Twitter has been unable to grow its user base, but that is not the end of the issues it is facing. It even appears to be failing to retain existing users. Adam Baldwin, the famous Hollywood actor, has quit the micro-blogging site over concerns that the platform is censoring opponents of the regressive left.
Is Twitter actually guilty?
Baldwin, the star of TNT’s The Last Ship, had been on Twitter for the past seven years, but over the weekend, he deleted all his tweets and left a single message demanding that the micro-blogging firm fire CEO Jack Dorsey and disband its new widely-criticized Trust and Safety Council.
Speaking to the Independent Journal, the Hollywood actor said the growing censorship and lack of transparency are his reasons for quitting the social media platform. Baldwin’s Twitter profile currently sports the icon of Robert Stacey McCain, a conservative blogger, and has been recently suspended. Baldwin said the company hides the algorithms it uses, doesn’t explain its actions and is not transparent.
“The onus is on Twitter to explain exactly why they ban people. It’s their company. I just choose not to participate in the suppression of ideas anymore,” Baldwin said.
Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council to blame?
Describing Twitter’s new Trust and Safety Council as “Orwellian,” Baldwin put the entire blame of his departure on it. According to him, the council is promoting a “groupthink” and is “killing the wild west of ideas that Twitter was.”
Speaking to the IJ Review, Baldwin said, “It’s really a shame that so-called ‘liberal thinkers’ and the so called ‘tolerant crowd’ is intolerant of varying viewpoints. They’re so afraid to hear people disagree with them. Instead of ignoring it or providing their own arguments in return, they say ‘shut up!’”
Twitter recently targeted the actor as well. In mid-December, the social media firm locked Baldwin’s account over a number of innocuous tweets. The actor was forced to delete those tweets, and only after that, his account was restored.
Baldwin is hugely popular and has appeared in several blockbusters such as Firefly, Chuck, Independence Day, and Full Metal Jacket. He had 250,000 followers comprised of both pop culture fans and fellow conservatives. Now his followers will be required to follow him off Twitter – perhaps on Facebook-owned Instagram, which is Twitter’s top rival. Baldwin himself touted Instagram as a potential alternative.
