The former head of Twitter’s “Trust and Safety” division, Yoel Roth, has managed to make headlines recently due to a resurfaced dissertation he wrote discussing children and their use of the gay hook-up site Grindr. Roth has also been at the center of many of the revelations in the “Twitter Files,” having run the site’s censorship regime by the seat of his very partisan, leftwing pants.
The more we learn about Roth, the worse things look. A collection of his past tweets have been dredged up, and they are disturbing, to say the least. Remember, this was the guy in charge of regulating speech on the nation’s most politically important social media site.
Here are a few examples with a touch of commentary added.
There’s a lot to unpack here, but it’s pretty clear why Twitter had such a grotesque culture under Roth’s leadership, and I’m obviously not talking about the existence of differing political opinions and rhetoric. This guy seems to be absolutely obsessed with pornography, and his multiple mentions of children and sex are concerning at best. Maybe he was just playing through hypotheticals for academic reasons, but I don’t think that’s something most people ponder.
Are there no standards in the corporate world anymore? Was no one who vetted and hired him given pause by his history? Call me old-fashioned, but if I’m looking for someone to provide mature, effective leadership at a major company, people who publicly brag about their porn addictions and write dissertations on Grindr are gonna be disqualified. Does emotional intelligence not even factor in anymore?
It’s surreal to look at the things society brushes aside these days compared to what is considered “controversial.” Public proclamations about looking for porn on Craigslist? No one bats an eye. Mention that you believe in traditional marriage or are against transitioned children, though, and the wailing and gnashing of teeth commence.
Regardless, what I’ve found just as interesting are those choosing to defend Roth. Naturally, some on the left are accusing Elon Musk of inciting violence against the former Twitter official by exposing him. But then there’s David French, who I’m assured is a conservative that indiscriminately holds others to high moral standards.
French has long chastised figures on the right for their moral failings, with Donald Trump being first and foremost among his targets. If we give him the benefit of the doubt on his sincerity in those cases, it seems rather odd that he’d go to bat for Roth, right? We are not just talking about a guy who appears to have an unhealthy addiction to porn and gay hook-up culture, but also a guy who wholeheartedly pushes the transgender agenda, including its targeting of children.
French apparently believes that makes Roth a “good person” and Musk a villain. Go figure.