Dan Abrams Slams Twitter For ‘Creating Even More Of A Divided Echo Chamber’ By Banning MTG And Taking Down Joe Rogan Interviews
Dan Abrams said Monday that Twitter’s decision to ban people such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) over misinformation will only contribute to a more “divided echo chamber” online.
On The Dan Abrams Show on SiriusXM, Abrams spoke about Greene’s permanent suspension over what Twitter called repeated violations of its Covid-19 misinformation policy. Abrams, who is the founder Mediaite, also hit at Twitter and YouTube for both taking down a viral interview between popular podcaster Joe Rogan and Dr. Robert Malone.
Malone claims to have been an architect in mRNA science, but is a staunch vaccine skeptic. After his interview with Malone was taken down, Rogan announced he had joined GETTR, which is a social media platform created by former advisor to President Donald Trump, Jason Miller.
When discussing banning popular voices such as Greene and Malone, Abrams said companies such as Twitter and YouTube are essentially inviting people to other places where they can consume and post content without feeling burdened by censors, specifically with relation to Covid-19 vaccines.
“And here’s the question that I’m going to take from all of you, which is. I am a huge advocate of vaccines. I am absolutely convinced that they work. When I say work, I mean that they can reduce hospitalization in people who get Covid,” Abrams said. “And it does seem that there was evidence on some of the previous forms of Covid, before Omicron, maybe Delta, but that it helped prevent the spread.”
“Bottom line is the small, rare cases of issues are vastly outweighed by the benefits of vaccines. Everyone should get vaccinated. For whatever reason, this vaccine has become politicized unlike every other vaccine,” Abrams added. “Certain members of the military are required to get 17 different vaccinations. It’s just this one that’s the problem. Just this one. Well, hasn’t been tested as law, but it’s been tested on way more people. So, the sample size is enormous. The results are clear. OK.”
Abrams continued:
But does that mean that when Marjorie Taylor Greene makes cuckoo comments on Twitter that they should ban her account? They’re allowed to. That’s why I say that’s a legal matter. There’s no question. Private company people have tried to challenge this, they lose every time. Twitter can ban her, but you know, I have concerns about them doing it. I have particular concerns about Twitter and YouTube deleting this interview that Joe Rogan did with this sort of rogue scientist. And my question to all of you is, do you have concerns? About Twitter, deleting these people’s accounts, even deleting Trump’s account?
Abrams concluded he is much more supportive of Twitter’s flagging of misinformation than he is of seeing the company ban people who post it.
“But, the idea of just banning these accounts, and Marjorie Taylor Greene is a nut job. She’s nuts,” Abrams said, noting that he does not know if Greene is genuinely mentally ill, but that she routinely “says crazy things that aren’t true.”
Abrams’ point was that by banning people such as Greene, Malone and others, Twitter is propping up startup social media competitors such as GETTR, which has no guardrails and was struggling to catch on until recently.
“But the result now is that Joe Rogan has gone over to this, this entity, this social media platform that was struggling called GETTR,” he said, adding that “suddenly what you’re doing is you are creating even more of a divided echo chamber.”
