Twitter Censors Tweets: Undeniable Proof

October 13, 2011 · 79 comments

College Students Discussing Censorship

Twitter IS definitely censoring tweets and hashtags. This post includes proof.

I’ve been warning my readers that we must not be complacent and make the assumption that platforms we use online are unbiased.

We must pay attention to what happens when we invest our time on sites that are not under our own control.

Those who realize there is a great movement sweeping the world already know this:

Regardless of how many tweets are sent for hashtags related to
Occuppy Wall Street NONE of those hashtags ever trend
on Twitter locally – or  nationally.
AND ESPECIALLY not in the CITY concerned!!!

But THAT is NOT ALL! >> Last week I noticed a new message on Twitter:

Your account may not be allowed to perform this action. Try logging out and in again.

Are You an Advice-Taker or Advice-Tester?

If you hate to read or have little time: Read just the text in red. It contains the most important points for every person.

If you are involved in small business, marketing or social media, also read all the gold text in gold boxes.

If you’re like me and you want to really understand what is going on, you will want to read through this three times:

1. Read just the red text.
2. Read just the gold text in gold boxes.
3. Read it all.

That is what you may see when your tweets are being censored: and here’s the proof:

When Twitter refused to accept that tweet, I removed the shortened link and did NOT get that message. So I did some further testing:

Testing With THAT Specific Shortened Link - Twitter refuses the Tweet

So I removed that link and sent EXACTLY the same tweet without the link and it went through:

Removed ONLY that shortened URL and as you can see the Tweet is live on Twitter

I even briefly got the message “Your Tweet to @SEOCopy has been sent” but it didn’t stay long enough to be screen captured.

Click This Image to READ: Twitter gives brands the ability to censor tweets!

WHY KNOWING WE ARE BEING CENSORING IS IMPORTANT:

I have been warning this day was coming for a very long time now. Few see how dangerous this is to our ability to make a living or even retain our freedom.

This is so important
I implore you not to leave this post
without understanding WHY.

When people have the illusion of freedom
and feel they have a voice
they are content to move ever closer
to the total loss of both.

The masses will tweet and feel they have a voice -
but if those tweets go nowhere -
they don’t!

They only have the ILLUSION they have a voice.

When important issues are being discussed online, people spend their most valuable assets: their time and money, working to spread the word.

When what we share is being actively censored -
and most will NEVER KNOW when that is happening -
our time and money are being stolen from us!

Every social network can easily censor what we say and do
and make that VERY DIFFICULT to detect by letting
YOU see what you shared but not showing it to anyone else!

You don’t have to believe me. You CAN find out for yourself. Simply ask your friends and followers to tell you if they saw something important that you shared with them.

WHICH SOCIAL NETWORKS CAN WE TRUST?

So it all comes down to which social networks CAN we trust? There is a simple way to tell. If the major media touts them and links to them they can’t be trusted. If they don’t, they might be trustworthy.

Particularly suspect are:

1. Twitter
2. Facebook
3. Google+
4. LinkedIn
5. MySpace
6. FriendFeed
7. StumbleUpon
8. Who else? Tell me in the comments and I’ll add them here.

What we really need is an independent social network.

They will have GREAT DIFFICULTY gaining enough users to be financially viable so we MUST all get behind any that surface. I know of one being developed which I will share as soon as they’re ready.

If YOU know of any let me know in the comments or by contacting me.

This goes deeper than Freedom of Speech.
Our Freedom of CHOICE is also at risk.

When you automatically use Google
we, the people, will ONLY see those Google chooses to grant visibility.

Small businesses become invisible to us and will eventually fail – taking away ever more choices until all that is left are Big Box stores – maybe even Big Box STORE – ONE company store because at that point they won’t need multiple brands.

That limits our choices in EVERY WAY
from where we shop to what products and services
we know exist to what information we can find -

And that information determines
WHAT WE BELIEVE IS TRUE.

Q: What do you do when one airline treats you horribly?

A: You switch airlines. Then when that one treats you horribly, you switch again. If the wealthy elite control each major airline they don’t care which one you use but you BELIEVE you have freedom to choose. DO YOU?

SUGGESTION: Switch to a regional airline.

Q: What do you do when your cell phone carrier does you wrong or is overcharging you?

A: You switch to another major cell phone carrier that is running a sale (oh – but you can only get that price if you accept a long term contract filled with tiny print you can’t understand. And when THEY do you wrong? You’re stuck with them for X amount of time until your contract runs out and then you can again jump out of one frying pan into another fire.

SUGGESTION: Switch to a smaller carrier. While they, too, are most likely RESELLING those same brands you are trying to escape, at least they MIGHT have customer service that MIGHT care about you. (Know of a small cell phone company you can recommend? Tell us in the comments – links to their Web site are OK.)

I included these two examples to open more eyes to the truth:

WE, the people, have never had many OBVIOUS real choices.
We have only been given the ILLUSION of choice!

We DO have CHOICES though
When we SUPPORT SMALL BUSINESSES

Our money recirculates in our communities
creating jobs and raising our standard of living.

By buying local WE can take control back.

Where you spend your money MATTERS.

Before the Internet, the wealthy few controlled everything we saw through their ownership of the major media, movie studios, newspapers, magazines.

Since the Internet, people like me and legions more can share what we’ve learned over a lifetime, and anyone can tune in and figure out what works for them.

The wealthy elite want their control back and they are doing everything they can to get it from imposing National ID systems to tracking devices to censorship.

WE are handing them that control
when we automatically believe that
ONLY what THEY HYPE is THE BEST

STOP giving them your time, money and attention.

CONNECT THE DOTS:

You MUST understand why all of this is important.

Your financial survival depends on it
So do your freedoms of choice, speech, travel, religious choice,
and even your freedom to not be imprisoned
even though you have done nothing wrong.

Think it can’t happen to YOU? You’re wrong! Our prisons are full of innocent people!

Most use Google so they only see what Google shows them.
How many businesses already don’t show up in search?
How much information is already difficult to find?

Will YOU notice when posts and stores disappear?

It is only a matter of time before search results are sanitized for our “protection”. [Read: cleared of people like me and any businesses that dared to compete with Google or their favored big brands.]

Google is already churning results. If you have access to any analytics, simply compare the keywords sending you traffic from Google prior to July 28, 2011 to the keywords sending you traffic since July 28, 2011.

Also compare your bounce rates before and after that date. Most will think “great, Google is still sending me traffic” and not realize that – just as they do with Distribution Fraud in AdWords – traffic that isn’t your target audience consumes resources and provides no benefits.

It HIDES the fact that even if your traffic stays the same you can no longer reach your target audience!

Churned results means you can NOT consistently get
targeted traffic from Google to your small business or blog.

The Google Panda updates that continue to be rolled out have already cost many businesses 1/3 to 1/2 of their traffic and incomes so far. As long as the customers they want to reach automatically use Google they’re toast. (Definition: “We’re toast” – slang expression meaning we’re getting burnt; we don’t have a chance.)

WHAT WE CAN DO:

1. Use alternative search engines. I will put together a group to research and publish our options.
2. Communicate DIRECTLY over the phone or through Skype or Instant Messenger (IM) chat. If you get a yellow triangle icon with an exclamation point (!) in it on Skype the other person DID NOT receive that message. Yahoo IM is more reliable and you can leave messages when someone is not online that they SHOULD receive later. DO NOT assume they received them though – see point 4 below.
3. Assume that ALL COMMUNICATIONS are being recorded including email, phone, and chat.
4. NEVER assume what you sent was seen or received UNTIL IT IS ACKNOWLEDGED. That goes double for email. See Closed Loop Communications for details.
5. Save URLs to sites you visit that are important to you somewhere they can not be changed without your knowledge. I use Tomboy Notes and there are multiple backups of everything on this blog, but even those COULD be hacked.
6. Seek out other bloggers like you and exchange direct contact information including phone numbers, email addresses, and social networks where they’re active.
7. Be part of the solution. If you do nothing you are part of the problem and pretending it doesn’t exist will not change what happens to you if we don’t PROTEST CORRUPTION!

If people are ever going to wake up, they must do it NOW!
Stop being naive and believing media spin.
Do not let only what they tell you be what you believe is true!

The best way to connect with other bloggers is to install either
the free CommentLuv plugin or CommentLuv Premium.

Search for blogs in your niche and physical location, and GO COMMENT IN THOSE BLOGS. Follow the CommentLuv links from blog to blog. (Right click and choose open in new tab to open those you want to go visit.)

Communities of bloggers can be the solution to
how we find each other and stay in touch.
We MUST seek out and create LOCAL BLOGGING COMMUNITIES.

It is CRITICAL that we find each other NOW
Because it will become harder to use Social Networks
and Search Engines to find each other later!

POTENTIAL BIG PROBLEM:
WordPress is controlled by Automattic and part of ‘The Borg’
(The Borg is how I refer to all things controlled by the Wealthy Elite)
What that means is they COULD censor our blogs
even if they are on our own domains!

If you know others locally, if Internet access if interrupted for any reason you know people you can connect with physically.  All it takes is one blogger willing to lead a collaboration of local bloggers to effect change in your community.

Through supporting local businesses you also position yourselves to earn an income to support your blogging efforts. I personally mentor bloggers and am seeking Bloggers willing to Lead Blog Collaborations.

Together we can ensure that our freedoms are not taken from us!

WHAT TO DO IF YOU’RE FEELING OVERWHELMED:

Many will read this post and be totally overwhelmed.

RESIST the compulsion to just leave.

For your sake and the sake of every person on the planet, do one thing for me:

Go back to the top of this post and just read the red text and nothing else. That will give you the main points everyone needs to get.

If you’re up to it or you have a business or are involved in marketing or social media: go back to the top again and read just the gold text in gold boxes. That will give you additional MUST KNOW information.

Be CREATIVE.
If a social network censors tweets or shares
worded a particular way or that include a
specific URL, change the wording or the URL.

If you have questions, don’t be afraid. Just comment here – or if you don’t want to comment publicly, contact me.

Tagged as: blogging best practices, censorship, Twitter, twitter censorship

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