Tag: big tech

Censored by Facebook and Twitter? New Bill Allows Users to Sue Big Tech for Being Silenced

Everyone reading this article right now has likely experienced or knows someone who has experienced some form of social media censorship. Whether your entirely peaceful post was “removed for violating community guidelines” or you were unceremoniously silenced for life, Facebook and Twitter censorship affects millions. No matter what degree of big tech censorship you have faced, there is a common theme with all forms of it — you have no recourse. Well, one lawmaker wants to change that.

After watching censorship ramp up toward the end of 2020, republican lawmakers drafted legislation that could land big tech giants like Twitter and Facebook in legal trouble for silencing political speech.

“I drafted it in December and things have only gotten worse,” State Rep. Tom Kading, R-N.D., the lead sponsor of the bill said.

The bill states that social media sites would be liable in a civil lawsuit for damages to a North Dakota resident “whose speech is restricted, censored, or suppressed,” as long as it is not “obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable.”

“I’m frankly shocked at what’s happening to our country and censoring does not create unity, it does not help the situation of division in our country, and it does not de-escalate the situation,” Kading said. “All it really does is make those who have been silenced dig in deeper and be more suspicious of what’s going on.”

The basis for the bill is rather cunning as it doesn’t focus on censorship because companies will claim — albeit fallaciously — that they can censor anyone they want. Instead, this bill focuses on libel.

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A message to anyone who feels like ‘Winston’ in Orwell’s 1984

“The ideal set up by the Party was something huge, terrible, and glittering . . . all thinking the same thoughts and shouting the same slogans, perpetually working, fighting, triumphing, persecuting– three hundred million people all with the same face.”

That was a quote from George Orwell’s seminal work 1984— a masterpiece that describes life in a totalitarian state that demands blind obedience.

The ‘Party’ controlled everything– the economy, daily life, and even the truth. In Orwell’s 1984, “the heresy of heresies was common sense.”

“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered.”

“And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”

If you were ever caught committing a thoughtcrime— dissenting from the Party for even an instant– then “your name was removed from the registers, every record of everything you had ever done was wiped out, your one-time existence was denied and then forgotten.”

Now, our world obviously hasn’t become quite as extreme as Orwell’s dystopian vision. But Big Tech, Big Media, and Big Government certainly seem to be giving it their best effort.

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If Big Tech Can Ban Certain Political Views So Easily, Why is Child Porn Rife on Their Platforms?

As TFTP reported on Monday, Parler has been a haven for those who have been banned, deleted, or otherwise algorithmed into the memory hole by establishment media platforms. Users moved to Parler because the platform claimed not to censor their content and it was safe space for MAGA folks. For over a year, Parler has remained an open network where pro-Trump users largely proceeded uncensored. Until now.

Early Monday morning, Amazon took down Parler from its web-hosting service. Amazon Web Services, or AWS said Parler had violated its terms of service given its inadequate content-moderation practices for failing to remove posts glorifying the recent riot at the U.S. Capitol. Google and Apple joined in as well, ensuring that Parler is deplatformed indefinitely.

This move came on the heels of a massive purge of tens of thousands of pro-Trump folks who allegedly espoused ridiculous Qanon theories. It was bad enough that these folks were duped into following the psyop known as Q. Now, however, instead of realizing the absurdity of these ideas as they are debunked in the public arena, that is no longer an option. Now, they will grasp onto these whacky ideas as the massive monopolistic power of tech behemoths imposing their neoliberal will on them gives them justification for doing so.

Sadly, many on the left — who used to claim to stand for free speech — are now praising the collusion by big tech to censor their political enemies, completely ignoring the fact that it will inevitably turn on them whenever convenient for the establishment.

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Are You Ready for Total (Ideological) War?

So, welcome to 2021! If last week was any indication, it is going to be quite an exciting year. It is going to be the year in which GloboCap reminds everyone who is actually in charge and restores “normality” throughout the world.

…or at least attempts to restore “normality,” or the “New Normality,” or the “Great Normal Reset,” or “The New Normal War on Domestic Terror” … or whatever they eventually decide to call it.

In any event, whatever they call it, GloboCap is done playing grab-ass. They have had it with all this “populism” malarkey that has been going on for the last four years.

Yes, that’s right, the party is over, you Russian-backed white supremacist terrorists! You Trump-loving, anti-mask grandmother killers! You anti-vax, election-fraud-conspiracy theorists! You deviants who refuse to follow orders, wear your damn masks, vote for who they tell you, and believe whatever completely nonsensical official propaganda they pour into your heads!

Oh, yes, you really did it this time! You stormed the goddamned US Capitol. You and your racist, Russia-backed army of bison-hat wearing half-naked actors have meddled with the primal forces of GloboCap, and now, by God, you will atone!

No, do not try to minimize your crimes. You entered a building without permission! The building where America simulates democracy! You walked around in there waving silly flags! You went into the Chamber, into people’s offices! One of you actually put his filthy populist feet up on Pelosi’s desk … ON HER DESK! This aggression will not stand!

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Twitter Suspends 70,000 Accounts Claming QAnon Ties

Twitter has reportedly banned more than 70,000 accounts it claims are linked to the QAnon movement following the events on Capitol Hill last week.

The Hill reports that Twitter has announced that it has banned over 70,000 accounts sharing content relating to the QAnon conspiracy theory on its platform following the protests at Capitol Hill last week. Twitter confirmed in a recent blog post that it has removed the accounts in an effort to “protect the conversation on our service from attempts to incite violence.”

The blog post states: “We’ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm. Given the violent events in Washington, DC, and increased risk of harm, we began permanently suspending thousands of accounts that were primarily dedicated to sharing QAnon content on Friday afternoon.”

Twitter stated that “many” of the individuals affected by the ban “held multiple accounts” sharing content relating to the QAnon conspiracy theory. The banned accounts were allegedly “engaged in sharing harmful QAnon-associated content at scale and were primarily dedicated to the propagation of this conspiracy theory.”

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How Silicon Valley, in a Show of Monopolistic Force, Destroyed Parler

But today, if you want to download, sign up for, or use Parler, you will be unable to do so. That is because three Silicon Valley monopolies — Amazon, Google and Apple — abruptly united to remove Parler from the internet, exactly at the moment when it became the most-downloaded app in the country.

If one were looking for evidence to demonstrate that these tech behemoths are, in fact, monopolies that engage in anti-competitive behavior in violation of antitrust laws, and will obliterate any attempt to compete with them in the marketplace, it would be difficult to imagine anything more compelling than how they just used their unconstrained power to utterly destroy a rising competitor.

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Facebook Blocking Ron Paul Shows Tech Censorship is Not About Trump, It’s About Suppressing Dissent

Dr. Ron Paul who has been a champion of peace and liberty for decades was unceremoniously blocked from his own page on Facebook Monday. Facebook claimed Ron Paul, who has long promoted everyone getting along, civil liberties, police accountability, and ending US wars, was repeatedly going “against our community standards.”

“With no explanation other than “repeatedly going against our community standards,” Facebook has blocked me from managing my page. Never have we received notice of violating community standards in the past and nowhere is the offending post identified,” Ron Paul tweeted out Monday afternoon.

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