James Wood’s took to Twitter on Thursday to denounce the platform where he has more than 1.5 million followers, urging fans who said they have been “shadow banned” by the social media platform to sell off any stock they had in the company as punishment.
“I urge every @Twitter user who has had an account shadow banned to sell all stock holdings in @Twitter,” he said. “Hit these creeps in their stock value. It’s the only way to fight this bias. We fought @facebook (stock down) and @CNN (ratings down) and won. It works! @Twitter next.”
I urge every @Twitter user who has had an acoount shadow banned to sell all stock holdings in @Twitter. Hit these creeps in their stock value. It’s the only way to fight this bias. We fought @facebook (stock down) and @CNN (ratings down) and won. It works! @Twitter next.
In a followup, the actor tagged Twitter founder and chief Jack Dorsey, advising him to be smarter than his social media rival Mark Zuckerberg.
“It is @Twitter that will suffer from this, @jack. I divested @Twitter from my portfolio, not even as a boycott, but because the stock will drop in value now that investors realize how biased it is,” said Woods. “This nonsense destroyed @facebook. Be smarter than Mark Zuckerberg. It’s not hard.”
It is @Twitter that will suffer from this, @jack. I divested @Twitter from my portfolio, not even as a boycott, but because the stock will drop in value now that investors realize how biased it is. This nonsense destroyed @facebook. Be smarter than Mark Zuckerberg. It’s not hard. https://t.co/1hRTzF4eh4
Woods is the latest high profile conservative to sound the alarm after Vice News accused the company of “shadow banning” in a recent article. The piece contended that a number of GOP officials were not auto-populating in the site’s search bar, but that their Democratic counterparts did not face a similar issue.
President Trump himself elevated the issue to national attention on Thursday, tweeting that it was “illegal and discriminatory” and he would “look into” it.
“Twitter “SHADOW BANNING” prominent Republicans. Not good. We will look into this discriminatory and illegal practice at once! Many complaints,” he wrote.
Twitter “SHADOW BANNING” prominent Republicans. Not good. We will look into this discriminatory and illegal practice at once! Many complaints.
In a lengthy Twitter thread yesterday, the company’s chief of product Kayvon Beykpour said the issue was the result of a “machine learning” snafu that downgraded accounts deemed “unhealthy” to positive conversation on the website.
“In May, we started using behavioral signals and machine learning to reduce people’s ability to detract from healthy public conversation on Twitter. This approach looks at account behavior and interactions with other accounts that violate our rules,” Beykpour explained.
“Some accounts weren’t being auto-suggested even when people were searching for their specific name. Our usage of the behavior signals within search was causing this to happen & making search results seem inaccurate. We’re making a change today that will improve this.”
Twitter did not provide an explanation about why all those accounts just happened to be for conservative users. Reps for the company declined to offer any additional comment.
17 Times Fox News Hosts Criticized Donald Trump, From Charlottesville to Helsinki (Photos)
Megyn Kelly calls Trump out on women Trump famously feuded former anchor Kelly after she asked him a tough question at a Republican primary debate about derogatory statements he's made about women. Trump took it personally, judging by his response on Twitter and in interviews. He later famously said Kelly must have had "blood coming out of her wherever" regarding the question. Watch the debate question here.
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Kelly to Trump: "Facts matter" Trump kept hammering at Kelly on Twitter and elsewhere. When he called her out for not using the IBT poll when he was leading the Republican primary field, Kelly rebuked him with a tweet showing she did use the poll. "Facts matter," she wrote.
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Fox mocks Trump with statement on debate skipping poll After polled his Twitter followers to see if he should drop out of a Fox-hosted Republican primary debate, Fox responded artfully with a sarcastic statement that it had learned from "secret" sources Trump might be treated unfairly as president by foreign leaders.
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Bill O'Reilly calls out Trump's tweet with totally wrong stats "The O'Reilly Factor" grilled Trump in a Nov. 2015 interview about his tweet that erroneously said black people killed whites at a rate of 81 percent, while whites kill blacks at a rate of 15 percent. O'Reilly told Trump, "You shouldn't tweet." Trump did not take that advice.
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Shepard Smith backs CNN on Russia reporting Anchor Shep Smith was on Team CNN after Trump's January press conference, in which he refused to take a question from CNN's Jim Acosta, saying, "You're fake news." Smith said, "neither they (CNN) nor any other journalists should be subjected to belittling or delegitimizing by the president-elect of the United States." Watch it here.
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Chris Wallace bucks Trump calling media "enemy of the public" After his press conference in January 2017, Trump continued his attack on media he doesn't like on Twitter. Anchor Chris Wallace wasn't having it on "Fox & Friends." Wallace said Trump's comments "crossed an important line" and said they were dangerous.
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Smith calls Trump out on terrorism lie Smith isn't a fan of Trump's false assertions. When Trump said the media "doesn't want to report" terrorist attacks, Smith took him to task. "The White House knows that it was false or could have learned that it was false with a quick Google check, but either did not do so or decided not to tell the truth.” Watch it here.
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Wallace says the media is too easy on Trump In an interview with TheWrap, Wallace said he thinks Sunday political shows in particular should be tougher on Trump. "I think if anything, the media has treated him too well. By that I mean they’ve allowed him to play by different rules." Read the full interview.
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O'Reilly tells Trump Putin is "a killer" In a February interview, O'Reilly brought up Trump's apparent refusal to criticize Vladimir Putin, calling the Russian president "a killer." Trump famously responded by saying, "What, you think our country is so innocent?" Watch it here.
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Smith wails on Trump's refusal to talk about Russia hacks Nobody on Fox hits Trump harder than Shep Smith. "We have a right to know… You call us ‘fake news’ and put us down like children for asking questions on behalf of the American people." Watch it here.
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Smith backs CNN and rebukes Trump's 'fake news' assertion Trump's favorite insult against media he doesn't like is to call it "fake news." But Shep Smith again supported CNN against the president after Trump's anti-media speech to the Conservative Political Action Committee. Watch it here.
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Neil Cavuto tells Trump he's the problem, not mainstream media Responding to Trump's tweet claiming the mainstream media wants him off social media, Cavuto called out Trump for losing track of his own agenda. "Mr. President, it is not the fake news media that's your problem, it's you," Cavuto said. Watch it here.
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Smith blasts Trump administration on Russia: "Lie after lie after lie" Shep Smith was at it again following the news breaking about Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer. He took the Trump administration to task for its many lies about meetings with Russia, including Jared Kushner failing to report the meeting on his security clearance forms. "My grandmother used to say, 'What a tangled web we weave when first we try to deceive,'" Smith declared on air, leaving fellow anchor Chris Wallace speechless. Watch it here.
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Eboni K. Williams slams Trump's remarks about Charlottesville
Following the Unite the Right rally in which a counter-protester was murdered, Trump blamed "both sides" for the violence. On "Fox News Specialists," host Eboni K. Williams took Trump to task for not standing up to white nationalists and white supremacists who support him, calling his initial remarks about the rally "cowardly and dangerous."
Brian Kilmeade calls Trump tweet "ridiculous" blaming U.S. for Russia relations
In a rare sight in the lead up to the summit in Helsinki between Trump and Putin, Trump tweeted, "Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!" On "Fox and Friends," a show that has been extremely favorable to Trump (he even calls in), host Brian Kilmeade said of the tweet, "That’s by far the most ridiculous tweet of late, and that is insulting to past administrations. He can’t be saying that going into the Russian summit." Watch the clip here.
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Cavuto blasts Trump's performance in Helsinki: "disgusting"
Neil Cavuto took Trump to task more than once after his Helsinki press conference with Putin. When former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Tom Dupree said Trump could have rebuked Putin for his Russia's attack on U.S. elections, Cavuto said, "But he didn’t and that’s what made it disgusting. That’s what made his performance disgusting. I’m sorry, it’s just the only way I feel. It’s not a right or left thing for me, it’s just wrong." Watch it here.
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Trish Regan says Trump "should have defended us" against Putin
Fox Business host Trish Regan got mad about Trump's performance on her show "The Intelligence Report." "He should have defended us," she said. "He should have defended his own intelligence community. Or just don’t take the meeting! Don’t go to Helsinki if you can’t look the guy in the eye and tell him what’s what!" Watch it here.
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Donald Trump’s favorite network, Fox News, isn’t always rosy on what he says and does, especially when he backs Russia over the U.S. intelligence community