Michael Shellenberger says Twitter rival Threads is 'here to stay' but blasts its 'grotesque' censorship

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Michael Shellenberger rails against Threads, Mark Zuckerberg over censorship

Independent journalist and Twitter Files reporter Michael Shellenberger spoke with Fox News Digital about the newly-launched Meta app Threads.

Independent journalist Michael Shellenberger is sounding the alarm on the censorship that has quickly emerged on Meta's newly-launched social media platform Threads.

Threads, the Instagram-linked app rolled out last week by Mark Zuckerberg, is widely seen as being the closest rival to Elon Musk's Twitter. Zuckerberg boasted its 30 million users within 24 hours of the launch and the app surpassed 100 million users in under a week. 

Upon signing up, Shellenberger's initial reaction to Threads is that it's "kind of boring" and that there's "no innovation" coming from the app many say looks very similar to Twitter (Musk is threatening to sue Meta over alleged theft of trade secrets). 

But "literally within the first few minutes" of being on Threads, he noticed rampant censorship taking place, citing the platform's throttling of accounts like conservative activist Rogan O'Handley.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE NEW TWITTER-LIKE APP CALLED ‘THREADS’

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Shellenberger called out the practice of "secret blacklists" that Zuckerberg previously implemented on Facebook was being carried over to Threads, implementing censorship supposedly to "protect democracy," Shellenberger characterized it as "Orwellian." He also blasted the hypocrisy of Meta cracking down on so-called "misinformation" from conservatives but allowing falsehoods from the left, citing the New York Times' reporting last week falsely suggesting the claim that "Covid-19 vaccines do not prevent transmission of the disease" has been debunked.

"There is no democracy without freedom of speech. Everybody knows this, and yet they're trying to curtail freedom of speech in the name of democracy. It's creepy. It's totalitarian. I never thought I would see it in my own country in my lifetime. And yet that's exactly what's happening at this very moment," Shellenberger said. 

Independent journalist Michael Shellenberger slams the "Orwellian" censorship taking place among Big Tech giants like Meta in an interview with Fox News Digital.  (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

There had been a growing appetite particularly within liberals circles to abandon Twitter ever since Musk took over the tech giant last year, something Shellenberger believes is their lack of support towards free speech principles. 

"I think most Americans believe that people they disagree with should be allowed to speak as is consistent with the First Amendment and with core American values. There is a minority of people who are often quite narcissistic and antisocial who don't think that people that they disagree with should be allowed to express themselves on a level playing field, and they would like to see multibillion-dollar corporations censor their perceived enemies. It's very sad," Shellenberger told Fox News Digital. "I mean, I never thought in a million years I would ever have to defend the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. And yet we're having to defend the First Amendment of the United States Constitution from a very powerful minority of Americans who really don't believe in it and who would like to work secretly to create blacklists of their opponents to censor. And they want to demand that Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk censor those people."

META'S THREADS APP ALREADY FACING BACKLASH FOR 'SILENCING CONSERVATIVES DAYS AFTER LAUNCH

"So I think they felt that Elon Musk did not do enough censorship, that Elon Musk was allowing too much freedom. And they don't want that freedom because that means they have to hear views that they don't agree with and that doesn't support their narcissism. So I think that we're really dealing with a crisis of narcissism that has driven people to demand censorship from these privacy-invading censorship-happy overlords at Facebook and Meta," he continued. 

Some in the media are hyping the Meta-owned app Threads as the "Twitter killer." (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration)

During last week's rollout of Threads, Zuckerberg pitched his new app as being an "open and friendly public space for conversation" and envisioned it to capture the "big and friendly community" he wants to see in the world. 

Shellenberger blasted Zuckerberg's message for suggesting he supports free discussion, calling the pitch "fascism with a friendly face."

"In other words, we all think, 'Oh, well, we'll know when the fascists arrive because they're mean.' Well, what happens if the fascists are friendly? What happens if the censorship is done in the name of protecting vulnerable communities?" Shellenberger explained. "So this idea that you need friendliness or that you need to protect vulnerable communities, and in order to do that, you have to spy upon and censor your fellow Americans, it's grotesque. It's absolutely straight out of Orwell's ‘1984.’ I think Mark Zuckerberg should be ashamed of himself."

"What he's really pioneering is a way to engage in secret censorship of disfavored views that Corporate America rewards. And it should send a chill up the spine of every American," he added. 

Shellenberger torched Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's sales pitch for Threads as "fascism with a friendly face." (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

According to Shellenberger, the only solution to combat the censorship is for Congress to strip Big Tech's protections from Section 230, which legally shields them from content that is shared by third parties on their platforms, unless they guarantee free speech for all political views. 

"I'm very concerned about Mark Zuckerberg, but he's only that powerful because Congress lets him be that powerful," Shellenberger told Fox News Digital. 

Shellenberger, founder of the "Public" Substack newsletter and one of the journalists who reported on the Twitter Files, acknowledged that Twitter hasn't fully committed to free speech principles under Musk's ownership, which was sprinkled with episodes of censorship from the group of reporters who wrote about the location of his private jet, his throttling of links to Substack after he deemed the newsletter platform a competitor, to restricting content in Turkey ahead of its presidential election. 

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"My view has always been- and I testified to Congress about this, and I've also said this to Elon privately… that he needs to be transparent about the censorship orders," Shellenberger said. "And so after the Turkish censorship decision was handed down by the courts, Musk tweeted, or I think the Twitter trust and safety team tweeted the court order and the names of the people being censored. That's huge progress compared to the secret censorship that we see Mark Zuckerberg and Threads engaging in right now, secretly putting people on blacklists only for them to find out from other people, not being even told directly and no real descriptions, just a few sentences, whereas Musk posted the entire court orders. I still don't think it's good enough. I still think Congress should mandate 100% transparency on all content moderation decisions. But I have not seen evidence that [Musk's] Twitter is censoring disfavored views in the way that Threads and Meta and Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg are right now."

Twitter owner Elon Musk threatened to sue Meta for allegedly stealing trade secrets when developing Threads.  (Getty Images)

While various social media platforms have emerged over the past year as potential threats to Musk's Twitter, Shellenberger insisted "Threads is here to stay. Without a doubt."

"I think that the entire social media landscape is fragmenting…. [but] I think that as long as Twitter is less censorial and more free and more transparent, it will always be of great interest," Shellenberger said. "But for people that are, I think, suffering from narcissism and oversensitivity and a sense of entitlement, I think that you'll see Threads also be successful, and I think that we need freedom on every platform, and we should be holding Mark Zuckerberg to account, just as we should be holding Elon Musk to account."

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Though he did say Threads will negatively impact Twitter whether it be through capturing user activity or advertisers, Shellenberger didn't go as far as supporting the media's moniker for the Meta-owned app as the "Twitter killer." 

"What Twitter has going for it is being freer and more transparent than Meta. And I think that means that there will also always be a place for Twitter," Shellenberger added.