GB News host Patrick Christys has called Twitter out for its failure to suspend and remove accounts linked to Taliban activities. Sociology professor Frank Furedi however argued freedom of speech should prevent the company from acting against accounts linked to the insurgents.
He continued: “There is currently a world that we live in where whoever is in charge of Twitter and whoever is in charge of the moderation, is essentially saying that they think that Taliban is better than President Trump.”
Mr Christys then asked Prof Furedi: “Do you think the Taliban should be on Twitter?’
The University of Kent academic replied: “Well, I’m really conflicted because on the one hand, Twitter is extremely authoritarian in the way that it censors people already.
“I’m very uncomfortable with that.
“So my position is that for example if Nazi propaganda was coming in during the Second World War, we would be entirely entitled to censor it and to make sure that it doesn’t really have an impact on our society to demoralise us
“Similarly, if the Taliban wants to discuss on Twitter the principles of Islam and discuss ethical and philosophical issues with us. I’m okay with that. I can live with that.”He added: “But what I am against is if the Taliban, in essence, tried to attack us, demoralise us use language as a, as a weapon against British society, then I think we have every right to censor that pretty much as we had the right to prevent people from watching beheadings that occurred with a frequent regularity on social media.
“So I think the issue is a bit complicated one, but we have to basically make a decision as to how much free speech we allow on Twitter.”
