A Former Twitter Executive's Highly Selective Concern About 'Coercive Influences' on Social Media

Yoel Roth, who used to be in charge of “trust and safety” at a social media company that used to be called Twitter, is worried about “coercive influences on platform decision making.” But his concern is curiously selective. Unobjectionably, he sees coercion when foreign governments threaten to arrest uncooperative platform employees. More controversially, he also sees coercion when Republicans criticize content moderation decisions. When Democrats in positions of power pressure social media platforms to suppress politically disfavored content, however, Roth sees no cause for concern. Roth begins his confused and confusing New York Times essay on this subject by airing a personal grievance that the headline also highlights: “Trump Attacked Me. Then Musk Did. It Wasn’t an Accident.” When Roth worked at Twitter, now known as X, he “led the team that placed a fact-checking label on one of Donald Trump’s tweets for the first time.” After the January 6, 2021, riot by Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol, Roth “helped make the call to ban his account from Twitter altogether.” Because of Roth’s involvement in that first decision, Trump “publicly attacked” him. After Elon Musk acquired Twitter in 2022, prompting Roth to resign from his position, Musk “added fuel
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