The second round of Twitter Files that was released on Thursday revealed that some prominent conservative commentators had been actively blacklisted by the social media giant, among them Human Events contributor and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
He appeared on Steve Bannon's War Room show on Friday morning to discuss this "shadow ban," having his account tagged with the words "do not amplify," and how it all began.
Bannon introduces "super global bigshot" Kirk by expressing his delight at seeing his "big ol' head" on the main page of the Daily Mail, asking him to tell his story of "both the government and the tech oligarchs" trying to shut him down.
"So, for years I used Twitter rather extensively, hours a day, and I really studied the platform," Kirk begins, describing how he started his account in 2011 while still in Junior High School when the platform was not as popular.
"[In 2014, 2015] I saw the potential of the platform to be able to get heterodox ideas viral, to be able to push back against regime narratives, and this is when Trump was just coming on the scene," he says, going on to explain how he studied what went viral and what didn't. "Twitter became kind of the public square."
A report by Axios said that Kirk had one of the most engaged Twitter accounts in the country, averaging around 120,000 retweets per day.
Then in 2020, Kirk began to express ideas and opinions on Twitter about the coronavirus, which often didn't fit the standard narrative being pushed by the CDC and the WHO.
"Almost overnight, my Twitter account started to lower in engagement, lower in virality," he said. "I was a tough case for Twitter because I knew the rules really well, so I never violated the rules, no matter how Stalinistic they were."
"So they couldn't ban me, but they could suppress me and shadow-ban me, which is exactly what they did."
Bannon interjected to confirm that in 2018, then-CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, testified under oath that Twitter did not, and would not, shadow ban accounts.
Kirk recounted how Dorsey told him the same thing to his face in what he described as a "warm meeting."
He remembered emailing them to enquire about what was happening to his account, receiving "almost radio silence from the entire Twitter management."
"Something changed, and my hypothesis is that the federal government got actively involved in what Twitter did," he said.
"No one else got this threat tag, 'do not amplify,' meaning what he has to say is a threat to what we want to see happen," Kirk concluded.
He appeared on Steve Bannon's War Room show on Friday morning to discuss this "shadow ban," having his account tagged with the words "do not amplify," and how it all began.
Bannon introduces "super global bigshot" Kirk by expressing his delight at seeing his "big ol' head" on the main page of the Daily Mail, asking him to tell his story of "both the government and the tech oligarchs" trying to shut him down.
"So, for years I used Twitter rather extensively, hours a day, and I really studied the platform," Kirk begins, describing how he started his account in 2011 while still in Junior High School when the platform was not as popular.
"[In 2014, 2015] I saw the potential of the platform to be able to get heterodox ideas viral, to be able to push back against regime narratives, and this is when Trump was just coming on the scene," he says, going on to explain how he studied what went viral and what didn't. "Twitter became kind of the public square."
A report by Axios said that Kirk had one of the most engaged Twitter accounts in the country, averaging around 120,000 retweets per day.
Then in 2020, Kirk began to express ideas and opinions on Twitter about the coronavirus, which often didn't fit the standard narrative being pushed by the CDC and the WHO.
"Almost overnight, my Twitter account started to lower in engagement, lower in virality," he said. "I was a tough case for Twitter because I knew the rules really well, so I never violated the rules, no matter how Stalinistic they were."
"So they couldn't ban me, but they could suppress me and shadow-ban me, which is exactly what they did."
Bannon interjected to confirm that in 2018, then-CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, testified under oath that Twitter did not, and would not, shadow ban accounts.
Kirk recounted how Dorsey told him the same thing to his face in what he described as a "warm meeting."
He remembered emailing them to enquire about what was happening to his account, receiving "almost radio silence from the entire Twitter management."
"Something changed, and my hypothesis is that the federal government got actively involved in what Twitter did," he said.
"No one else got this threat tag, 'do not amplify,' meaning what he has to say is a threat to what we want to see happen," Kirk concluded.
