Thread by @AbigailShrier

It's become commonplace to poke fun at the silly hypocrisy of media and Big Tech 'fact checkers.' The situation is actually far more dire than people realize.

Here's my own experience. /1

On Jan 20, I read Biden's EO on Gender Identity and tweeted my legal opinion: it would force public high schools to allow bio boys onto girls' teams, beginning the end of girls' sports.

I was proven right faster than I imagined. On Feb 2, the Administration confirmed this. /2

Nonetheless, within *days*, two news organizations (@USATODAY and @Newsweek) 'fact checked' my legal opinion & branded it 'false' or 'missing context.' That is absurd, not only bc it was an opinion (and correct!) but bc it takes time to know how the EO will be enforced. /3

But why was the media suddenly fact-checking my opinions? Today, a reader sent me screenshots of her efforts to post my Tweet. Instagram had slapped a warning on it that it was "missing context" and citing... the USAToday 'fact check.'

Here's the thing:

/4

Facebook (parent of Insta) *pays* USAToday for
'fact checks,' which Insta then uses to justify censorship of disfavored ideas. Big Tech, which has endless reserves, pays the mainstream media to bless its censorship. The paid-for media happily obliges.
/5
usatoday.com/story/news/pr/…

In this case, the 'warning' was slapped on criticism of @WhiteHouse. So, on one side, we now have Silicon Valley, the bought-off media (comically referred to as 'independent, third-party fact checkers'), and the current administration. /6

On the other side, you have a few journalists, praying they won't be kicked off of Twitter for doing their job. /7