Eric Swalwell tries to weaponize Twitter against political opponent
“‘Rep Doug Collins’ hasn’t repped anything in awhile… Let’s strip the blue check,” Swalwell tweeted.
Loading the front page…
“‘Rep Doug Collins’ hasn’t repped anything in awhile… Let’s strip the blue check,” Swalwell tweeted.
California Congressman Eric Swalwell attempted to weaponize Twitter against former Georgia Rep. Doug Collins over the weekend, suggesting that Twitter should remove Collins' "blue check" Twitter verification.
At issue for Swalwell, who was found to have had an affair with Chinese spy Fang Fang who was posing as an intern in his office, was Collins' tweet that Russia had perhaps not sanctioned Swalwell sooner due to their unwillingness to offend China. The implication was that Swalwell was a Chinese asset.
Took so long because they didn’t want to offend China! ????? https://t.co/JT5B3ieseA
— Doug Collins (@RepDougCollins)
Swalwell, who was proud of being sanctioned by Russia, didn't like Collins' suggestion, and suggested that Twitter remove the verification from Collins' name, seeing as he is no longer representing Georgia in Congress.
Hi @Twitter, “@RepDougCollins” hasn’t repped anything in awhile. Doug got pounded in the GOP Georgia senate primary by @KLoeffler (who got pounded in the general election by @ReverendWarnock). Most Georgians wouldn’t know Doug Collins from Tom Collins. Let’s strip the blue check. https://t.co/b6LCUKycWJ
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell)
"Hi Twitter," Swalwell said, "'RepDougCollins' hasn't repped anything in awhile. Doug got pounded in the GOP Georgia senate primary by K Loeffler (who got pounded in the general election by Reverend Warnock). Most Georgians wouldn't know Doug Collins from Tom Collins. Let's strip the blue check."
“Someone dunked on me so please remove his blue check” is a pretty pathetic flex even by Swalwell standards https://t.co/qqGJR2fDw9
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator)
Elon Musk, who is in the midst of acquiring Twitter after making a bid of $44 billion for the social media platform, has said that Twitter has a "strong left wing bias."
"Like I said," Musk said, "my preference is to hew close to the laws of countries in which Twitter operates. If the citizens want something banned, then pass a law to do so, otherwise it should be allowed."
He also laid out a plan for Twitter to be "politically neutral" going forward. "For Twitter to deserve public trust," he tweeted, "it must be politically neutral, which effectively means upsetting the far right and far left equally."
For Twitter to deserve public trust, it must be politically neutral, which effectively means upsetting the far right and the far left equally
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk)
In an exchange with The Daily Wire's Ben Shapiro, Musk said that "Attacks are coming thick and fast, primarily from the left, which is no surprise, however I should be clear that the right will probably be a little unhappy too."
Attacks are coming thick and fast, primarily from the left, which is no surprise, however I should be clear that the right will probably be a little unhappy too.
My goal is to maximize area under the curve of total human happiness, which means the ~80% of people in the middle.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk)
In Swalwell's case, it seems that he was trying to play on the anti-conservative stance at Twitter HQ in order to deplatform a political opponent, one who calls out Swalwell's ties to communist China. Twitter has, so far, not taken the bait.
Libby’s Desk
Commentary and must-reads from Libby’s desk, straight to your inbox.
TPM Newsletter
The Post Millennial’s top stories, delivered to your inbox.
