Former Twitter censor Yoel Roth justified the site in its pre-Elon Musk incarnation banning satirical website The Babylon Bee, asserting that its content was “not funny” and “dangerous.”
Twitter’s former head of trust and safety made the remarks during an appearance on a Knight Foundation panel.
The Babylon Bee was suspended, or more accurately locked out of their account, for “misgendering” Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine, a biological male who now identifies as a woman.
Their crime was to bestow upon Levine a “man of the year” award.
Despite Yoel Roth admitting that Twitter had made a mistake in banning a story about the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, he said the censorship of the Babylon Bee was perfectly reasonable.
“You can like the policies or you can dislike the policies, but it’s the same rules for everyone,” said Roth.
“When you repeatedly tweet violations of a policy there are consequences, including account timeouts, and ultimately, they can lead to suspension. And they did,” he added.
Yoel Roth, who no longer works at Twitter, claims that satire is dangerous and that Libs of TikTok and The Babylon Bee are dangerous. I’m glad he’s gone. He was bad for Twitter. pic.twitter.com/OTapsho3GO
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) December 4, 2022
Commenting specifically on the Babylon Bee issue, Roth asserted, “I want to start by acknowledging that the targeting and the victimization of the trans community on Twitter is very real, very life-threatening, and extraordinarily serious.”
“We have seen from a number of Twitter accounts, including Libs of TikTok notably, that there are orchestrated campaigns that particularly are singling out a group that is already particularly vulnerable within society,” he added.
“Not only is it not funny, but it is dangerous, and it does contribute to an environment that makes people unsafe in the world. So, let’s start from the premise that it’s fucked up,” said Roth.
That’s right, apparently, joking about the fact that there are only two genders makes people physically “unsafe.”
The Babylon Bee’s account was reinstated after Elon Musk took charge of Twitter, while Roth quit his position in early November.
As we highlight in the video below, the release of the Twitter files, data dumps proving targeted, political censorship of dissident voices and factual information, have left some fearing for Musk’s safety.
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