>> Prominent #Resistance bros Ed and Brian Krassenstein have been banned from Twitter,
for life, actually, for quote, operating multiple fake accounts and purchasing account interactions.
I would give you more details, but I don't have any.
So it sounds like they were using accounts, sort of sock puppet accounts-
>> Aha, Nancy Pelosi like.
>> There you go, you gotta put it in the edits, put it in the edits.
>> No, don't edit that together, no, no >> And also account interactions, which could
be likes or retweets, or comments, or whatever.
I don't think it directly says that they were buying followers.
I wouldn't rule it out, though.
If you're not familiar with the Krassenstein brothers, I envy you.
>> No, but also, you've probably come across them.
They're not breaking laws.
They're not Jacob Wohl, they're not the worst people in the world.
But they were annoying and kind of shallow on Twitter and they would reply to everything
that Donald Trump put out there.
And yeah, so I wanna show a little bit about the argument for why they needed to be removed.
And then also an image that I know Nando's excited about.
>> Yes.
>> That was I think was Pete Krassenstein.
>> Yes.
>> So Twitter says the Twitter rules apply to everyone.
Operating multiple fake accounts and purchasing accounts interactions are strictly prohibited.
Engaging in these behaviors will result in permanent suspension from the service.
If you want to maintain a Twitter presence, you can't do this sort of stuff.
You can advocate for Nazi policies, you just can't do this sort of stuff.
>> [LAUGHS] >> If you wanna stay on Twitter.
>> I've gotta jump in there.
I love that rule.
They say they're gonna apply it to everybody, can't wait.
So here's what I want you to investigate, all of the political campaigns.
The Democratic ones.
>> Yeah.
>> And the Republican ones, cuz I would be shocked if they were not using multiple fake
accounts and purchasing account interactions.
And you say that will result in a permanent suspension.
You're really going to do a permanent suspension of Donald Trump's campaign.
Are you going to do a permanent suspension of Joe Biden's campaign if it turns out they're
using sock puppets and these things.
Look, I see it every day.
You can tell a clear pattern of bots when you see one.
They'll quote the same articles that are from a long time ago that no actual human has access
to at the tip of their fingers.
They'll say similar things.
I've seen it a million times and the campaigns definitely use them.
So Twitter, I'm challenging you to investigate Democratic and Republican campaigns.
So if you really mean it, cuz I'm not sure I believe you.
I think that you're doing this.
You had to act on some of the outrageous things that the right wing was doing.
Then you had to find a left wing anyone, anyone to ban on the left wing so you can say you're
neutral.
>> Mm-hm.
>> But I don't think you actually wanna challenge power.
And I don't think you wanna actually apply these rules to everybody.
Cuz if you did, you'd probably have to ban at least half the campaigns from Twitter.
>> Yeah.
>> Keep it real, and I'd love to see.
I'd love for them to answer.
Are they investigating the campaigns or are they not?
Cuz I'd be shocked if the campaigns weren't using bots.
>> Yeah, so they have responded saying, Twitter claims that we manipulated our interactions
through the purchase of fake accounts and fake interactions.
We have never once acquired anything for the purpose of increasing our Twitter presence.
The Krassensteins say they only operated secondary accounts on Twitter to monitor death threats
as well as accounts for their businesses.
And honestly, I'm sure that they were purchasing various things.
But I also think that they just had a lot of followers because there is a big market
for sort of shallow anti-Trump commentary.
You can get people to follow you and in fact, they had a lot of followers.
Ed Krassenstein, that's funny, we'll get to that in a second.
Ed Krassenstein had roughly 925,000 followers before he was banned, while Brian Krassenstein
had more than 697,000 followers.
And look, I'm a person, I care about the environment.
I care about animals, I care about endangered species.
And the Krassensteins are now endangered on Twitter.
We've lost two.
We're just left with Kenny Klippenstein.
>> Yeah.
>> Noted Krassenstein.
And it's sad.
He's only at 113,000 followers.
He's the least successful as the Krassensteins.
So go follow Ken Klippenstein on Twitter.
He's a great reporter.
>> The reason we're joking around about that is because I guess their names are somewhat
similar.
People often confuse Ken, who is our senior investigative reporter, for the Krassensteins.
And he's like, I'm not a Krassenstein!
>> Yeah, but even the Krassensteins joke about him being a Krassenstein, which I don't think
that he'd enjoy.
>> I don't know, I'm not convince he's not a Krassenstein.
I'd need to see the facts.
>> I haven't seen a natural birth certificate.
>> Yeah.
>> And Twitter please don't accidentally ban him.
He's a real reporter.
>> I have not seen any confirmation that he's not one of the Klippenstein's fake accounts.
>> Yeah, he could be just the bot.
>> Then he's a great reporter.
They're doing great reporting and I didn't know it.
>> I wanna show you one more thing because I wanna make clear that like so they've been
banned.
I have been annoyed with them historically, they-
>> Really I couldn't tell.
>> But they're by far not the worst people in American politics.
I'm not trying to make that case.
However, they have done a few things that stand out as a little bit odd.
If you've listened to their podcast, it's something.
>> And then they've done something that I have not been able to successfully do is actually
finished and publish a book.
So Ed Krassenstein had tweeted this after some criticism of an image in their kids book.
I love how people are trying to attack @Krassenstein and I for including a muscular super hero
in our kids book, saying it's a, quote, fetish picture book.
I guess it's wrong for the Hulk, He-Man, and Ninja Turtles to all be muscular heroes too?
Check it out.
And yes, that's Robert Mueller because it's that short of book.
>> In a Chippendale outfit, yeah.
It's Robert Mueller in a Chippendale's outfit.
>> In their defense, he often does not wear shirts while conducting business.
>> Yeah, and he's yolked, it's fine.
>> I mean, that's what they did.
It was liberal wish fulfillment, right?
Is what they were operating on, just taking advantage of people's trauma, that Trump won
the election.
It's a little gross.
It's not the worst thing in the world.
Again, they're not Nazis, but it's kinda funny to see them banned.
>> Yeah, look, since I don't know the Krassensteins, sorry, they probably take greatest offense
at that as opposed to what these two said, okay?
But I'm not offended.
I don't know them.
I'm not offended by that.
I find that to be funny.
So why does that bother you guys so much?
I don't get it.
>> It's weird >> It's like he said it's just the thing that
bothers me the most in media and social media is that there's a particular talent that some
people have it is to identify out there a hunger, a deep hunger for a specific thing.
And they exploit that for money and I'm not even talking specifically about the Krassenstein,
that's something that people do now.
Jacob Wohl is an example of that.
All of the anonymous 40 year old blondes who respond to Donald Trump and get hundreds of
thousands of followers have identified that.
If I say this thing, if I produce this thing, people will give my Patreon money.
And that image of Robert Mueller is peak liberal wish fulfillment.
And I get it.
I watch Stephen Colbert sometimes, it's funny.
It's detached from reality for the most part.
It's liberal wish fulfillment, I get why people want it.
And they have monetized, that up until now, better than the vast majority of people.
>> I gotta say, I don't want false equivalency though.
We mentioned Jacob Wohl.
Jacob Wohl is a monster and a clown.
Krassensteins do Tweets you don't love.
>> They're ultimately harmless.
>> And it's not Klippenstein!
>> Ken Klippenstein may be the biggest victim out of all of this.
>> The ironic thing is the only person who's actually qualified to identify if he's a Krassenstein,
would be Kenny Klippenstein who's a great investigative reporter.
>> Yeah and last thing is, look, the Krassensteins say, we didn't do it, we didn't do these things
that Twitter says we did.
I have no idea who's telling the truth on that.
>> That's true.
>> So if they have evidence, because I don't put it past any establishment or organization,
at this point Twitter because of its size etc is in a sense, to do false equivalency
on their own.
And to go, well since the right wing are monsters, but they yell at us.
We have to have a- >> Yeah.
>> Sacrificial lamb on the left wing side.
So I don't know because I don't have access to the facts and information.
And Twitter did not make them public, whether they actually did do these things and should
be banned or if there are sacrificial lambs, I don't know.
>> It's probably a bit of both.
>> I think it's a bit of both, yes.
>> Okay, but you guys don't know either.
Okay.
>> Yes.