Bowing to pressure from NBC creates need for crisis management
Twitter has been revered since its inception as a platform for free speech and mobilizing social movements, but would its partnership with one of the symbols of major corporate media, NBC, lead to a dilution of these ideals? The Independent’s Guy Adams quickly found out, when he shared the work email of NBC exec Gary Zenkel in an effort to mobilize the public to complain about awful television coverage of the London Olympics.
The result? Account suspended.
Dan Gillmor describes the situation in this quote from a Guardian UK article:
Adams has posted his correspondence with Twitter, which claims he published a private email address. It was nothing of the kind, as many, including the Deadspin sports blog, have pointed out. (Here’s the policy, which Adams plainly did not violate, since the NBC executive’s email address was already easily discernible on the web — NBC has a firstname.lastname@ system for its email, and it’s a corporate address, not a personal one — and was published online over a year ago.)
What makes this a serious issue is that Twitter has partnered with NBC during the Olympics. And it was NBC’s complaint about Adams that led to the suspension. That alone raises reasonable suspicions about Twitter’s motives.
When you delete comments or suspend accounts without warning, you’d better have a VERY good reason. Usually, you would only do this in the case of hate postings, threats, or spam. When you suddenly go from a champion of free speech to silencing a critic because of a baseless complaint from your newly-acquired corporate partner, you’re sending a message, and that message is, “I can be bought.”
Adams was reinstated, but only after a massive public outcry caused NBC to retract its request, “allowing” Twitter to lift the ban. The reputation damage was done, however, and Twitter’s late attempt at crisis management did little to change the public perception of this ugly behavior from a (formerly?) trusted company.
The BCM Blogging Team
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/