/01/03/newsbusters-daily-wire-conservative-suspended-twitter-brussels-sprouts/.

  48. Amber Athey, “Twitter Restores Popular Beto O’Rourke Parody Account,” Daily Caller, January 23, 2019, https://dailycaller.com/2019/01/23/twitter-beto-orourke-parody-suspended/.

  49. Ibid.

  50. Eric Lieberman, “Twitter: ‘Our Mistake’ for Restricting User Who Criticized Hamas,” Daily Caller, May 28, 2018, https://dailycaller.com/2018/05/28/twitter-restricts-user-who-criticized-hamas/.

  51. Neetu Chandak, “Twitter bans Center for Immigration Studies from Promoting Tweets about Illegal Aliens,” Daily Caller, September 12, 2018, https://dailycaller.com/2018/09/12/twitter-center-immigration-studies-illegal-aliens/.

  52. Andy Lassner (@andylassner), “Oh for God’s Sake. I’m as Liberal as They Come. Jesse Is a Harmless Guy Who Happens To Be Funny as Hell, Not To Mention My Friend. He Did Everything with a Wink on Here. If Twitter Really Banned Him, That’s Just Stupid,” Twitter post, November 25, 2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20181126004716/https:/twitter.com/andylassner/status/1066852756533604352.

  53. Ben Sasse (@BenSasse), “Jesse Kelly Can’t Stand Me. And I Think His Tribal War Scalping Stuff Is Stupid and Wrong. But That Doesn’t Matter Much Compared to the Bigger Picture Here,” Twitter post, November 26, 2018, https://twitter.com/BenSasse/status/1067159950949056513.

  54. Jesse Kelly, “Twitter Banned Me for Literally No Reason, But in the End They’ll Lose,” The Federalist, November 26, 2018, http://thefederalist.com/2018/11/26/twitter-banned-literally-no-reason-end-theyll-lose/.

  55. Amber Athey, “Daily Caller Editor in Chief Locked Out of Account for Tweeting ‘Learn To Code,’ ” Daily Caller, February 6, 2019, https://dailycaller.com/2019/02/06/daily-caller-twitter-locked-learn-to-code/.

  56. Ibid.

  57. Peter Hasson, “Twitter: Saying Dana Loesch’s Kids Need To Be Murdered Does Not Violate Rules,” Daily Caller, August 27, 2018, https://dailycaller.com/2018/08/27/dana-loesch-twitter-death-threats/.

  58. Peter Hasson, “Twitter Reverses Ruling after Backlash, Concedes It’s against the Rules To Wish Death upon Dana Loesch’s Children,” Daily Caller, August 27, 2018, https://dailycaller.com/2018/08/27/dana-loesch-twitter-death-threats-reversed/.

  59. “Meghan McCain’s Husband Slams Twitter for Waiting Hours To Remove Tweet Threatening Wife,” CBS News, September 1, 2018, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ben-domenech-meghan-mccain-slams-twitter-for-waiting-hours-to-remove-threatening-tweet/.

  60. Maureen Groppe, “Twitter Apologizes to Meghan McCain for Not Acting Faster To Remove a Doctored Photo Showing Gun Pointed at Her,” USA Today, September 5, 2018, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/09
/05/twitter-apologizes-meghan-mccain-not-removing-photo-faster/1205340002/.

  61. Ben Domenech, “Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Lied under Oath to Congress. Shouldn’t That Matter?” The Federalist, November 26, 2018, https://thefederalist.com/2018/11/26/jack-dorsey-lied-under-oath-to-congress-shouldnt-that-matter/.

  62. Selina Wang, “Twitter Delves Deeper into News Curation,” Mercury News, June 13, 2018, https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/06/13/twitter-delves-deeper-into-news-curation/.

  63. “Job Posting,” Careers, Twitter, January 20, 2019, https://careers.twitter.com/content/careers-twitter/en/jobs-search.html?q=journalist&team=&location=.

  64. “Student Says He Was Trying To Defuse Situation after Staredown with Native American Elder Goes Viral,” Moments, Twitter, January 21, 2019, https://twitter.com/i/moments/1086718692270972929.

  Chapter Six: Purging Pro-Lifers

  1. Robert George, “Undergraduates Say the Darndest Things. When Discussing the History of Racial Injustice, I Frequently Ask Them What Their Position on Slavery Would Have Been,” Facebook post, Facebook, April 28, 2016, https://www.facebook.com/robert.p.george.39/posts/10208487901087703.

  2. Lydia Saad, “Trimesters Still Key to U.S. Abortion Views,” Gallup News, June13, 2018, https://news.gallup.com/poll/235469/trimesters-key-abortion-views.aspx.

  3. “Americans’ Opinions on Abortion,” Knights of Columbus and the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, January 2018, http://kofc.org/un/en/resources/communications/abortion-limits-favored.pdf.

  4. “Abortion,” In Depth: Topics A to Z, Gallup, May 2019, https://news.gallup.com/poll/1576/abortion.aspx.

  5. “Pregnancy Week by Week,” Healthy Lifestyle Mayo Clinic, July 12, 2017, https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/pregnancy-week-by-week/in-depth/prenatal-care/art-20045302.

  6. “Fetal Growth and Development,” South Dakota Department of Health, 1995, https://doh.sd.gov/abortion/assets/fetal.pdf.

  7. “Planned Parenthood,” Influence and Lobbying Organizations, OpenSecrets.org, 2018, https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000591&cycle=2018.

  8. Ibid.

  9. Peter Hasson, “Democratic Platform Calls for Taxpayer-Funded Abortions,” Daily Caller, June 26, 2016, https://dailycaller.com/2016/06/26/democratic-platform-calls-for-taxpayer-funded-abortions/.

  10. Ibid.

  11. Peter Hasson, “Seven Louis Farrakhan Quotes on Jews, Gays, and White People,” Daily Caller, January 26, 2018, https://dailycaller.com/2018/01/26/louis-farrakhan-barack-obama-nation-of-islam/.

  12. Peter Hasson, “Women’s March Flies into Damage Control over Farrakhan Ties,” Daily Caller, March 6, 2018, https://dailycaller.com/2018/03/06/womens-march-tamika-mallory-defends-louis-farrakhan-ties/.

  13. Leah McSweeney and Jacob Siegel, “Is the Women’s March Melting Down?” Tablet Magazine, December 10, 2018, https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/276694/is-the-womens-march-melting-down.

  14. Ibid.

  15. Jackie Kucinich, “Southern Poverty Law Center Quietly Joins the Roster of Big Groups Walking Away from the Women’s March,” Daily Beast, January 11, 2019, https://www.thedailybeast.com/southern-poverty-law-center-quietly-joins-the-roster-of-big-groups-walking-away-from-the-womens-march.

  16. Rossalyn Warren, “Facebook Is Ignoring Anti-Abortion Fake News,” New York Times, November 10, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/opinion/facebook-fake-news-abortion.html.

  17. Ibid.

  18. Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti), “Whoever Edited That Atlantic Piece on ‘Late-Term Abortions’ Should Be Embarrassed,” Twitter post, Twitter, February 4, 2019, https://web.archive.org/save/https://twitter.com/JessicaValenti/status/1092477342855938049.

  19. Kirstin Palovick, “ ’ThriVe Lies’: Why Pro-Choice Activists Rallied outside a St. Louis Anti-Abortion Clinic,” Rewire.News, February 13, 2017, https://rewire.news/article/2017/02/13/thrive-lies-pro-choice-activists-rallied-outside-st-louis-anti-abortion-clinic/.

  20. Peter Hasson, “Pennsylvania Democrat Brian Sims Slammed for Non-Apology Attacking Pro-Lifers,” Daily Caller, May 8, 2019, https://dailycaller.com/2019/05/08/pennsylvania-brian-sims-pro-life/.

  21. Sean Davis, “Now We Know Why Reporters Won’t Cover the Planned Parenthood Videos,” The Federalist, August 20, 2015, https://thefederalist.com/2015/08/20/now-we-know-why-reporters-wont-cover-the-planned-parenthood-videos/.

  22. April Glaser, “YouTube’s Search Results for ‘Abortion’ Show Exactly What Anti-Abortion Activists Want Women To See,” Slate, December 21, 2018, https://slate.com/technology/2018/12/youtube-search-abortion-results-pro-life.html.

  23. Ibid.

  24. Allum Bokhari, “ ‘The Smoking Gun’: Google Manipulated YouTube Search Results for Abortion, Maxine Waters, David Hogg,” Breitbart, January 16, 2019, https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2019/01/16/google-youtube-search-blacklist-smoking-gun/.

  25. Allum Bokhari, “YouTube Admits It Meddled with Abortion Search Results—But Calls Downranked Videos ‘Misinformation,’ ” Breitbart, January 17, 2019, https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2019/01/17/youtube-admits-it-meddled-with-abortion-search-results-but-calls-downranked-videos-misinformation/.

  26. Ibid.

  27. “William Wilberforce,” Religions, BBC, July 5, 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/people/williamwilberforce_1.shtml.

  28. “About Susan B. Anthony List,” About, SBA-List.org, https://www.sba-list.org/about-susan-b-anthony-list.

  29. Ibid.

  30. Mallory Quigley, “Facebook STILL Censoring Pro-Life Ads,” Press Releases, SBA-List.org, November 1, 2018, https://www.sba-list.org/newsroom/press-releases/facebook-still-censoring-pro-life-ads.

  31. Becket Adams, “Facebook Censoring Pro-Life Political Ads, Again,” Washington Examiner, November 1, 2018, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/facebook-censoring-pro-life-political-ads-again.

  32. Steven Ertelt, “Twitter Censors Pro-Life Group: No Advertiser Is Permitted To Use the Phrase ‘Killing Babies,’ ” LifeNews.com, October 24, 2017, https://www.lifenews.com/2017/10/24/twitter-censors-pro-life-group-no-advertiser-is-permitted-to-use-the-phrase-killing-babies/.

  33. Ibid.

  34. Andy Biggs, “Blocked: How the Pro-Life Movement Is Being Censored on Social Media,” The Hill, January 24, 2018, https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/370455-blocked-how-the-pro-life-movement-is-being-censored-on-social.

  35. Susan Berry, “Facebook Blocks Crowdfunding Site for ‘Roe v. Wade’ Movie,” Breitbart, January 11, 2018, https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2018/01/11/nick-loeb-producing-roe-v-wade-movie-crowdfund-site-blocked-facebook/.

  36. Ibid.

  37. Becket Adams, “Facebook Censoring Pro-Life Political Ads, Again,” Washington Examiner, November 1, 2018, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/facebook-censoring-pro-life-political-ads-again.

  38. “Twitter: Stop Aiding Pro-Life Lies,” Petitions, ReproAction, https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/twitter-stop-aiding-pro-life-lies/.

  39. Mary Margaret Olohan, “In Check on Live Action, Fact Checkers Cited Doctor Who Openly Spewed Hate for Anti-Abortion Groups,” Daily Caller, September 19, 2019, https://dailycaller.com/2019/09/19/live-action-fact-check-biased/.

  40. Ibid.

  41. Mary Margaret Olohan, “Fact Check of Live Action Content ‘Fell Short’ of International Fact Checking Network Standards,” Daily Caller, September 27, 2019, https://dailycaller.com/2019/09/27/live-actions-fact-checkers-abortion/.

  42. “2016–2017 Annual Report,” Planned Parenthood, December 29, 2017, https://www.plannedparenthood.org/uploads/filer_public/d4/50/d450c016-a6a9-4455-bf7f-711067db5ff7/20171229_ar16-17_p01_lowres.pdf.

  43. Sara Ashley O’Brien, “Sheryl Sandberg Gives $1 Million to Planned Parenthood,” CNN Business, February 1, 2017, https://money.cnn.com/2017/02/01/technology/sheryl-sandberg-planned-parenthood/index.html.

  44. Marina Fang, “Sheryl Sandberg Donates $1 Million to Planned Parenthood’s Advocacy Eff
orts,” HuffPost, June 28, 2019, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sheryl-sandberg-planned-parenthood-donation-abortion-laws_n_5d151134e4b07f6ca57a55c1.

  45. “Return of Exempt Organization Public Disclosure Copy,” Silicon Valley Community Foundation, December 31, 2017, https://www.siliconvalleycf.org/sites/default/files/documents/financial/2017-irs-form-990.pdf.

  Chapter Seven: Speech Police

  1. Abha Bhattarai, “Breitbart Lost 90% of Its Advertisers in Two Months: Who’s Still There?” Washington Post, June 8, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2017/06/08/breitbart-lost-90-percent-of-its-advertisers-in-two-months-whos-still-there/

  2. Adam Raymond, “Robert Mercer, Billionaire Bannon Booster, Quits Hedge Fund, Sells Breitbart Stake,” New York Magazine, November 2, 2017, http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/11/robert-mercer-quits-hedge-fund-sells-breitbart-stake.html.

  3. Peter Hasson, “Sleeping Giants’ Anonymous Founder Unmasked; Top Ad Writer behind Boycott Campaign Targeting Breitbart, Ingraham,” Daily Caller, July 16, 2018, https://dailycaller.com/2018/07/16/sleeping-giants-founder-rivitz/.

  4. Chuck Ross, “David Brock Finally Apologizes to Bernie Sanders in Desperate Open Letter,” Daily Caller, January 10, 2017, https://dailycaller.com/2017/01/10/david-brock-finally-apologizes-to-bernie-sanders-in-desperate-open-letter/.

  5. Tyler O’Neil, “SPLC’s ‘Hate Group’ Accusation Outed as a Scam, More Than 60 Groups Considering Lawsuits,” PJMedia, April 10, 2019, https://pjmedia.com/trending/splcs-hate-group-accusation-outed-as-a-scam-more-than-60-groups-considering-lawsuits/.

  6. Ben Schreckinger, “Has a Civil Rights Stalwart Lost Its Way?” Politico Magazine, July/August 2017, https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/28/morris-dees-splc-trump-southern-poverty-law-center-215312.

  7. Pau Bedard, “Support for Southern Poverty Law Center Links Scalise, Family Research Council Shooters,” Washington Examiner, June 14, 2017, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/support-for-southern-poverty-law-center-links-scalise-family-research-council-shooters.