Twitter Censors Tweets: Undeniable Proof

October 13, 2011 · 79 comments

Say NO to Censorship

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?

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:

Dr Pepper Tweet Your Account May Not Be Allowed To Perform This Action
Tweet Twitter Would Not Post

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 Specific Shortened Link

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:

 

Testing Tweet With Only That Shortened URL Removed

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.

Twitter encourages brands to censor their tweets

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.



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{ 78 comments… read them below or add one }

VPN Reviews February 7, 2013 at 10:01 am

Censorship is nothing new in the digital space. To access blocked technologies like netflix, hulu, and twitter, you need to make use of a quality vpn.
VPN Reviews would love you to read ..ProXPN Review and Speed TestMy Profile

Reply

web design buffalo
Twitter:
June 24, 2012 at 10:34 pm

i been in that position..i thought it was a glitch or something..but it turns out it’s censorship :( this is such an inconvenience for all of us

Reply

fresh salsa
Twitter:
June 24, 2012 at 10:22 pm

censorship for me violates the basic right of any human being.we are govern by our right to speak our mind.

Reply

Gregoria Nozum April 4, 2012 at 5:54 am

We can´t allow this, I mean is supposed we like twitter because is our freedom and a place where we can talk, what the hell do the companies here? they have nothing to do with us, I sometimes hate how this world, money can break all.
By the way you can click here and take a look at my blog.

Reply

HIGHLANDER DVD
Twitter:
March 29, 2012 at 4:17 am

I am a green hand for Twitter, really. Your point is good.

Reply

vanessa j.
Twitter:
March 27, 2012 at 1:29 pm

I will try to tweet this article but it may be censored. I’m black and whenever I post anything true instead of the pastuerized mess we’ve been fed I get censored. Have been watching this on Twitter since 2010. I started my first account in 2007. Deleted it in 2009. Began another 2010 that was not about the run of the mill topics and I’ve been having problems ever since. I suspected it was censorship from the jump. Now I know. Today I was about to retweet a link where a photographer was arrested for taking pictures on a public street while police were present and Twitter would not allow my account to perform that action. First time they blatantly admitted it. Before this they would not allow me to access Twitter from the Web. I had to access from my blog. When I tried to access from the Web (Which I’ve been doing since 2007), suddenly in 2011 and 2012 I would sign in from the Web and get a blank page or sidebar or no box to write my tweets in. I still can’t access Twitter from the Web.

Twitter is Google’s cousin. I know people think keywords were created to assist them in getting about their business online. That is naive. They were created for the purpose of censorship. Certain words, phrases used in blogs, videos, search engines, Facebook. Twitter, etc. are censored. Now they are getting very bold. Don’t care if you know it or not. The illusion of freedom in this country is finally clear for all to see. I will still try to tweet this article. Lots of naive people out here.

Reply

Jannich January 15, 2012 at 2:08 pm

Well it is absolutely definite that Facebook censors stuff. If I try to send a link to a torrent to thepiratebay.org in the chat, the following message will pop up:

“The content you’re trying to share includes a link that’s been blocked for being spammy or unsafe: thepiratebay.org/torrent

For more information, visit the Help Center. If you think you’re seeing this by mistake, please let us know.”

I really don’t see why Facebook wants to protect people from viewing a website, most browsers have a mechanism that will warn a user upon entering a dangerous website. Also, I don’t see how thepiratebay.org is unsafe or spammy, but that’s another discussion.

Just my two cents. :-)
Jannich would love you to read ..Plastic surgery gone wrongMy Profile

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Helen Shilton March 4, 2012 at 6:57 pm

Note very pleasant but true. At lease we have ways to deal with the situation.
Helen Shilton would love you to read ..8 Ways To Earn Money OnlineMy Profile

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Daniel P. Barron
Twitter:
January 6, 2012 at 4:00 pm

I found this article while researching censorship on twitter when I noticed that my tweets about Jesus Christ do not show up in search results unless I specifically search for “Jesus.” This makes me especially concerned due to the fact that twitter leads me to believe I have shared the tweet with the public while secretly denying other people the ability to come across it organically. I might not be anti-OWS anymore with this new feeling of mutual suppression.

Reply

Gail Gardner who writes about GrowMap
Twitter:
January 22, 2012 at 1:45 am

Hi Daniel,

Few in the general public have any idea how appearances are being manipulated. When I recommended the movie The Case for Christ to someone on Google+ tonight I noticed that almost every review comment on the main page was negative and one star even though there are 495 positive reviews and 178 negative reviews.

When I voted yes or no to “was this review helpful” the site APPEARED to accept my vote but when I refreshed the page I could vote again which would imply that they actually did not register.
Gail Gardner would love you to read ..SOPA Blackout Strike Already Started; Why Major Sites and Blogs Went Dark in SupportMy Profile

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Mexican Drinks
Twitter:
January 6, 2012 at 7:02 am

i do not like this censorship in Twitter..it violates my sense of freedom
Mexican Drinks would love you to read ..A Simple Quesadilla RecipeMy Profile

Reply

Normal Machine
Twitter:
January 5, 2012 at 3:32 pm

Last night, during ABC’s popular Modern Family, I tweeted about how bad the episode was and how the series has basically become really dumb.

Doing a search for Modern Family today does not show my tweet, though I see al the other Modern Family tweets that occured around the time I posted mine.

I then tweeted about how my Modern Family tweet was potentiall censored and that one also does not show up in the search.

(My tweets are still there, they just don’t show up in searches).

Reply

growmap
Twitter:
January 5, 2012 at 4:51 pm

Hello,

Thank you for sharing further confirmation that major social media sites can and do censor what can be found as does Google. I have also seen the Livefyre sharing function APPEAR to work but if you check it did NOT share – in the instance I saw I was trying to share something about the Occupy Movement and nothing on that site about that topic could be shared.

Livefyre is – of course – denying it – as will Google, Twitter, Facebook, etc. What else would we expect them to say? “Sure, we censor you all the time – we didn’t think you’d mind.

I just checked on the Twitter Search App FeelTipTop and don’t any tweets similar to what you described there. Most likely if they don’t appear in Twitter searches they also do not appear in Twitter apps using their API.

Congratulations for being one of the few paying attention. The masses will be easily persuaded that no censorship exists no matter how much proof we can pile up but at least those like us will realize what is going on.

If you challenge the powers that be they will almost always claim it is just a “computer glitch” = the most convenient patsy ever.
growmap would love you to read ..What If There Was an Easy Way to Get Your Tweets Retweeted? There Is – And It is Fast and FreeMy Profile

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Christopher December 13, 2011 at 10:42 pm

If the major media touts them and links to them they can’t be trusted. If they don’t, they might be trustworthy.
Christopher would love you to read ..Featured Stores at CouponRefund.comMy Profile

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Inteligator March 10, 2012 at 7:45 pm

Definitely this is an effective way to tell.
Inteligator would love you to read ..My Background CheckMy Profile

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Sarah December 2, 2011 at 5:51 am

hmmm i haven’t encounter such thing yet. this is interesting. i have to ask my friends.
Sarah would love you to read ..Black mould health risks you might not be aware ofMy Profile

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graphic design buffalo
Twitter:
December 1, 2011 at 11:22 pm

i am very disappointed by this kinda of censoring,,.what will they do next?
graphic design buffalo would love you to read ..FitzmagicMy Profile

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Fredrick
Twitter:
December 1, 2011 at 8:49 pm

I am not quick to jump on the oh-my-god-I-am-being-censored wagon, but declaring my views on Twitter (@How2Democracy) how to reform our limited US democracy (winner-takes-all) into Proportional Voting (easy and legal to implement at the local level, cities and counties), and — next — not seeing them show up except in my profile, makes me wonder if I am not being censored.

Reply

Fitzmagic
Twitter:
December 1, 2011 at 4:43 am

oh,my it;s starting..;(..censoring violates the basic freedom of any human being..this is sad,really sad

Reply

Nik who writes about Career Coaching
Twitter:
October 26, 2011 at 6:28 am

I was tweeting with Gail last night only to realise none of my tweets got to her. What’s that about?

So I guess we will be chatting over Skype.

A big eye-opener,
Nik
Nik would love you to read ..How To Become a Management ConsultantMy Profile

Reply

growmap
Twitter:
October 27, 2011 at 10:05 pm

Hi Nik,

Since most people never confirm that what they sent arrives, few realize how unstable most of what we’re using to communicate is. Skype hangs and loses messages to, but at least there you can confirm someone saw what you sent.

I keep Skype and IM open whenever I am at the computer and confirm what I’m doing to make sure the other person received it. Many would be amazed how often they don’t.

Email is particularly problematic but most never think about how many messages go missing. It can be as high as 10-20+%. Few know that ISPs dump a lot of email directly into the trash without notifying the sender or the intended receiver because of spam filtering.

I wrote about the importance of closed loop communications and encourage everyone to clearly understand how important it is. Think of all the times people have felt snubbed or rejected when the other person never even saw what they sent!

Reply

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