Tag: censorship

Google and Urban Dictionary censor ‘Blue Anon’ following widespread mockery of left-wing conspiracy theories

The life of new term “Blue Anon” in the online Urban Dictionary was short-lived. After emerging on social media and landing in a spot in the slang-term glossary on Saturday, it was quickly purged. A Google search brings up nothing on the term other than brand name ski gear.

Jack Posobiec pointed out the deletion from Urban Dictionary: “I have never even heard of a word being banned from Urban Dictionary before the banned Blue Anon.” A search of the dictionary for the term comes up short.

Keep reading

CENSORED: National Vaccine Information Center

A highly-rated nonprofit vaccine safety charity has been censored by Facebook on behalf of pharmaceutical industry interests in a purge of vaccine safety information.

The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) had maintained a Facebook page since 2008.

The organization was started 39-years ago. Co-founder and president Barbara Loe Fisher has a child who got autism after vaccination.

Far from a fringe group, Fisher has provided consumers with crucial vaccine safety information for decades and served as an appointed member of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on the National Vaccine Advisory Committee as part of the Vaccine Safety Writing Group, on the agency’s Vaccine Policy Analysis Collaborative, on the Blue Ribbon Panel on Vaccine Safety, and Chair of the Subcommittee on Vaccine Adverse Events.

Additionally, Fisher has served as a member of the FDA’s Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. And she has been a member of the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine Vaccine Safety Forum.

Keep reading

Social Media Microtargeting and the Evolving Ministry of Truth

The treasure trove of data currently being gathered through social media networks and other electronic means is a completely unregulated space, with microtargeting, in particular, spurring intense discussion in the wake of widely publicized allegations of Russian “interference” in the 2016 U.S. elections and the liberal use of data analytics, by Brexit promoters in the UK and the Trump campaign itself, to sway voters.

Hovering in the background of the simmering debate is the growing power of Facebook, Apple and other platform owners, whose monopolistic business practices are facing increasing push back around the world. Nevertheless, our content landlords still hold the key to the big-data realm by virtue of their dominant position, and whoever wants access to the new oil must kiss the ring of the Big Tech overlords.

Keep reading

Twitter ignored Congressional requests for data on the extent of its censorship

Twitter failed to respond to a letter by Republican Reps. Jim Jordan from Ohio, and Ken Buck from Colorado, who requested documentation and data to aid a Congressional investigation by the House Judiciary Committee. The request was first made in July 2020.

In the letter, the Republican House representatives requested Twitter provide the House Judiciary Committee with documentation and data related to several issues, including the platform’s content moderation policies, its assertion that President Trump’s warnings to protesters violated its policies (last summer Trump warned rioters they would face violence from the National Guard), and its decision to fact check the then-President’s tweets.

In the recent letter, dated March 4, the Republican Reps claim that the request was first sent last July. Twitter did not provide the requested information then, and is yet to respond to the most recent letter.

Keep reading