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Twitter is in the middle of another censorship scandal, that may be returning the supposed “free speech platform” back to its Twitter version 1.0 roots, of the pre-Elon Musk era. This series of events comes on the heels of the Steven Crowder vs. The Daily Wire divide, where a contract offered to Crowder by The Daily Wire was said to have required compliance with social media platform rules, sending conservative voices and pundits into a tizzy over ethics.

Eliza Bleu is a social media personality and advocate for sex trafficking survivors. She is notably credited with working with Musk’s team to improve site functions by removing child exploitation materials from the platform.

On January 20th, the Streisand effect was on full display when Bleu “addressed” a proactive photo that was shared on YouTube content creator Brittany Venti’s Twitter account, along with a request for Bleu to clarify some timelines about her past. Venti is also an outspoken advocate for trafficking survivors.

Bleu writes:

I’m going to address this one time and one time only. A non-consensual photo was posted of me yesterday on Twitter. The photos have been removed. The source of the photo has also been contacted and I’m preparing to escalate to the full extent of the law.

Twitter did an outstanding job and they will be excluded from legal action. There won’t be anyone else involved spared. I take things all the way and I have no chill. I’m a survivor advocate and that doesn’t stop with advocating for myself as a survivor.

I’d encourage my enemies to study the law. I have been for many years. It might stop you from making rookie mistakes in the future.

Twitter’s Community Notes has added additional context to Bleu’s tweet:

The Photos were screenshots from a publicly available World Star Hip Hop music video that has been online since 2016. The video was made after Eliza Blue claimed she escaped Human trafficking

The photo in question was a screenshot that came from a video posted by World Star Hip Hop, in a series called “ICANDY.” The video had been hosted on YouTube since February 19, 2016, for nearly seven years–prior to Bleu’s claims that it was “non-consensual”–and has since been removed under a third-party rights claim. Additionally, if you were to click a link to the original video from Twitter’s platform, a warning pops up saying that the link may be “unsafe.”

At the time, Bleu’s internet persona was “Eliza Knows,” but she has used other alters including Eliza Cuts and Eliza Siep (a name she used during her American Idol contestant days). Morthland appears to be Eliza’s true surname, and her father is a Republican representative in Illinois. 

Currently, several creators including @BrittanyVenti, @TheQuartering, @YellowFlashGuy, and @CAMELOT331 have been locked out of their accounts, sparking hashtags of #FreeBrittanyVenti and others.

While some of Venti’s tweets have been removed, one is still available that asks Bleu to make clarifications based on the original twitter thread posted by, Manuel Defango. Defango is a podcaster who knew Bleu personally from social circles of the makeup mogul Jeffree Star, and details a timeline of Bleu’s many internet personas and endeavors.

Defango tells RedState,

“We hung out quite a bit up to 2009.” 

Defango’s thread, posted on Dec. 26, 2022, has 708,000 views to date and was created in the wake of Bleu blocking Defango, as she has reportedly done to many users who ask questions.

Meanwhile, a journalist for The Post Millennial, Andy Ngo, has taken the side of the locked-out creators, citing fair use; he tweeted to the Head of Twitter Trust and Safety, Ella Irwin, that this seems to be a “wrongful application” of the Terms of Service.

Another user reported that they were told to remove 20 tweets to regain access to their account. In the comments, a user tags Irwin, noting that no reason was offered for what rules had been broken, and Irwin replies citing, “legal notice of unauthorized use of media.”

The Twitterverse notes that Bleu and Irwin follow each other on the platform. Both Irwin and Bleu were hosts of a Twitter Spaces event that included Musk on December 10, 2022.

It seems clear that Irwin has personally engaged in the Bleu matter, having given several explanations for the widespread censorship and user shutouts. Bleu called it a “non-consensual photo,” but it’s hard to believe that a World Star Hip Hop ICANDY shoot didn’t include a photo release. YouTube removes the video after hosting it for seven years, saying there is a third-party rights claim. Twitter’s Irwin says there was a legal notice of “unauthorized media.”

While a legal “rights” battle is teeing up and the platform’s comply with thinly veiled and easily debunked claims (it’s clearly a consensual video shoot, still frame is fair use, photo releases were more than likely required for original publishing), nobody is supposed to find any irony in Bleu and Twitter’s continued “free speech” claims.

No, really, just days before she had creators targeted over seemingly fair use content, Bleu says free speech is a hill she will die on, as an inalienable human right.

I want to be crystal clear, I’ll die on the hill of free speech in America. The government can not remove it. The WEF can not remove it. Free speech is an inalienable human right with or without both the government or the WEF.

Bleu noted that Twitter’s immediate action removing the media content would result in sparing them from her planned legal action. Is she planning legal action against the videographer, Gabriel Hart aka “Video + God” or just some Twitter accounts that asked her to explain parts of her story? Is she suing World Star Hip Hop, seven years later, with claims of “non-consensual images”? I don’t think so.

In fact, Bleu is on video talking about how happy she was about the World Star video, and calling it a “piece to the puzzle”:

“I’m really happy that the World Star video got released – that was good, piece to the puzzle.”

Infamously, Bleu doesn’t even “go after” her alleged sex trafficker, posting in 2020 that this person still follows her on social media and messages her. So, no restraining order, then? Just a quip and finger-nail polish emoji? Good enough!?

The fact that Bleu targets content creators with threats of litigation (but not the videographer or WSHH?) and appears to weaponize social media oligarchy, while merely tweeting at her alleged sex trafficker to kiss her rear with an emoji, is quite a selective outrage. She calls the creators “her enemies,” who are forced to remove content that isn’t as illegal as it is unbecoming, including what would be considered a meme… posting any image of Bleu with a beard is the latest alleged internet crime.

Defango tells RedState that he was also locked out before removing links to two podcast appearances, that had the bearded “Eliza Murphy” thumbnail, a reference to the canceled influencer, the bearded Jack Murphy.

“This recent scandal regarding Eliza Bleu and censorship on Twitter is a black eye on Elon Musk and an F.U. to everyone who bought an eight-dollar check mark. We’re basically in the same position with the old guard, only now it’s somehow worse: there is literally no recourse for us.”

Defango adds that he will accept a lawsuit via email, telling RedState he would rather not have strange people showing up at his house. “Also, Eliza can serve me via email,” he says.

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