WEBVTT - Episode 3: Fighting Technocracy 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:04.160 Up next, Luna Talks with Anna Paulina. Luna part of 0:00:04.160 --> 0:00:08.640 the gang which big tech continues to meddle in our elections, 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:11.280 putting their thumbs on the scale to affect who wins 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:14.400 and who loses. Don't kid yourselves. This is a threat 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:17.720 to our democracy. And trust me, I know from personal experience. 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:21.239 That's exactly why I'm taking Twitter to court. This is 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:27.520 Luna talks with Anna Paulina. This week, I wanted to 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:30.319 cover something really special, so as we know, earlier in 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:33.360 the week, I had actually announced that I was going 0:00:33.479 --> 0:00:36.800 after Twitter, and a lot of people, especially when I 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:38.840 talk about this case, they're like, well, why is social 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:41.240 media is so important? Why is that blue check mark 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:44.800 so important? And I say, well, we're fighting technocracy, So 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:47.280 what is big tech? I think a lot of people, 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:51.320 especially the older generation, thinks big tech is just Google YouTube, 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:54.680 you know, our general search engine and browsers. But it's 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:58.160 way more than that. It's a collaboration. In addition to 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:02.360 social media platforms, whether to your Facebook, your Twitter, your Instagram. 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:05.720 Pretty much how everybody in this country, actually over half 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:09.320 of the US population is connected, is on some form 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:11.640 of social media. And we when we look into the 0:01:11.640 --> 0:01:16.040 ways previous generations used to communicate. Specifically, I think previous 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:18.160 to that of the eighties, it was a large focus 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:21.240 on mail, print and television. Right, So you had your 0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:25.280 Federal Communications Guidelines and your Federal Elections Commission that would 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:29.880 actually work together to ensure that candidates in particular were 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:34.880 given the same amount of access to these different platforms, 0:01:35.000 --> 0:01:39.000 especially because, as we know, candidates use those platforms in 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:42.279 order to communicate with the people that they are hoping 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:45.360 will vote for them. Right. So, currently upwards of sev 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:49.280 of the U S population is on some form of 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:52.400 social media, according to Pew Research, And that's a huge 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:55.920 deal for someone like myself especially. And I can tell 0:01:55.960 --> 0:01:57.640 you with a lot of my friends, you know, you 0:01:57.680 --> 0:01:59.240 see and I'm sure you probably like look at with 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:02.000 your kids as well. They'll be constantly on their phones 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:03.760 and you wonder, okay, well why are you always on 0:02:03.800 --> 0:02:05.720 your phone? Well, it's basically like us pulling out a 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:08.600 newspaper and reading it, right, Like we're absorbing health tips, 0:02:08.639 --> 0:02:13.440 were absorbing fitness tips, were absorbing politics. And that's especially 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:17.200 why my case is increasingly becoming more and more important 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:20.640 to the younger generation. So how does gen D and 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:23.960 millennials communicate, and these stats are something that I really 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:26.600 think everyone should really hone in on and listen to, 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:32.080 because as the voters get older, as this younger generation 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:35.560 fills the shoes of our parents and our grandparents, were 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:40.400 realizing that the old way of communicating is going away altogether. 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:42.640 And I think it's gonna be my estimate that in 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:44.639 the next twenty years we're probably not going to even 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:47.000 really have TVs in our homes anymore, just because it's 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:50.760 going to this market of duchess advertisement, but of entertainment 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:53.000 as well. In fact, actually they're now starting to bring 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:55.600 streaming services into your home. Student you have to go 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:59.000 to the movie theaters anymore. So according to digital usage, 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:04.240 the highest percentage at for of users on Twitter is 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:07.440 actually people that are eighteen to twenty nine years old, 0:03:07.480 --> 0:03:09.720 and that's from p Research. And then in a separate 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:12.400 study that was found it was actually done on four 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:16.400 thousand people. They actually found that nearly three quarters about 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:20.000 seventy three of Gen Z adults ages eighteen to twenty 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:25.440 three actively used Instagram, followed by snapchat at and YouTube six. 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:30.519 Facebook does, however, remain the most used platforms for millennials 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:34.200 at Gen X at sixty eight percent, and then your 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:37.480 baby boomer generation at sixty one percent. So what is 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:40.880 this saying. This is just furthering the argument that we 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:45.600 have to essentially fight for our voices on this platform. 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:47.480 And we'll get into it in a second what's been 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:51.240 uncovered by organizations like Project Very Toss and what they're discovering. 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:55.000 But I really want you guys to understand that the 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:58.200 best way of communication for one for the younger generation 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:01.200 is peer to peer communication. Right. So, a lot of 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:03.480 our friends, like in my little Friends Circle, you know, 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:05.760 you have DC Dreino, you have Broke Back Patriot, you 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:08.880 have the typical liberal. These are all handles that they 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:11.240 used to identify their social media accounts. But we're not 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:13.200 just talking about, you know, a couple of hundred people 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:15.760 following them, or even a couple of hundred thousand people 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:18.960 following We're talking about millions of people, right, So to 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:21.720 give it some perspective, if one of these accounts, let's 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:24.800 say my friend Rogan posts on his account at seven 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:27.679 pm on a Friday, because of the amount of people 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:31.440 that actually follow him on that platform, he could essentially, 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:34.240 if he has a viral posting, be competing with the 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:37.240 ratings that you would have on Fox Business or Fox 0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:40.520 News Daytime. And mind you, this is on an app 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:43.800 Instagram on someone's phone, which is essentially free media. So 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:46.880 why would it be important to want to ensure that 0:04:46.920 --> 0:04:50.080 this is being regulated correctly. Well, it's because if it's not, 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:54.080 what's happening is you have an entire demographic of younger 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:58.200 voters that are getting skewed data, skewed information, and only 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:00.320 one side of the argument because of a act that 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:03.680 these accounts and even accounts like mine, are being increasingly 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:07.159 suppressed by these big tech companies. So what will happen 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:10.320 is on a lot of these platforms, whether it's Facebook, Twitter, 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:14.040 or Instagram, you have this concept of a verified account. 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:17.320 But why is being verified so important? It's way more 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:19.520 than just that blue check And it actually is really 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:23.719 frustrating for someone like myself because when I actually initially 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:26.400 started talking about this, and I think when other candidates 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:29.200 around the country started talking about this, they were in 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:32.760 the election cycle, a lot of reporters would make this 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:35.840 condescending term, Oh, they're threatening suit because of a blue 0:05:35.920 --> 0:05:38.560 check mark. It's far much more than that. When you 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:41.520 are verified on any one of these accounts. Not only 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:45.080 does it show other people that that's your actual accounts, 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:49.839 so you actually are able to prevent fraudulent impersonation accounts 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:52.640 which have happened to people like myself. You can also 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:54.839 ensure that those people are aware that that is the 0:05:54.920 --> 0:06:00.159 official platform and statement making communication for these candidates that 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:03.240 are competing for elected office. So you could think of 0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:07.159 social media essentially as this digital town square. Right. We 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:10.120 have governments around the world that are specifically on Twitter 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:15.960 to communicate with their people, whether it's literally Russia, China, Iran, Canada, 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:18.720 South America. And then you have of course our US 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:22.040 government and then officials of the US government that are 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:26.320 elected or appointed, but they all use these platforms, especially Twitter. 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:28.880 I'd have to say that Twitter is probably the most 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:32.279 political of all of the different social media spaces that 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:36.760 are actually used by dot gov accounts to communicate and 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:39.920 put out information to the American people as to what's 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:42.920 happening in our country. And then you also have social 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:45.400 movements that will use these social media platforms. So think 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:49.799 about all that chaos that happens recently with the BLM movements. 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:53.200 BLM actually has a verified page on Twitter, and they 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:57.159 people will use Facebook and Twitter and Instagram to communicate, 0:06:57.240 --> 0:07:00.600 to organize, to share information, and to actually I think 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:04.240 promote these grassroots movements. Whether or not I agree with them, 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:07.000 The point is is that these platforms are absolutely used 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:12.960 to organize and essentially execute our freedom of demonstration, freedom 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:15.000 of speech, all of that right. I want you to 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:18.360 just envision this for a second. So imagine being younger 0:07:18.840 --> 0:07:22.520 and having your TV, your radio, your books, and your 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:25.880 newspapers either being censored or burned. And I know that 0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:28.720 people are saying, I can't believe maybe she just compared 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:32.240 social media censorship to book burning, But I really want 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:35.480 you guys to understand that for someone in the younger generation, 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:39.080 when you are being closed off from access and not 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:42.920 able to have even a voice, or to post your opinion, 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:46.840 or even to access information because other people you know 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:49.760 in Silicon Valley and California are sitting on the other 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:52.440 end of a computer and saying that we don't think 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:55.520 that they have the right to read this, that is 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:59.679 essentially modern day book burning. Social media censorship is modern 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:03.080 a book burning. How would that makes you feel? Obviously 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:06.120 makes you feel, I think sometimes desperate, because how do 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:08.320 you get your voice out there? How are you heard? 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:10.920 How can you actually make an impact when you don't 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:12.840 even have the right to use your voice? And a 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:15.080 lot of people say, oh, well, you know you don't. 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:18.240 You're not totally censored. It's just Facebook, or it's just Twitter, 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:21.040 or it's just Instagram. But that's not the point. You 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:25.520 have this happening to an entire generation of people, especially 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:29.000 my generation, right those millennials. I remember when we had 0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:33.800 those like old Nokia brick phones that probably radiated way 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:36.280 too much for our brains, but I remember those. And 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:38.040 then all of a sudden, I remember when this thing 0:08:38.080 --> 0:08:40.480 called my Space came out. A lot of people are like, 0:08:40.520 --> 0:08:43.240 what's my space if you're a gen Z person? But 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:46.800 my Space was actually before Facebook, and that's what I 0:08:46.840 --> 0:08:51.640 think really kicked off this social media movement on the Internet. 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:55.120 And then you have your younger children, your grandchildren that 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:57.959 are almost all on social media, they all have those iPads. 0:08:58.120 --> 0:09:02.720 Those kids are one hun impacted by what's happening in 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:07.640 our country today politically, especially to conservatives and Republicans. But 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:09.600 this is and I want to make this a very 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:13.960 clear point, This is not just an issue that we 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:17.600 as conservatives or we are Republicans, are facing. This is 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:21.199 something that's going to impact everyone, whether you're a Democrat, 0:09:21.520 --> 0:09:24.640 whether you're a Republican, whether you're independent, whether you are 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:27.280 a member of the Green Party, and a whole another country. 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:30.800 The point is is that this type of power and 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:36.439 control by these technocracies has never existed to the magnitude 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:38.320 that it has. And I think that was interesting that 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:43.560 Project Very Toss actually hadn't covered a software engineer at 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:46.480 one of these platforms. I think it was on Facebook, 0:09:47.040 --> 0:09:49.640 and that this man had said, no king in the 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:53.480 history of our world has ever had the power that 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:58.480 Facebook has had in regards to controlling messaging and essentially 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:01.880 being able to influence not just the United States, but 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:06.160 we're talking about influencing global ideologies, which is very dangerous 0:10:06.240 --> 0:10:09.640 because that is total control. And if we here in 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:12.800 the United States can't regulate it, let's just say that 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:15.320 in other parts of the world, where they might not 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:18.040 even have some of the liberties that we have and 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:20.560 that you have, Let's say, you know, these companies are 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:23.760 essentially working with maybe people that don't necessarily agree with 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:26.480 a constitutional republic. What about communists? I mean, you have 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:30.640 all these I think companies like Google basically bowing down 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:34.840 to China, and China has social network systems actually monitor 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:38.880 and score people based on their behavior that's considered acceptable, 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:42.480 which to me, that social credit system is actually super scary. 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:45.720 But why is it that I'm so passionate about this, right? 0:10:45.760 --> 0:10:47.520 I mean, like, I don't think people just like wake 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:49.320 up and say, oh, I'm going to take on Twitter, 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:53.920 because obviously it's not cheap, and obviously it's a huge stress, right, 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:56.640 especially when you feel like nationally, I think a lot 0:10:56.679 --> 0:10:59.280 of people have realized, well, you know, what is the 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:01.920 Republican already really done about this? You know they've talked 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:04.480 about it, but have they really done anything? What have 0:11:04.520 --> 0:11:07.880 our legislature has done in order to protect my voice 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:12.360 as an American voter? Right? So I remember when this 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:15.800 first started about I'd say three years ago, when I 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:19.559 first really started noticing it. I actually remember being in 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:21.880 the car and I think I was listening to NPR 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:24.560 at the time, and I was driving my little Jetta 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:26.720 and I pulled up to gas station. I remember they 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:29.360 were talking about one I guess he was like kind 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:33.000 of a radical media personality, but he had been kicked 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:36.280 off and banned on all these different platforms and I 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:38.679 remember hearing that and I was like, Wow, that's like 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:41.679 really kind of scary that someone would just get socially 0:11:41.800 --> 0:11:44.840 canceled like that. But I didn't really think too much 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:47.559 of it, because I think, like most people, you don't 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:51.800 realize that if it just happens to one person at first, 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:53.880 it's it's going to happen to you as well. But 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:57.000 I remember feeling very uncomfortable about it, and I think 0:11:57.040 --> 0:12:00.160 that myself at the time, I wasn't that political, but 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:04.000 people that were political were very very quiet about that, 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:06.720 and I think it was because it didn't directly impact 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:11.040 them yet. And then I remember as I progressed kind 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:14.680 of in my political evolution especially, and I know in 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:17.360 previous episodes, you guys have probably heard about what had 0:12:17.400 --> 0:12:19.720 happened early on in my life with you know, growing 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:22.800 up essentially around people that were using guns to do 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:27.080 really bad things. So posting on social media with firearms. 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:31.000 I remember having my postings actually on Instagram labeled as 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:33.920 a danger to the community. People were saying that that 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:37.400 type of posting, whether or not I was encouraging women 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:40.640 to use farms, was actually not safe. And so what 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:42.920 I was realizing is there are shadow banning postings, and 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:45.000 you ask, well, what is shadow batting? And that's actually 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:49.160 when they prevent you from being able to see certain information. 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:51.200 So you might have let's say thirty thousand people that 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:53.680 following your social media account, but they'll actually change the 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:56.959 algorithms on the back end, so maybe only five thousand 0:12:56.960 --> 0:12:59.760 people or two thousand people, or I've even seen cases 0:12:59.840 --> 0:13:02.440 of people having over a million followers and they're only 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:04.520 getting a couple of hundred views per posting. So we're 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:07.600 talking about less than one percent of your actual total 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:10.080 following being able to see what you're posting. And how 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:12.040 do we know that that's happening, Well, you can see 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:15.160 it based on your engagement. But also too, we've actually 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:18.400 had recorded evidence come out again from those people that 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:21.600 really infiltrated these tech companies, whether it was Facebook, Twitter, 0:13:21.760 --> 0:13:24.840 Instagram via Project very toss and you can actually see 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:27.800 all those videos online. But I realized it was a 0:13:27.880 --> 0:13:31.720 huge problem after the El Paso shooting a couple of 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:33.920 years ago, and so at the time, I was actually 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:38.080 working with a Hispanic outreach organization and I was actually 0:13:38.160 --> 0:13:41.319 down in El Paso within twenty four hours of that shooting, 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:43.240 and I remember I posted to Twitter. I said, I'm 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:45.920 a Hispanic American, I'm an n r A. Remember I'm 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:47.600 a veteran, and I will not bend the knee to 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:50.840 the socialist agenda to ban firearms. I took an oath 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:52.800 to defend the people of this nation as well as 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:57.920 the constitution. Stop making El Paso political. Why did I 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:00.280 say that, It's because it was the truth. I was 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:03.280 down there and so many people. I saw all these media. 0:14:03.440 --> 0:14:05.160 It was like a media circus. You had all these 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:08.840 people from news reporters and they were only interviewing people 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:11.440 that had anti Trump apparel on right, Like you would 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:14.040 say that these uh, they looked like the red MAGA hats, 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:17.400 but they would only say make America Love again, implying 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:20.280 that Trump's Maga agenda was a hate filled agenda. But 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:23.720 it was all these hardcore jabs at at the time 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:27.200 President Trump when an actuality. We're talking about a psychopath 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:29.880 that shot up a Walmart, and then they were taking 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:32.040 that entire thing and trying to say, oh, it was 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:35.840 political targeting because of the anti immigrant rhetoric coming out 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:39.080 of the presidency and out of the GOP, which was 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:42.480 obviously completely false. But the point is is that they 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:44.880 were not even vetting these people claiming to be family 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:47.280 members that were interviewing. I mean, obviously, if your family 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:49.960 member had just died, don't you think you'd probably be 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:52.360 at home morning, not out trying to get a TV interview. 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:54.760 I know for sure as heck I wouldn't. But the 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:56.840 point is is that Twitter after I made that posting 0:14:56.960 --> 0:14:59.120 it was a viral tweet. In fact, I think about 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:01.840 almost a hundred thus and people had engaged with it. 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:04.760 They reposted all of that, and Twitter kicked me off 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:06.680 that day. They locked me up for twelve hours, saying 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:08.440 that my tweet, which is what I just read to 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:11.600 you guys, was actually a danger to the community. So 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:14.240 that was what I realized, all right, this is a 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:18.320 huge issue. Obviously, I've said nothing that's been racist xenophobic. 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:21.240 I haven't violated their terms and conditions. I literally put 0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:24.360 out there that I'm fighting for the Constitution and my 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:27.720 constitutional rights, and essentially I'm getting kicked off Twitter because 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:30.320 of it, which was just completely absurd to me. But 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:33.600 then came the time when I really accepted the fact 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:35.960 that if we did not do something about this soon, 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:39.000 that I felt that essentially I was going to be permanently, 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:41.760 and not just myself, but I think a lot of 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:44.480 our country was going to be permanently impacted by this. 0:15:44.560 --> 0:15:47.800 And that was my campaign story. And before I get 0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:50.760 into that, I just want to specify that everything that's 0:15:50.800 --> 0:15:55.080 happening now, especially on this legislation that we're hoping to change, 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:57.720 is going to be something that isn't just going to 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:01.120 be again for people like myself that are conservative leaning, 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:03.600 but it's going to be for everyone and it will 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:06.400 impact the entire country from here on out because there 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:09.800 is nothing currently on the books that covers down on 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:14.800 legislation for digital media only covers print, radio, and television. 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:17.680 So then came the time when I realized we were 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:20.920 in deep trouble. And that is the campaign story, and 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:23.000 we'll get back to that right after the short break. 0:16:28.440 --> 0:16:33.000 So campaign story is something that I wish, honestly I 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:36.920 couldn't speak on from a place of of experience, but unfortunately, 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:39.520 because of what I went through, I just I really 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:42.120 need to share this story with you guys. So, as 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:44.560 we know, Twitter put out these press release talking about 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:47.960 how official candidates and elections would be verified. The reason 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:50.080 why you want to do that, especially for campaigns and 0:16:50.160 --> 0:16:53.680 something that I actually experienced was that I had people 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:57.080 that were actually, I think not even American citizens. I'm 0:16:57.080 --> 0:16:59.640 pretty sure these people, according to what I was hearing 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:02.280 from some of my voters, were actually people that were 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:06.560 scamming people from places like Africa and South America, and 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:10.760 they were actually making fake accounts of my official congressional 0:17:10.760 --> 0:17:13.240 accounts saying that they were me. And they were also 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:16.760 requesting that people donate to the campaign in Google play 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:20.359 cards and or via wiring money by PayPal, which is 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:23.240 one not how you donate to campaigns. You only ever 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:26.439 go to the official campaign website, and then you do 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:29.120 it through the official when red link, which is if 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:30.960 you do donate to candidates. You know what that is, 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:35.680 but it's a fundraising platform for the GOP. So obviously 0:17:36.040 --> 0:17:39.359 this could have won gotten me in trouble, right, But 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:42.359 then also too, you have people that are genuinely feeling 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:45.560 like they're wanting to help and give in campaigns and races, 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:49.600 and they're essentially getting scammed because people are engaging and 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:53.200 interacting with these not verified accounts. So that's the first 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:55.359 thing you have to ensure that your accounts verified. But 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:58.439 also too, in my case, I had people that I 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:01.840 was running against in my republic In primary and these people, 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:03.960 mind you, at the time, I had, I think closed 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:06.760 around three hundred thousand people that followed me on my Twitter. 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:10.480 But a majority of my opponents, who had no media, 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:14.200 had never done directing series, none of the level of 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:17.399 verification that would be needed. They were getting verified on 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:20.280 their accounts, having you know, ten followers after one day 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:24.280 of applying for verification. But Twitter for a very long 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:27.600 time was holding off on my verification. So I was 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:30.520 literally getting messages from people about being scammed. I was 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:33.000 getting people messages is a sear official account? Is this 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:35.640 a fake account? I mean, it was actually really causing 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:38.560 issues for the campaign on the back end. And yet 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:42.320 they went through and through my entire primary election, which 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:45.879 is where I competed with other Republicans for the vote 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:48.760 to become the primary nominee to run against the Democrat, 0:18:49.200 --> 0:18:53.080 they verified everyone else, which was a five way primary. Right, 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:56.280 I was running against five other people, and yet I 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:59.800 was the one that's still received no verification. And then 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:03.399 after I won the primary, I wrote Twitter again. Members 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:05.480 of my team wrote Twitter. In fact, I had other 0:19:05.560 --> 0:19:09.960 people that were politically influential as well. Right, Twitter saying, hey, 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:13.760 is there a reason that you're not verifying this congressional candidate, 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:17.760 she's official nominee. We wrote countless emails to the Twitter 0:19:17.840 --> 0:19:20.520 dot gov website and still no verification. They said that 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:23.080 they would they would send us back to ballot PDIA. 0:19:23.200 --> 0:19:24.879 So you have to make sure that you're complying to 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:28.320 with all the standards, which I did. I had everything 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:31.680 that was needed according to their verification process, but they 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:34.560 still wouldn't do it. And then we found out and 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:39.040 this is a true that that blue check mark, especially 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:42.359 on Twitter's engagement side of the house, actually not only 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:47.640 increases your engagement, but it increases your visibility. And there 0:19:47.760 --> 0:19:51.440 is an algorithm that actually changes on the back end 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:55.760 right that actually helps people engage with you. So think 0:19:55.800 --> 0:19:58.200 about it like this. If I were to put it 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:02.560 in regards to let's say a newspaper article, you have 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:05.800 the ability to have your articles about your campaign and 0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:08.760 your local town paper either run on the front page 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:11.240 or run in the back page in a square that's 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:14.400 maybe half an inch versus a front page story. When 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:18.280 you have that blue check it's essentially putting your campaign 0:20:18.320 --> 0:20:20.520 on that front page story. And if they're giving it 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:23.840 to one person. According to campaign law, they have to 0:20:23.840 --> 0:20:26.360 give it to everyone else. Not only does it show 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:29.879 voters your the official campaign account, but it also shows 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:33.119 people that there is another race happening, right Like a 0:20:33.119 --> 0:20:35.840 lot of people, especially for those that might not watch 0:20:35.920 --> 0:20:39.480 Fox News or MSNBC or CNN, for those younger people 0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:41.960 that are just on social media, if they're not being 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:45.520 presented with a different side, a different perspective, a different 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:48.480 candidate and option to vote for, then they're not even 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:52.000 going to realize that that's actually a race happening. And 0:20:52.040 --> 0:20:54.600 I didn't just find that this was happening to myself. 0:20:54.640 --> 0:20:58.159 In fact, I found out later on that this was 0:20:58.240 --> 0:21:02.159 actually happening to a few candidates in the Tampa Bay area, 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:07.880 which strategically, especially for the election cycle, is a very 0:21:08.080 --> 0:21:10.960 very strategic location. That whole I four Corridor, which is 0:21:10.960 --> 0:21:13.480 a massive highway that runs up through the center of Florida, 0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:17.959 is actually something that every single presidential candidate I think, 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:20.560 in the history of the United States has needed to 0:21:21.119 --> 0:21:25.480 campaign on and definitely get support from in order to 0:21:25.600 --> 0:21:27.159 go to the White House. In fact, it's called the 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:30.239 pathway to the White House. But I've never been one 0:21:30.320 --> 0:21:32.399 to shut up in color. Right, So what did I 0:21:32.440 --> 0:21:35.119 do about all of this? Well, I'll tell you about 0:21:35.160 --> 0:21:37.320