Twitter reportedly cancelled a deal with conservative media outlet The Daily Wire to broadcast their documentary What is a Woman?
The documentary, presented by the outlet's Matt Walsh, was set to premiere for free on Twitter, but was cancelled for two instances of "misgendering," according to The Daily Wire's co-CEO Jeremy Boreing.
What is a Woman? was scheduled to premiere free of charge for a period of 24-hours on the social media outlet to commemorate the documentary's one-year anniversary.
"With Twitter's recent commitments to free speech, we thought it would be the perfect place to distribute the film and drive the conversation forward on one of the most important topics of our day," Boreing said of the streaming deal.
Per the proposed deal, The Daily Wire was offered to purchase a package to stream Walsh's documentary on a dedicated event page on Twitter. The outlet would have subsequently promoted the event to every Twitter user over the first 10 hours.
"We accepted and signed an agreement," Boreing continued, revealing Twitter requested to screen the film to better understand potential controversial elements within the documentary. "They said they were still all hands on deck for launch, so we sent them a screener."
However, after screening the film, Twitter informed the conservative media outlet that the platform could no longer purchase the package offered by Twitter.
"They would no longer provide us any support and would actually limit the reach of the film and label it as 'hateful conduct' because of 'misgendering,'" Boreing said.
Twitter cited an instance of a father referring to his 14-year-old daughter, who identified as a transgender man, as "her," along with a store owner who uses the "wrong" pronoun during one interaction with a transgender identifying person.
"We reminded Twitter they removed 'misgendering' from their policy, that the term 'misgendering' itself is misleading, and that enforcing such a policy places them on the side of the most radical elements in society - the side most opposed to their commitment to free speech," Boreing said of Twitter's terms of service, which was updated following owner Elon Musk's acquisition of the company last year.
The social media outlet informed The Daily Wire that "misgendering" was only removed from their policy because they "didn't need to be that specific," though still consider "misgendering" abuse and harassment, according to Boreing.
"They gave us the opportunity to edit the film to comply," he said. "We declined."
Twitter reportedly noted the Daily Wire's own Twitter followers would not be able to see the film in their feeds if the conservative media outlet decided to share the documentary on Twitter outside the proposed deal — noting the decision was part of their freedom of speech, not freedom of reach policy.
Boreing said The Daily Wire had recently began streaming all of their podcasts through Twitter on Tuesday because the conservative media outlet believed Twitter was committed to free speech.
The Daily Wire co-CEO further noted satirical outlet the Babylon Bee's 2022 suspension regarding speech inspired Musk's decision to purchase the company.
"The other tech platforms have already decided where they stand in the trans debate and demonetize and deprioritize all those who disagree," Boreing said. "Now, Twitter has joined the ranks of the other tech superpowers in ensuring one side of the debate is suppressed."
Boreing conceded Musk was not "beholden" to conservatives on the platform, though noted Twitter could not claim to "champion free speech" for enacting policies that suppress and stifle debate on controversial issues.
"I hope Elon Musk will reconsider this awful policy," Boreing continued. "If we can't debate these issues on Twitter, where can we debate them? If conservatives aren't welcome on Twitter, where are they welcome?"
"It’s unlikely another centibillionaire will come along to offer an alternative."
The Daily Wire co-CEO announced the conservative media outlet planned to post What is a Woman? to Twitter at 8 p.m. EST
"Will Twitter make good on their threat to throttle it and label it 'hateful conduct,' or will Twitter live up to its great promise?" Boreing concluded. "We'll all find out together."
Musk has not publicly addressed Twitter's decision to cancel and throttle Walsh's documentary as of Thursday afternoon.
