Big Tech Shenanigans

My email and social media platforms under attack.

This month, I began my reporting on critical race theory in America's tech companies with a story on Google's "antiracism" initiatives, which condemned the United States as a "system of white supremacy" and depicted conservatives such as Ben Shapiro as layers of the "white supremacy pyramid."

Behind the scenes, however, another story was unfolding.

First, as I was researching the story, Google sent me an alert about a "government-backed attack" seeking access to my Google-hosted email and cloud storage system. The following week, Twitter removed the "blue check" verification badge from my profile, claiming that I had been "incorrectly Verified"—an arbitrary move that drew widespread criticism from publications such as The Post Millennial and Rebel News.

Was all of this coincidental? Perhaps. But the sequence of events does raise suspicions. At the very least, a government intelligence service—foreign or domestic—was seeking to gain access to my private political correspondence. And Twitter's "unverification" of my account drew criticism from prominent free speech figures, including Glenn Greenwald, who noted that the "bizarrely punitive use" of unverification first began with Julian Assange.

None of this, of course, will stop my reporting. But we should take a moment to demand accountability from the companies, such as Google and Twitter, that power the new public square. As I told The Post Millennial: "I love Twitter and believe it could be a tremendous force for good. But they have to maintain consistent standards and a commitment to a fair and transparent process." Here's hoping they will listen.