Undercover investigative reporter James O’Keefe of Project Veritas published scathing video of current and former Twitter Inc. (NASDAQ:TWTR) employees bragging about censoring the posts of the politically conservative, and a senior engineer saying that he wants to turn President Trump’s private messages over to the DOJ. This can’t be good for TWTR stock

In the video, Twitter employees discuss “shadow banning” of Conservative tweets, and how algorithms are written to silence words correlative with Conservative ideology. Twitter denies that the practice takes place. Nevertheless, if you pay attention to who gets banned or suspended from Twitter, the anecdotal evidence corroborates O’Keefe’s findings.

This is not meant as a political screed, but to call attention to foolish policy on the part of any business that wades into the political arena. As I’ve written many times, the moment any company starts talking politics, it risks alienating 50% of its potential customer base. Politics are not the place for business and business is not the place for politics. TWTR stock could pay the price.

If Twitter is engaging in these activities, and it appears to me that it unquestionably is, then conservatives and fair-minded individuals may simply stop using Twitter. Several conservative friends I know have walked away from their accounts because of these revelations.

Given that several suitors were scared off from acquiring Twitter last year because of questionable content policies, it seems short-sighted that Twitter should even engage in such nonsensical behavior.

Twitter’s response was lackluster, and O’Keefe asks several questions that TWTR stock investors should be asking as well, namely:

• Did Twitter receive a request from the Department of Justice to turn over President Trump’s private messages?
• If such a request was received, did Twitter comply with it?
• What does Twitter plan to do to diversify the acceptable range of political beliefs among their employees?
• Since Twitter states that hundreds of employees do not have direct access to DMs, just how many employees and contractors have this level of access?
• What mechanisms are in place to prevent, or at least monitor, employee abuse of private data?
• How many employees or contractors have been caught at Twitter disclosing personal information?
• If an employee does disclose private data, what disciplinary steps are taken afterwards?
• How does Twitter explain the cavalier attitude of multiple employees regarding private data exposed on the Veritas videos?
• Does Twitter sell or use any information relating to DMs for advertising purposes?
• While Twitter claims to be politically unbiased, millions of Americans would strongly disagree with this statement. Does Twitter have any plans in place to make the platform less politically biased?
• How many Twitter accounts have been “downranked?” For what specific reasons were they downranked?

These concerns, however, go beyond the political arena. These are concerns of all users.

Another Veritas video shows an individual discussing how hundreds of Twitter employees are paid to examine private DM’s, including sexually explicit content. Why? How is this data being used? What isn’t Twitter telling its users? And how long before something damaging is conveniently “leaked” or “hacked”? Moreover can TWTR stock handle all the negativity?

Yes, everyone is far too loose with personal data and expose themselves foolishly. However, companies like Twitter, Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB), and Alphabet, Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) can and should provide a backstop by being ruthlessly decent and destroying damaging information.

They certainly don’t have to, but ultimately it comes down to trust. Once trust is broken, it can permanently damage a business.

TWTR stock has been dead money for quite some time. Why is it making things worse for itself?

Lawrence Meyers is the CEO of PDL Capital, a specialty lender focusing on consumer finance and is the Manager of The Liberty Portfolio at www.thelibertyportfolio.com. He does not own any stock mentioned. He has 23 years’ experience in the stock market, and has written more than 1,800 articles on investing. Lawrence Meyers can be reached at TheLibertyPortfolio@gmail.com.