What has happened to ‘Free Speech’ in 2018?
We already know that there is only one acceptable worldview and it’s the one that is held by the ‘tolerant left’.
God help you if you happen to disagree.
Alex Jones, (whatever you think of him,) has been on the frontline fighting for free speech. His YouTube channel, The Alex Jones Show, has over 2.4 million subscribers.
Jones has been hit with disciplinary action by YouTube in the past.
Now he’s been hit by all of The Big Three of Silicon Valley, Google (which owns YouTube), Apple, and Facebook. That’s not all, either, some up and coming tech companies like Spotify are taking their cue from The Big Three.
Apple and Facebook clamped down on content by Alex Jones Monday, with the former pulling five of his podcasts and the latter removing four pages controlled by him.
Apple confirmed on Monday that it had removed five out of six podcasts, which includes Jones’ infamous “The Alex Jones Show” as well as a number of other InfoWars audio streams. The news was originally reported by BuzzFeed News.
Apple didn’t remove select podcasts that violated their terms and conditions, they deleted entire libraries of InfoWars podcasts.
Here’s what Apple had to say:
“Apple does not tolerate hate speech, and we have clear guidelines that creators and developers must follow to ensure we provide a safe environment for all of our users,” an Apple spokesperson said in a statement on Monday.
“Podcasts that violate these guidelines are removed from our directory making them no longer searchable or available for download or streaming. We believe in representing a wide range of views, so long as people are respectful to those with differing opinions.”
Facebook has been concerned with the ‘Fake News’ spread by InfoWars. The social media platform has been targetting conservatives for a long time, and they’ve really been gunning for Jones and InfoWars.
Early Monday, Facebook joined Apple in ditching Jones, too.
Later on Monday morning, Facebook announced it was removing four of Jones’ pages for persistently uploading content in breach of the social network’s content guidelines.
In July, Facebook removed four of Jones’ videos and hit his own personal profile with a 30-day ban over what the firm deemed as a violation of its policies on bullying and hate speech.
The company explained on Monday that when it deletes content, the removal counts as a strike — essentially a warning — against the person that uploaded it. In the case of pages, Facebook said it holds both a page and an administrator who posts content in violation of its rules accountable.
Owen Shroyer talks about the ban from Facebook:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsZ3eqV8JIc
Last week, Spotify removed several of Jones’s podcast as a result of the violation of their policies on ‘hateful content’. After reviewing the podcast over the weekend, they determined that it warranted complete deletion.
Spotify continued to review the podcast over the weekend and arrived at the conclusion that enough of it went against its code on hateful content to warrant a complete deletion of the show.
Spotify’s policies mean that more than one contravention can result in a podcast creator being barred from the platform altogether. The company had been confronted with the threat of some users leaving the platform for not being tough enough on the right-wing online personality.
Source: CNBC
The big question is: Are these organizations non-partisan platforms or publishers that can edit and select content?
That is the issue.
Despite Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony before Congress, Facebook has already admitted in a lawsuit that it is not a neutral platform, and that changes everything.
Watch the statement by Alex Jones in response:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_&v=_cS5B-uV2rA
Paul Joseph Watson posted a thread about the Facebook ban, and he explains succinctly why it’s such a problem.
Facebook has permanently BANNED Infowars.
For unspecified "hate speech". They didn't even tell us what the offending posts were.
This sets a chilling precedent for free speech.
To all other conservative news outlets – you are next.
The great censorship purge has truly begun. pic.twitter.com/v7Yo9hI0q3
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) August 6, 2018
"But it's just a private company which can do what it likes".
No it's not "just a private company".
This is a Big Tech monopoly working hand in hand with the establishment media to unfairly silence dissenters.
This is Chinese-style web control. Here and now. In the west.
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) August 6, 2018
Watson writes:
“But it’s just a private company which can do what it likes”. No it’s not “just a private company”. This is a Big Tech monopoly working hand in hand with the establishment media to unfairly silence dissenters. This is Chinese-style web control. Here and now. In the west.
Confirmation that Facebook banned Infowars because of "language" used to describe "people who are transgender, Muslims and immigrants."
No specific examples were provided.
In other words, if some far-left hysteric in Silicon Valley doesn't like the words you use, you're gone. pic.twitter.com/gsk3rhaLKy
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) August 6, 2018
WikiLeaks also tweeted out Watson’s article with this comment:
Infowars says it has been banned by Facebook for unspecified ‘hate speech’. Regardless of the facts in this case, the ability of Facebook to censor rivial publishers is a global anti-trust problem, which along with San Francisco cultural imperialism, reduces political diversity.
Infowars says it has been banned by Facebook for unspecified 'hate speech'. Regardless of the facts in this case, the ability of Facebook to censor rivial publishers is a global anti-trust problem, which along with San Francisco cultural imperialism, reduces political diversity. https://t.co/xb5oY2JHzy
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) August 6, 2018
That is precisely the problem and the reason that it’s being done.
Facebook has brought on ‘fact checkers’ like Snopes and PolitiFact — who do have a left-wing bias.
Conservative sites are taking the hit, and Jones is an easy target for the left because of his passionate rants and controversial take on the issues.
Frankly, I’m on the side of all speech being out there and let’s talk it out and dismiss the bad ideas and keep the good ones.
But hey, I’m a free speech absolutist, what the heck do I know.
I once read a book where certain points of view were censored — it was a dystopia, not a utopia.
You just know that Twitter is next.
He also said a post on a civil war between leftist America and ‘flyover country’ was a ‘good read’.
It’s already ‘shadow banning’ conservatives.
Until then…
This is why ClashDaily and the other conservative sites that you like need your help.
Like, Share, Subscribe. Repeat.
And there goes free speech.
Take control of your newsfeed now.
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