The Washington Post issued a correction in an article about conservatives on Telegram after it was called out.
Telegram advertised itself as “a freeware, cross-platform, cloud-based instant messaging service.” The service competed with Facebook’s Messenger app.
Philip Bump, a national correspondent with The Washington Post, wrote an article that alleged that the messaging service was a “refuge for some of the most toxic elements of the political right.”
Bump asserted that Nick Fuentes, Lin Wood, and Emerald Robinson had accounts on the platform.
“Experts who spoke with The Post suggested that Telegram plays an important, if not yet essential, role in the right-wing information ecosystem, offering a respite from scrutiny and moderation,” he wrote. “It’s a place where the fringe’s bubble of disinformation and rhetoric can remain unpunctured–which is often precisely the appeal.”
A glaring issue, however, was that Robinson did not have a Telegram account and stated that the account that bears her name is fake.
“Why was I included in an article on Telegram? After all, I don’t have an account on Telegram,” Robinson said. “What I do have is someone impersonating me on Telegram — a problem that I have reported to Telegram without success. I’ve alerted my followers on other social media sites on several occasions that the Telegram account using my name is fake.”
Robinson slammed Bump because he did not verify that the account belonged to her.
“The entire sorry episode is yet another example that corporate media journalists like Philip Bump are the most ignorant people on earth,” she said. “They can’t be bothered to adhere to the most rudimentary standards of journalism — like fact checking or reaching out for comment.”
After Robinson threatened legal action if a correction was not issued, The Post issued a correction:
“This article originally indicated that Emerald Robinson had an account on Telegram. That account is not associated with the former Newsmax employee.”
It is worth noting that Jeff Bezos, one of the richest billionaires in the world, is currently worth just under $170 billion. Bezos owned both Amazon (11.1 percent stake) and The Post.
Amazon has been accused of censoring books by conservative authors. Newsbusters reported that lawmakers slammed Amazon for the censorship:
“U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Mike Lee (R-UT), Mike Braun (R-IN) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) sent a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos,” Rubio’s official website reported Feb. 24. The letter had been sent after Amazon ‘removed the book When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment by conservative scholar, Ryan Anderson, from the Amazon website, Kindle, and Audible platforms.’” The senators questioned and skewered Amazon’s recent behavior: ‘Over the past 72 hours, Amazon has been unable to provide a sufficient explanation as to how Anderson’s book, which reached the top of two of Amazon's best-seller lists before it was even released in 2018, supposedly violated a vague, undefined ‘offensive content’ standard.’”
Conservatives are under attack. Contact The Washington Post at 202-334-6000 and demand it stop supporting censorship of companies it disagrees with.
