We’ve spent five years hearing every election conspiracy possible tied to Donald Trump’s 2016 victory.
- The Russians did it!
- No, Facebook tipped the scales!
- Wait … Fake News is to blame!
Big Tech and media outlets alike let these conspiracies flower, often with journalists promoting them to the masses.
Remember The Steele Dossier? What about the Pee Tapes?
All proved false or inconclusive at best, but it hasn’t stopped people from spreading them across the digital landscape. As well they should, given free speech principles that make America America.
Enter “2000 Mules.”
Dinesh D’Souza’s upcoming film suggests a highly orchestrated campaign to tilt the 2020 election to Joe Biden. The early footage is fascinating, and media outlets haven’t swarmed the film with fact checks as expected.
At least not yet.
The film still faced a huge obstacle moving forward. Until recently, any suggestion the 2020 election wasn’t fair inspired swift censorship. YouTube often erases clips touching on the subject, even those featuring former President Donald Trump.
That means, on paper, D’Souza’s film could face severe digital roadblocks.
RELATED: Big Tech Is Crushing Conservative Comedy
A good faith search for information on “2000 Mules” on YouTube comes up empty on the first page of results. The team behind the film revealed to HiT it didn’t bother uploading the teaser to YouTube, which is owned by Google.
A small film like “2000 Mules” will struggle to compete against Hollywood blockbusters. It’s a hard truth most indie projects face.
For that reason, many indie filmmakers lean on social media to spread the word about their work. Take those platforms away, and the filmmaker’s mission gets much harder.
That thinking doesn’t take into account Elon Musk buying Twitter earlier this month for a cool $44 billion. Musk insists he’ll bring more free speech, not less, to the progressive platform. We’re already seeing some fallout from the purchase, from older accounts springing back to life to conservatives suddenly experiencing huge ways of new followers.
Highly controversial “takes” are not being censored like before.
Testing… Testing… Testing…
Ivermectin cured my COVID.— Keith Malinak (@KeithMalinak) April 25, 2022
That also could mean “2000 Mules” will get a fair hearing in a space that could make or break its box office success. And, along the way, share his electoral concerns will millions of open-minded souls who can decide for themselves if he has a valid point or President Joe Biden won fair and square.
The fallout for the film’s digital hopes could spread beyond Twitter.
Will Musk’s all-American spirit shame other platforms to stop censoring narratives they don’t like? Can Facebook claim “2000 Mules” is misinformation while news of its findings flourish across Twitter?
The American people should be the ultimate judge of D’Souza’s arguments. That’s what, in theory, Musk’s purchase hopes to let happen.
“2000 Mules” makes its virtual premiere May 7.
