A feminist journalist who was permanently booted from Twitter for tweeting such things as “men aren’t women” and referring to a biological male as “him” is suing the social media giant for unfair censorship.
Meghan Murphy, the Vancouver, British Columbia-based founder and editor of Feminist Current announced this week in a press release that she is taking this action because of Twitter’s “unconscionable” terms of service, and its false advertising of itself as a free speech platform.
Under Twitter’s recently-instituted rules — which were not disclosed to users when she was kicked off — the social media company is allowed to ban people for practically any reason.
Murphy’s account was shut down in late November after she referred to a man, Jonathan Yaniv, as “him.” Yaniv, a trans-identified male who still uses his own masculine name, made news last year when he filed 16 human rights claims against aestheticians in Canada who refused to perform a Brazilian bikini wax on his genitals, arguing they had discriminated against him on the basis of gender identity. The Brazilian wax specialists said they did not wish to touch male genitalia and were not trained in performing such services.
Yaniv has publicly bragged that he got Murphy removed from Twitter.
Before Twitter’s ban, the Canadian writer was temporarily suspended for an exchange with others on the platform in which she said “men aren’t women,” and for asking questions like “how are transwomen not men”? She was only allowed to come back on the platform if she deleted those tweets.
Meanwhile, Twitter duplicitously permits accounts that post pornography and enable sex trafficking, and refuses to act on violent threats she and others routinely receive, she maintained Monday in a Facebook post. They do so as they hide behind Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, she explained.
In an email to The Christian Post Wednesday, Murphy elaborated that she is taking on the tech giant because, like it or not, Twitter constitutes a vital part of the public square nowadays and as such free speech must be defended there.
“Social media platforms control our access to information — it is where we communicate, debate, and follow news stories,” Murphy said. “These companies and platforms have an incredible amount of power over what the public may discuss and have access to, which means they absolutely must be unequivocal in their commitment to free speech and free expression.”
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SOURCE: Christian Post, Brandon Showalter
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