We reported on the controversy about the launch of the movie “What is a Woman” on Twitter, that they tried to restrict the film based on “misgendering.” Even after Musk said it would be fixed, it still got a “hate speech” label and wasn’t able to be shared.
After that, the head of Twitter Trust and Safety had a parting of ways with the company. One of the things that Trust and Safety deals with is content moderation. Ella Irwin claimed that she had resigned. But it’s looking like one of those “hand me your resignation” resignations. Then Musk went out of his way to repair the damage that had been done, even personally promoting the film on his own Twitter account, saying that every parent should watch the film, and making it the pinned tweet on his account so everyone going to his account would see it.
Every parent should watch this https://t.co/pIp6UP6vq8
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 2, 2023
Since he has 141.8 million followers, you can’t get more advertising and viewing than that. Now, Elon’s tweet has almost 50 million views and the film itself has more than 75 million views—likely a lot of them from the extra attention because of the controversy. I think it’s fair to say it would never have gotten that many views with just the launch that they had originally planned it. The film is going to continue to be free for the rest of the weekend, which will allow even more people to see it.
Musk predicted that the “Streisand Effect” might help it “set an all-time record.”
The Streisand Effect on this will set an all-time record!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 2, 2023
There was also at least one other Twitter official who parted ways with the company. Musk said it was “director [sic] related” to the controversy.
Two people left twitter's trust and safety team in the past twelve hours. I'd like to know if that's related because that would be hilarious.
— FilmLadd (@FilmLadd) June 2, 2023
Director related
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 2, 2023
I think that’s supposed to be “directly.” But it also might mean “director” as in the two people with whom he parted ways were “directors.” So, it looks like he is cleaning house.
But CNN being CNN they had to put their Democratic operative take out there on the controversy. They highlighted Irwin resigning, acting as though she quit because Elon was so bad about “hate speech.”
CNN bemoans Twitter's head of trust and safety resigned after it "unblocked access to an anti-trans documentary" amid "criticism" of @ElonMusk allowing "potentially harmful content"@Boris_Sanchez wouldn't name the documentary, #WhatIsAWoman from @realDailyWire's @MattWalshBlog pic.twitter.com/7rTWATyOKA
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 2, 2023
CNN’s Boris Santiago claimed that Irwin resigned after Twitter blocked and “then unblocked access to an anti-trans documentary.” He claimed that Elon Musk has faced criticism for “lax protections against potentially harmful content.” What a lily-livered chicken. Santiago attacked the film, but wouldn’t even name it or who released it.
Elon Musk, with his typical humor, had a little fun with CNN’s remarks about him and their attack on the film.
I’m tempted to say that this will drive viewership of your movie, but … no one watches CNN lol
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 2, 2023
“I’m tempted to say that this will drive viewership of your movie, but…no one watches CNN lol,” Musk wrote with a laugh.
Now, that’s savage and pretty funny, but oh, so true. CNN keeps spinning, yet their numbers keep plunging. Far more people watch Musk than watch CNN.
