SKEPTICS ATWITTER ABOUT JACK 2.0

Site’s new CEO stirs free-speech fears

Critics fear Twitter’s new CEO will be worse for freedom of speech on the site than his predecessor, given his “terrifying” past statements on the issue and an “appalling” rule implemented on his first day on the job.

The concern is that Parag Agrawal (right) will bring even more restrictions than did Jack Dorsey (inset), who censored The Post over its Hunter Biden e-mail exposés, banned President Donald Trump and suspended exCustoms and Border Patrol Commissioner Mark Morgan for

tweeting favorably about the border wall.

“You’re talking about an organization where free speech is integral to what they do. I’ve seen the left talk about how this appears likely that Twitter is going to en- dorse the more European view of free speech — which is not free speech,” said Dan Gainor, of the conservative nonprofit watchdog Media Research Center.

In a 2018 interview, Agrawal, then Twitter’s chief technology officer, said the company should “focus less on thinking about free

speech, but thinking about how the times have changed.”

“Where our role is particularly emphasized is who can be heard,” he said. “And so, increasingly, our

role is moving towards how we recommend content . . . how we direct people’s attention.”

Wikipedia co-founder and Internet theorist Larry Sanger slammed the comments.

“So this is how he feels about free speech. Of course. Another Silicon Valley jerk engaging in doublespeak, using what should be an open public square for manipulation and indoctrination,” he tweeted.

Such fears were only stoked on Tuesday, Agrawal’s first full day on the job, when Twitter announced it would no longer allow users to post images or videos of people without their consent.

Media theorist Jeff Jarvis said the move could negatively “affect how journalism is done on Twitter.”

“If we go overboard in a moral panic, it can have an impact on freedom of expression in general,” said Jarvis, a professor at CUNY’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism.

“The woman who took the video of George Floyd, if she had not been able to post that video, that case would not have happened and that murderer would have gotten away with it. That concerns me.” Gainor called the new restriction “very alarming.”

“I’m bothered because Jack Dorsey, for all of his flaws, he

came from Twitter when Twitter cared about free speech. He had to be dragged into the safe-space era. This guy is new. And based on the actions they’ve taken on day one, he’s already there,” Gainor said.

Councilman Joe Borelli (R-SI) called the policy “appalling.”

“People should have the right to make the most cruel and obscene images of me, without my consent . . . Twitter sounds like they would have banned burning the statue of George III,” he said.

A Twitter rep told The Post that images and videos of people at large events “would generally not violate this policy,” and that the vague diktat was intended to protect “women, activists, dissidents and members of minority communities.”

Little is known about political views of Agrawal. At 37, he’s the youngest CEO of any S&P 500 firm.

He didn’t broach free speech or politics in an introductory e-mail to employees.

“The world is watching us right now, even more than they have before,” Agrawal wrote. “Lots of people are going to have lots of different opinions about today’s news.”