Founder of The Dawn Project Dan O’Dowd has been featured in The Daily Express examining his ban from advertising on Twitter, following his viral advertisements on the platform.
Dan’s feature was published on 10 July 2023 in The Daily Express, and can be found here.
Elon Musk accused of censorship after Tesla critic BANNED from using Twitter feature
Twitter is “descending into an Elon-censored echo chamber”, said tech entrepreneur Dan O’Dowd, who has been a vocal critic of Tesla’s self-driving system.
Elon Musk has been accused of “hypocritical” censorship after a top critic of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) software was banned from using Twitter Ads.
Tech entrepreneur Dan O’Dowd is the founder of the public safety advocacy group The Dawn Project, which has been running a campaign against Tesla’s self-driving system.
According to Mr O’Dowd, his account was rendered ineligible to use Twitter Ads following the promotion of two tweets with videos apparently showing safety issues with the FSD system, one of which The Dawn Project said went “viral” shortly before the ban was put into effect.
In one of the videos, a self-driving car seems to ignore a stop sign — forcing the human driver to take over — while the other shows the system hitting obstacles including a child-size mannequin.
In justification for the ban, which began on July 7, Twitter cited a non-specific “policy violation”.
The full message presented in Mr O’Dowd’s Twitter Ads account reads: “This account is ineligible to run Twitter Ads due to a policy violation by one or more users.
“Any active campaigns have been paused. Please contact Twitter Ads Support to resolve this issue.”
The message also includes a link to more information on Twitter Ads policies.
Tesla has refuted The Dawn Project’s assertions that its FSD software is unsafe.
Mr Musk, meanwhile, has publicly called Mr O’Dowd “bat s*** crazy”, albeit spelling the first two words using the bat and poo emoji respectively.
🦇 💩 crazy
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 25, 2022
Mr O’Dowd said: “I have been advertising The Dawn Project’s messages on Twitter since before Elon bought it. I was even awarded a gold check for being a top Twitter advertiser.
“When Elon bought Twitter he claimed he was a ‘free speech absolutist’ and said that he hoped that even his ‘worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means’.
“In suppressing my advertising, Elon Musk has once again shown his hypocrisy when it comes to matters of free speech on Twitter.
“It is clear that the platform is now descending into an Elon-censored echo chamber by suppressing valid criticism.”