A year ago, conservative commentator Matt Walsh released his documentary movie on Daily Wire’s subscription-only streaming service.
The controversial film that criticises gender and transgender issues follows the media personality around the US and Africa as he asks various people a seemingly simple question that many are unable to answer: “What Is a Woman?”
Praised by conservatives and criticised by others for being “transphobic”, Walsh claimed he received death threats and had the police involved following the movie’s release.
Now a year on, and once again coinciding with the start of Pride Month, What Is a Woman? has been made available to stream for free for 24 hours only on Daily Wire’s official Twitter feed.
However, Walsh and the outlet claim they were asked to edit certain “misgendering” scenes before the launch, which they refused.
READ MORE: Johnny Depp stars in Jeanne Du Barry trailer – Pirates star’s comeback
Supportive accounts began accusing Twitter of not being a free speech platform and the social media website’s CEO Elon Musk himself soon got involved. Prior to the launch, the billionaire responded to Walsh’s claim that Twitter cancelled a deal with Daily Wire to premiere What Is a Woman? for free because of two instances of “misgendering”.
Musk said: “This was a mistake by many people at Twitter. It is definitely allowed. Whether or not you agree with using someone’s preferred pronouns, not doing so is at most rude and certainly breaks no laws. I should note that I do personally use someone’s preferred pronouns, just as I use someone’s preferred name, simply from the standpoint of good manners. However, for the same reason, I object to rude behavior, ostracism or threats of violence if the wrong pronoun or name is used.”
Upon being tweeted out in full on the Daily Wire Twitter feed around 1am BST, labelled as “the movie they really don’t want you to see”, the social media website made the film’s visibility limited due to the edit requests being declined, highlighting: “This Tweet may violate Twitter’s rules against Hateful Conduct.” The ability to share, comment, retweet and like the post, which can still be viewed, remains locked off.
UPDATE: Twitter has removed the limited visibility and you can watch What Is a Woman? below.
Walsh soon tweeted after the launch: “Our film has been posted for a couple of hours. You cannot retweet it. It will not appear in anyone’s feed. It has been flagged as hate speech. It has been blacklisted from the trends list. It still has nearly 900 thousand views.”
Musk then responded: “We’re updating the system tomorrow so that those who follow @realDailyWire will see this in their feed, but it won’t be recommended to non-followers (nor will any advertising be associated with it). Commenting & deliberate sharing will be allowed. Sensitive content just won’t be pushed to people unless they ask for it or a friend sends it to them.”
The billionaire Twitter boss also reassured the outlet: “The controversy will drive viewership.”
