Beginning of the End for Alex Jones
I have mixed feelings about this.
Apple, Facebook, YouTube and Spotify removed from their services large portions of content posted by the right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his Infowars site, a major step by big technology firms to curb one of the most prominent online voices trafficking in misinformation.Apple on Sunday removed five of the six Infowars podcasts on its popular Podcasts app. Commenting on the move, a spokeswoman said, “Apple does not tolerate hate speech.”
Facebook, YouTube and Spotify, which for weeks had faced calls that they remove Infowars content, followed with similar measures. Facebook removed four pages belonging to Mr. Jones for violating its policies by “glorifying violence” and “using dehumanizing language to describe people who are transgender, Muslims and immigrants.”
YouTube terminated Mr. Jones’s channel, which had more than 2.4 million subscribers, for repeatedly violating its policies, including its prohibition on hate speech. Spotify cited its own prohibition on hate speech as the reason for removing a podcast by Mr. Jones.
On one hand, Alex Jones is a parasite on society.
He contributes nothing of value, and his Sandy Hook konspiracy is over the top insulting.
On the other hand, this coordinated effort is censorship.
What's more, it's private corporate censorship, which people on the right generally pretend doesn't exist (so right-wingers will probably ignore the irony).
The swiftness of these removals highlights a truth that many tech companies don’t want to fully acknowledge in an age of increased ideological polarization among their users: The idea of “protecting free speech” isn’t actually a hard-and-fast policy on their sites, but rather an increasingly handy excuse they can use to avoid taking controversial action.That’s almost certainly why, as soon as Apple took the step of entirely banning Jones and his content, the cudgel fell: All of a sudden the more controversial action would have been to allow Jones and Infowars to remain. And so, sites that just a week ago were tentatively committed to protecting Jones’s “free speech” couldn’t about-face fast enough.
How long before they de-platform socialists and anything anti-corporate?
Comments
The irony is delicious.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O74sT4I0Yk0]
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
Come to think of it, socialists have never had a voice online.
The pigs have always been the first to shut down the left any time left-wing movements gain any traction. They tolerate right-wing assholes because it gets them business.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
How long before they de-platform socialists and anything
anti-corporate?
It was months ago. They started with anti-war content. Youtube is especially bad at terrifyingly random and arbitrary "enforcment" of copyright claims and there has been a general embracing of identity politics.
It's only a matter of time before criticism of HRC will be banned as "hate speech". Jimmy Dore has already been demonitized, demonizing is next. Critics of the Meuller investigation are already being denounced as "russian disinformation". (and on a funny note I just got a robocall from "the IRS" It seems that fraud is still "free speech", but exposing fraud is "disinformation")
On to Biden since 1973
I agree.
It's funny that the left is so concerned about speech that might incite, yet the left is fine with Maxine Waters calling for the surrounding of and harassment of people on the right everywhere they go, and it is fine with people harassing the right at restaurants or movies.
The left has already been calling people on the right traitors and treasonous. It is so pathetic.
I think we are headed for civil war.
dfarrah
I'm conflicted about that
People should get the treatment they deserve.
The right has been doing this to us for generations.
But it's objectively wrong, it's out of hand, and it will lead to the breakdown of society, as if it hasn't already.
On to Biden since 1973
Have you had an angry
I haven't experienced this.
I know there have been assassination attempts on politicians (Giffords, that football game amongst members of Congress), so I don't know the tit for tat for assassin attempts.
But I do know that I have never been harassed because I'm a liberal, nor would I ever do what some of these mobs are doing.
I am really suspicious of these activities - all chalked up to the 'far left.' Who is behind these people? Is it really the Maxine Waters types who are egging this on or someone else? These people are acting like fools; do they really think that this behavior is helping a cause?
Does anyone else want to weigh in with their experiences? Have people on this site experienced being driven from a restaurant or surrounded by an angry mob targeting you because of your political beliefs?
dfarrah
We've been in a Cold Civil War since 1994, when
the Republicans decided that they would not allow the duly-elected Democratic President to govern, despite the fact that he was quite conservative.
They doubled down on it with Obama, whose proposals they would not pass even when they had begun as Republican initiatives.
My imagination is inadequate to the task of envisioning a Hot Civil War. I don't know how the average gun-totin' 2nd Amendment devotee would even figure who the enemy was.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
So the repubs doubled down.
Too bad the dems rolled for Reagan. Too bad the dems represent the same wealthy interests that the repubs do, and they have voted, continue to vote, and will continue to vote for many repub policies.
Further, it's not as if Obama cared about anything but himself and enriching himself and keeping the world safe for the people like him.
dfarrah
i disagree with you, that they were "doing what a
political party is supposed to do."
but it would take me hours to write an explanation of why.
nonetheless, i disagree about as strongly as i could possibly disagree. what the republicans did was seditious.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Anti-war content was why Eugene Debs
was sent to prison.
The Canton Speech
Eugene V. Debs delivered the speech that landed him in jail 99 years ago.
Slippery slope indeed.
Putin isn’t going to make you homeless or kill you or deny you health care.
Your government will allow it to happen though.
thought for the day:
-- Eugene Debs source
edit: Anybody wanting a quick Bojo could post this over on Daily Kos....
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Why now?
I agree with you. I find Alex Jones to be completely repugnant. It saddens me that the guy has an audience. But I too get a uncomfortable by the censorship (and that’s what if feels like to me.)
The big question for me though is why now? It’s not like he just slid off the rails. This has always been his MO. It’s not like it’s a secret. Whenever big biz make some coordinated effort like this with no apparent provocation, I’m instantly suspicious. A month ago, this was all fine and dandy. Now it’s now. What changed?
Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.
Trump' s war with the media
Respectfully, don't see it
quite that way.
IMO, the entire 'Russia Ruse' was a setup, or just an excuse/impetus to shut down/censor our social media platforms--if not the internet, in general.
Sorta pushed right now, but will elaborate later. Don't forget, WJC mused to the 'Money Honey' (Maria Bartiromo, then on CNBC, now on Fox Business Channel, I believe) several years ago that 'we' need an official "Ministry Of Truth." We thought we'd fall out of our chairs when we heard that interview on XM Radio. BTW, the video of that program has been taken down. Guess who put it on his website? Jones. And, it certainly wasn't an conspiracy theory, not to say he doesn't traffic in them, at times.
As I see it, tech CEOs have been/are being coerced into exercising heavy censorship. IOW, it's either doing that 'voluntarily,' or having lawmakers begin to heavily regulate their industries. (Watch the Congressional hearings--they're downright scary!)
Mollie/Blue Onyx (Reverting to my original handle)
"Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong."~~W. R. Purche
“Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.”~~Martin Luther King Jr.
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
spoiled cat
"Everyone thinks she has the most spoiled of cats, and I alone am right!" -- Simon Tofield
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Hi, Sean--good to see you! Since we've
never had a cat--we've had dogs and birds, the latter of which would make a nice meal for any cat--so, I'll take your word for it!
One of the coolest cats I've ever known was a neighbors' cat, Domino, when we were newlyweds. He seemed to think that he was a dog (by his actions).
Mollie/Blue Onyx (Reverting to my original handle)
“Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.”~~Martin Luther King Jr.
"Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong."~~W. R. Purche
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
cat linkie
The link in my Comment is to the Simon's Cat YouTube channel, where all the Simon's Cat videos live. They're hilarious! My favorite remains the first and shortest one, "Cat Man Do":
[video:https://youtu.be/w0ffwDYo00Q]
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Thank you, Sean--that is too funny! :-D The smile
that it brought to my face was much needed. I'll be sure to watch some other ones.
Mollie/Blue Onyx (Reverting to my original handle)
“Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.”~~Martin Luther King Jr.
"Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong."~~W. R. Purche
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Gee, maybe it's because of
Could that be it?
dfarrah
Oops, double post.
dfarrah
Gateway Pundit covered the Purge
ARE TECH GIANTS WORKING TOGETHER TO CENSOR CONSERVATIVES? — Apple, YouTube and Facebook BAN Infowars on Same Day
Some conservatives are noticing. The only remaining question is when will our corporate masters come after us?
I want to tell those on the right-wing
You can't criticize this censorship because it's capitalist companies making a capitalist decision, and we all know that means FREEDOM!
So if you criticize this move, you are against FREEDOM!
The problem is that Infowars is not a
"conservative" website, it is a batshit lunatic website. Casting this as "Eebil Librul Media Suppresses Conservatives" makes about as much sense as calling Hillary Clinton a Center-Leftist. There's nothing politically conservative -- not even "right wing" -- about AJ's most whacked out crap, like the Sandy Hook nonsense. Crazy talk is crazy talk, and it's an insult to any sane conservative -- even a really evil one -- to label Infowars as "conservative", just because most of the crazy talk seems to have its roots in right-wing points of view (e.g. 2nd Amendment rights).
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Situational Ethics
Just because you don't like a site doesn't mean it should be censored. It's far too easy to start with the wackos and end up with sites you do like. Either the 1st Amendment protects Infowars as powerfully as it does Caucus99Percent or it ends up not protecting anyone that doesn't toe the corporate/government line. As the saying goes, first they come for Alex Jones, then they come for Bernie Sanders, then they come for you.
Hypocritical too.
Do they get to shut down liberal websites that advocate such?
dfarrah
The problem here.....
..... is that the First Amendment only governs the actions of American governments, while suffering the private sector to do whatever it wants.
And, in this case, what the private sector wants is to make lots and lots of money...... (edit) so they support the Alex Joneses of this world while profits increase, and then promptly trash them when their usefulness for that purpose expires.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
my comment wasn't meant to address whether
the censorship was appropriate, it was meant to address whether the censorship was about suppression of "right-wing" views by "liberal" media. which it is not, because:
A. The views in question aren't part of a coherent right-wing philosophy, they're just crazy talk.
B. The media are not, of course, particularly liberal.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
@UntimelyRippd It's not about who is
It's about who is interjecting data and opinions that do not advance the establishment narrative.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Precedent
They're working on it.
Those pesky progressives and democratic socialists are harming CorpaDem election chances, so I'd bet 10,000 Quatloos the tech giants and MSM are working on censoring them, too.
I too have mixed feelings about this
Jones has been spouting his nonsense since he went on air, but the companies have decided to censor him? It was Rush that started spouting hateful commentary and that was back in the 80-90's and he's still on the air.
Remember that Facebook censored some article about the Declaration of Independence because something in the wording went against the algorithms. WSWS has had many of their articles removed from FB as have others. Yeah. This is a slippery slope and where will it end up?
If people have a problem with what Jones and others of their ilk say then they can take them to court. Seth Rich's parents wanted to sue Fox and Hannity for what he said about him, but the judge said no. They can appeal.
Putin isn’t going to make you homeless or kill you or deny you health care.
Your government will allow it to happen though.
I am not conflicted at all
I find Alex Jones repulsive and annoying.
BUT...and this is a very big but. But, when we have corporations now censoring our ability to speak freely and express differing political ideas, however repulsive we may find them, then we are locked into a totalitarian state run by the oligarchs.
I may despise Alex Jones, but I will defend his right to speak freely. And then I can freely decide to ignore him too. The fact that our rights have been outsourced to private corporations and deregulated by what little is left of our so called representative government is far more frightening to me than any of Alex Jones' unhinged rants.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
THIS.
-- gulfgal98
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
I dunno where this fits in but.....
I was a kid in the late1960s/early1970s. Every morning the local AM radio station would tell us how many kids died in Vietnam.
Anyhoo, "malls" became a thing and privatization of the public square entered my world.
Now censorship. Yikes.
Been down hill ever since.
Compensated Spokes Model for Big Poor.
It has been said that if you don’t support free speech for those
… whose opinions you detest, then you don’t support free speech at all.
I’m not conflicted at all here either. The concept of “hate speech” as a special, non-protected category of speech was always bogus, just a Trojan horse to get otherwise progressive people to go along with gradually abolishing free speech.
Hear, hear, LL! Agree with you, SD,
and Nancy on this one. I've got a transcript of supposed 'conservative' commentator Bill Kristol defending so-called 'progressive identity politics' the other day, which I'll locate and post soon.
Everything's upside down, now!
How is it that the corporatist neoliberal Dem Party has totally become the party of the (neocon) Kagans, Max Boot, Repub strategist Mark Schmidt, Bill Kristol, and, for cryin' out loud--bow-tied George Will?
Yikes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mollie/Blue Onyx (Reverting to my original handle)
“Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.”~~Martin Luther King Jr.
"Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong."~~W. R. Purche
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
@Unabashed Liberal And George W. Bush and
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
I was intrigued by the phrase "de-platform"
A classic (pre-internet) newspaper was its own platform. They owned the printing press and hired the paper boys (not sure how newsstands worked).
When we talk about "freedom of the press" we aren't talking about journalism. The press is a machine, a printing press, which is the distribution platform.
The only way to stop a newspaper from distributing their content is with the law, and we have 1st amendment protections for that.
In the 21st century we have people trying to be all modern. They are content creators, and use a private sector distribution platform. They have NO legal protections for their distribution network, other than the EULA written by the platform themselves.
This works great when you're a little guy trying to get started. When you're big enough you need to spend the money to develop your own distribution platform or you are exposed to this crap.
They could, of course, deny you a domain name, though people could still access you directly by IP address (welcome to the dark net). They could even block the IP address, I don't know if you have any legal protections from that. They could wave their hands and say "terrorism" and do whatever they want.
Jones already has a web site. He needs to pay to develop his own video and audio deployment infrastructure. He needs to get eyeballs the old fashioned way, not expect a social media platform to hand them to him.
"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone
Where did this private
dfarrah
@dfarrah Good question, dfarrah
Once upon a time, when Liz Warren looked like she was worth a damn, she used to ask questions like this.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
So, conceivably, anyone could build a digital platform
...for public distribution on the Internet and grow it into a giant, widely used venue. In that scenario, it's likely that Alex Jones would also be using that venue. So, if he were sanctioned/censored by the other big platforms — like Facebook and Youtube, which is essentially Google — Alex Jones would remain relatively unharmed
But when we see all the big platforms dumping him suddenly on the same day, that looks like a conspiracy to harm Jones and his business. An antitrust violation. I imagine the government could bring the case, or Jones could if he had a great deal of money.
I would assume US citizens have no particular constitutional rights or protections relative to the Internet. With the loss of Net Neutrality, that would be a certainty.
Thanks for your answer. It looks like something you know well.
@WoodsDweller Very very smart analysis
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
What democracy are you talking about?
There IS none in the good ole' US of A. Does anyone recall the de-monetization of sites like Jimmy Dore? Calling Truthdig, the Intercept, et. al. fake news? It's already happening on the left - now they're going after the right.
What we need to remember is that there is no left or right - it's who is touting the deep state line.
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Well let's not compare Dore, Truthdig, etc
with InfoWars. Huge difference. B/c InfoWars fake news is easily debunked -- at least to anyone who still has a few brain cells.
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
I see you didn’t get,
by your response, what I was trying to convey.
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Hey RA
Yes, I get it. One Party with 2 wings controlled by TPTB.
And I know you are not an Infowars whackjob.
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
They went after
dfarrah
Fuck Infowars. Let it rot.
Their free (hate) speech is allowed to have a website. That's all the free speech it is entitled to -- just like the KKK and other hate groups. No information platform (ie FBook, YouTube, etc ) has an obligation to carry their fake news and hate content on their platform. Good fucking riddance.
Infowars is feeding the stupidity of all the conservative assholes that are too stupid to think for themselves. They feed them conspiracy theories and embolden their racism and xenophobia -- degrading society in the process.
Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.
About time someone said it.
Meanwhile, the same right-wing idiots who cry 'FREEZE PEACH' when one of their own is de-platformed in any shape, form or fashion are quick to cheer as we continue to get fucked a thousand ways from sunday. Free speech is just a buzzword and the god damned piece of paper only protects wealth, not rights.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
@Citizen Of Earth You do know that the
They're trying to get us to help them justify stuffing a gag in our mouths by waving despicable people at us and saying "You don't want HIS potty mouth around, do you?"
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
I guess free speech is reduced to
standing on a soapbox in the public square, or your own front yard imploring passers by to listen to you. This public square is also open to commercial speech with the same protections. Beyond that everything is commercial space and all speech is restricted to ownership rules, from your letter to the editor to network television. With the internet it's more and more commercial space and less public, and eventually there will no speech not subject to commercial rules. No wonder $=speech.
Anybody Notice That This New Pogrom Against “Fake News” Will
make a Bernie-type movement impossible? You must pay to speak to many people. These people… wanting free shit all the time.
“You think freedom of speech is free or something?"
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu
Jimmy Dore
40 quatloos on the newcomers!
40 quatloos on the newcomers!
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Since I don't see it mentioned here
And many articles don't either. Here's a pretty good hint as to why Jones got deep sixed by the deep state.
https://www.infowars.com/petition-to-trump-pardon-julian-assange/
Spout all the nonsense you want? Ok! but go against the narrative?
"We must END him!"
Hat tip to Caitlin Johnstone again as the only reason I found this out. As usual she nails it too.
https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/in-a-corporatist-system-of-government...
As does another famous cynic.
"The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all."
H. L. Mencken
See, their morals, their code... it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be.
-The Joker-