The Daily Wire has announced that a deal they made with Twitter to premiere their film, “What is a Woman” has been canceled after the platform claimed two instances of “misgendering,” a claim that allegedly goes against the company’s “abuse and harassment” policy.
Jeremy Boreing, CEO of the Daily Wire, shared that the Daily Wire planned to stream “What is a woman” for free for 24 hours in honor of the one year anniversary of the film, with Boreing highlighting the platform’s recommitment to free speech.
“Twitter responded with enthusiasm and offered us the opportunity to buy a package to host the movie on a dedicated event page and to promote the event to every Twitter user over the first 10 hours,” Boreing tweeted.
After signing and accepting the agreement, The Daily Wire sent a screening of the film to better help Twitter prepare for counter-arguments. However, after reviewing the film, Boreing shares that Twitter reversed course.
After reviewing the film, though, Twitter let us know that not only could we no longer purchase the package they offered, 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 shares.
He shares the two instances of “misgendering” surrounding a father who referred to his 14-year-old daughter as “her” and a store owner using the wrong pronouns during a confrontation with a trans person.
Back in April, it was reported that Twitter had updated their content moderation guidelines surrounding “misgendering” removing the policy regarding the “targeted misgendering or dead-naming of transgender individuals.” After the removal of this specific policy, it was assumed by many that this would no longer be a violation of Twitter’s rules, as noted by Boreing.
Despite the canceled deal, the Daily Wire will still be able to stream “What is a Woman” on Twitter; however, per Boreing, the platform states that regarding the film, “followers would not be able to see it in their feeds. This, they said, is part of their “speech not reach” policy.
Elon Musk has since reached out regarding this announcement and shared that this decision was a “mistake by many people at Twitter” sharing that the film is “definitely allowed.
“Whether or not you agree with using someone’s preferred pronouns, not doing so is at most rude and certainly breaks no laws,” Musk tweeted.
Musk’s response comes after many called out his promise for “free speech” on Twitter, with notable names calling the initial decision to cancel the deal worrisome for the future of the platform.
This story is currently ongoing and still developing.
