August 07, 2018

The Purge Begins: Monopoly YouTube, Apple, Facebook, and Spotify Censor INFOWARS

So, a multi-media monopoly of YouTube, Apple, Facebook, and Spotify have joined to censor Alex Jones and INFOWARS on the same day based on "hate speech" but a quick search of "kill Trump" on YouTube brings up an extremely disturbing and graphic video "Killing Trump" published on Sep 19, 2016, that glorifies the killing of the president with non-stop violence.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AOQIdj4O-A
  

Tech social-media companies emphasized that they blocked INFOWARS, not for conspiracies, but for "inciting hatred or violence against a group or individual based on characteristics.” Facebook said they were shutting down several of Jones’ pages for “glorifying violence." But no actual sentences or specific words likened to rule breaking were ever cited. If anyone believes they were, they can post a link. Twitter has longstanding #KillTrump hashtags and hateful threats, such as this one by Patrick Bateman posted September 26, 2017.

     
Because of the remaining radical-left inflammatory content that incites violence against President Trump and conservatives, clearly, the censorship of INFOWARS is mainly for political reasons and the fact that a few gigantic multi-media tech companies banned them on the same day implies collusion and a political monopolization of commercial social media, which according to precedent is illegal.
Ezra Levant pointed out: "If Exxon, Chevron, Sunoco, and BP announced, all on the same day, that they were going to have exactly the same price at the pump, that would be illegal collusion. A cartel. That's what YouTube, Apple, Facebook, and Spotify just did. They all banned @RealAlexJones on the same day."

If Standard Oil was addressed as a monopoly for petroleum, how much more should the total control of free speech in the main public forum be addressed as unacceptable? This is especially concerning when politicians are involved in supporting the process of banning news sources based on an ideology, such as conservativism, from the public square. People are rightly concerned about this. This INFOWARS case and other recent examples of political discrimination by social media in the US reveal radical authoritarianism more likened to Nazi Germany than the values the US was founded upon. The use of monopolies for control, election meddling before the midterm vote, free-speech discrimination based on identity politics, all are antithetical to historical US ideals.
I may not be a fan of Alex Jones' style and how he talks in his videos, but I do appreciate that he presents important news that other MSM establishment news sites shun. For example, INFOWARS published the truth about the incredible injustices carried out by the British government against Tommy Robinson and the arbitrary gag order of the press made by their kangaroo court. This decision was reversed by an appeals court and this example demonstrates the importance of alternative press and the value of INFOWARS:

    

Tommy Robinson Freed, UK Press Exposed - ALEX JONES INFOWARS

CNN pressed for the blocking of INFOWARS and praised this move by Facebook and others. It's not a coincidence that CNN provides more dishonesty and abuse than any other MSM news company in the US. Because of the pervasive political bias and documented dishonesty of CNN, I'd choose INFOWARS over CNN as a news source anytime. If you read this published List of Documented Dishonesty and Fake News From CNN, you'd probably agree:
   

List of Documented Dishonesty and Fake News From CNN
At the heart of this social media censorship are cowardice and a lack of moral substance. There's an inability to defend the ideals of socialism and radical progressivism with logical arguments and discussion so their answer is to shut down all opposing views.   The reason Trump went to Twitter as his main venue for communicating with the public is that politically-biased establishment news sources more often than not distort what he says. For example, MSM news edited Trump's words about MS-13 gang members being like animals and this was clarified on Twitter:
MSM news sources also claim that Trump is against journalism and news. The truth is, he's against propaganda and fake news as he underscored on Twitter: "It is the FAKE NEWS, which is a large percentage of the media, that is the enemy of the people!" In reality, groups such as Antifa promote and practice actual violence as a supposed valid form of political expression today and not only are they uncensored by these hypocritical social media companies, on the contrary, establishment MSM news sources give them a wider platform. Author Mark Bray on NBC News said that violence represents a "small though vital sliver of anti-fascist activity." A problem with this view is that a large group of progressives believe that all conservatives are fascists and that violence is justified if all their supposed Marxist entitlements are not satisfied. This does not even take into account the unbalanced and unhinged ones that are looking for the slightest excuse to act out on their inner rage. Sadly, the recent anti-conservative censorship move by big-tech social media seems like the beginning of a serious purge of widespread conservative content. Following the censorship of Infowars, Democrat Senator Chris Murphy called for more conservative websites to be banned from social media. Donald Trump Jr. was rightly angered by this: "A Democrat Senator openly admitting that Big Tech’s censorship campaign is really about purging all conservative media." The day after the INFOWARS purge, Twitter suspended the accounts of libertarian political figures: Scott Horton, Daniel McAdams, and Peter van Buren. This radical political authoritarianism represents the very fascism that progressives claim against Trump and conservatives.
It seems that this social media roll-back of free speech is a sign of worse things to come. Will the Drudge Report be banned next? Will Twitter block Alex Jones? Will we soon have thousands of people arrested in the US for social media "hate speech" for such things as questioning sharia law and Islam, as is the case presently in England? Will the US Congress step in and address this illegal monopolization? Cheryl Chumley of the Washinton Times made a good point. Instead of asking for government oversight of the Internet, perhaps it would be a good idea to amend the Title VII civil rights law and add “political affiliation” to the list of discrimination protections. Chumley cites the political discrimination against Diamond and Silk on Facebook as a key example of this problem today.
As Jack Dorsey of Twitter is closely watching AlexJones for rule breaking, should Twitter accounts with death threats to kill Trump up for a year remain online? Threatening the President of the United States is a class E felony under the United States Code Title 18, Section 871. The offense is punishable by up to 5 years in prison. If the intent seems "willful" and possibly serious, then there can be an investigation and sometimes a prison sentence. Death threats against the president are not covered by free-speech laws. Perhaps Congress should get involved to help Big Social Media regarding their pandering to Leftist death threats and censoring mild conservative indiscretions.

UPDATE: Since this article was published, PayPal has banned IFOWARS. Since the INFOWARS banning from a few social media giants, Twitter followed. A group of newspapers led by the Boston Globe has called for retaliation against Donald Trump by journalists. Mayor Deblasio had New York Post reporter Kevin Sheehan physically removed from a public area for asking a question of the mayor. DeBlasio apparently is promoting the very thing that establishment news sources have accused President Trump of doing:

“Why do you feel it’s your role to be calling out a newspaper because you don’t like the content?” Stelter asked. “Because I think it’s not happening enough….It’s not happening the way I think it should,” de Blasio answered."

During the September 5, 2018 United States Senate Committee on Intelligence, Marco Rubio was confronted by Alex Jones with questions as to why there was no issue with Democrat-leaning social media giants blocking conservative and Republican clients and Marco Rubio ignored the question and also said he did not know who Alex Jones was. Despite, Jones' rudeness, Rubio's response was not at all encouraging.

In March 2019, a bill was presented to reign in the wanton censoring of conservatives in social media. The Stop Social Media Censorship Act’ to Protect Free Speech. 

Tags: INFOWARS purge, censorship of conservative content, the monopoly of commercial social media, need for congressional oversight, the importance of the alternative press, the value of INFOWARS, Trump Twitter MS-13, Trump Twitter fake news is the enemy of the people, social media monopoly, political discrimination by social media in USA

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