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Deplatforming and Fraud

Update: This page has become a place to post cancel culture examples, including e.g. mandatory PC training at your job. It's not strictly limited to deplatforming examples.


Google, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Patreon, PayPal and other companies have repeatedly advertised that they are politically-neutral open platforms. All are welcome. They’re for everybody. This fraud violates existing free-market-compatible laws, as I'll discuss below.

Then they ban, moderate, demonetize and censor people, and bias search algorithms, for a variety of biased reasons, including especially to persecute right wing political ideas. I’ll call this general issue “deplatforming”. It’s about not letting certain non-favored persons/ideas use the platforms in the standard, (allegedly) publicly-available way.

For those unfamiliar with or doubtful of the relevant facts, I’ve included an information section below.

The public debate over this issue has two main sides.

First, most of the left is cheering as their enemies are attacked.

Second, most of the right, along with some people on the left with greater integrity, say that free speech is important, tech companies are an important part of modern life, and we need government regulations to make things fair.

A third, smaller group are free market advocates say private companies should be able to do whatever they want, even if it’s politically biased, and the government should leave them alone. They often say this despite having right wing ideas themselves. They say it despite being part of the oppressed group.

What’s missing is a pro-free-market, anti-deplatforming group. That’s my position. It’s important that the free market is compatible with solving the deplatforming problem. This isn’t a failure of capitalism. Anyone who cares about freedom and classical liberalism should be interested in how it can address a problem like this; don't assume minimal government and capitalism are inadequate.

As a free market advocate, many people expect me to say that private companies can do whatever they want and the government should stay out of it. I think deplatforming is a horrible problem, but don’t my principles require me to accept it?

I find most free market people insufficiently regretful regarding their support of deplatforming. They don’t say how horrible it is, and they wish there was anything to be done about it, but their hands are tied. They don’t seem to mind much. I think many have some partial leftist sympathies.

There’s a better way to view the issue. There’s something bad going on. I dislike it. And most of the proposed solutions are statist. So then what? Give up? No! The first thing to do is consider free-market-compatible solutions. Classical liberalism is a sophisticated, nuanced political philosophy which should be able to deal with problems like this. Can it? No one seems to have checked.

In the free market, the initiation of force is prohibited. This includes threat of force and includes fraud. False advertising is fraud. Advertising being a neutral platform, while not being one, is fraud. These companies should be sued. We don’t need new regulations. We need the most basic legal protections that would also exist in a minarchist society (minimal government society, aka nightwatchman state).

These companies don’t follow the rules in their own Terms of Service. That’s fraud. They are telling the public the rules are one way, but acting a different way.

The ongoing fraud has been revealed by many sources including Project Veritas (e.g. Google Document Dump). More sources are below.

Why are companies flagrantly violating the law and no one seems to notice and they aren’t losing all their profits to lawsuits? Because they have special government privileges. They’re being protected from being accountable under the law. They aren’t fully private companies. They hire tons of political staffers and lobbyists. They have friends in high places. They have political pull and receive favors. They aren’t operating in a free market context. Rather than making new laws to control these companies, we need to abolish special privileges granted by the government to a favored elite.

People tell right wingers to make their own competing sites. If you don’t like these companies, beat them in the free market. There are a few problems with this. First, having a larger user base is a huge advantage in social media. People want to be on the sites their friends are on. And why do these companies have such a head start? Because they fraudulently lied about their political neutrality so people didn’t see the need to compete with them earlier on. Second, they are still lying today which reduces the interest in alternative sites. If they openly said they’re biased against Trump voters, more people would recognize the bias and switch to a new competitor. But they still lie to their users. And third, there’s the banking problem.

The worst problem related to deplatforming is not access to social media platforms for sharing ideas. It’s access to the financial system. You can make your own blog or other website to speak your mind (deplatforming by domain registrars, webhosts, etc., has begun but isn’t very bad yet). But what if you’re being prevented from selling your work online? What if your fans can’t donate money to support you? What if you can’t sell merch? How can you compete in the free market if you don’t have the ability to participate in the market online?

The banks and credit card companies are highly government regulated. And they have pressured sites like Patreon and PayPal to deplatform right wingers. And when Gab tried to build a Twitter competitor, they found it very difficult to get any banking partners. Patreon competitors have also had huge difficulties getting banking access to enable their users to send money online to fund content creators. For most types of business, getting banking is easy. Banks and payment processors compete for your business. They want to be widely used. But right wing people online are being treated differently by financial companies which are considerably more government-controlled or government-influenced than Facebook or Google is.

My position is that I wish we had a free market. A free market would solve this problem because there would be serious consequences for fraud. We aren’t even close to a free market. Free market advocates tend to recognize this fact in general. They recognize e.g. that the U.S. healthcare market (including before Obamacare) is not even close to free market, capitalist healthcare. They recognize how involved the government is in the universities. But with deplatforming, the government’s role seems to be widely overlooked.

The main takeaway here is simple but widely ignored. Given the facts about the situation (which most people don’t know much about), Google, YouTube, Twitter and so on are guilty of blatant, massive and ongoing fraud. We don’t need new laws or regulations, we need to enforce the most basic and capitalism-compatible laws.

Deplatforming Info

For those who haven’t been following the public information about deplatforming much, here are some examples:

"Twitter stands for freedom of expression," Dorsey declared. "Twitter stands for speaking truth to power." Dorsey is CEO and co-founder of Twitter. Just from accounts I was following, Twitter deplatformed Heartiste, Real Peer Review and American Renaissance.

"I'm almost a free-speech absolutist." said Prince, the CEO of Cloudflare, an internet infrastructure company that deplatformed the Daily Stormer for political reasons.

Kudos to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for defending free speech at a tough moment. There are many articles attacking Zuckerberg for being too favorable to free speech. Meanwhile Facebook deletes, censors and deprioritizes (lowering the traffic they get) right wing groups and ideas.

There is some non-political, largely-unexplained deplatforming too, contrary to publicly claimed policies. E.g. Facebook deleted without warning or explanation the Banting7DayMealPlan user group. The group has 1.65 million users who post testimonials and other information regarding the efficacy of a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet.

Sam Harris Drops Patreon, Citing 'Political Bias' Likely Inspired by SPLC's 'Hate Group' List

Google "Machine Learning Fairness" Whistleblower Goes Public, says: "burden lifted off of my soul”, from Project Veritas, which I found as the 15th search result on YouTube for project veritas google whistleblower. It’s so low due to search algorithm bias, which ironically is one of the topics of the video.

Twitter banned a psychiatry expert for sharing his professional research conclusions (for political reasons).

Jared Taylor was the first victim of a new YouTube deplatforming campaign.

I Was Fooled By The Promise Of The Internet:

Domain registrars promised that I could “own” my little corner of the web with a domain name, and now my domains can be seized by a faceless bureaucracy. Google told me to create the best content I could to be ranked highly in their search engine, but then they manipulated their algorithms to lift dull corporate propaganda above my own. Twitter promised that I could share any thought that came to mind, and after I spent years doing so, they changed their mind and will now ban me if I make fun of an obese feminist. YouTube said I could upload engaging videos that viewers love, and even make money doing so, but then they demonetized most of my videos, put others in “limited state,” and banned me from live streaming for three months because I asked if women who wear chokers want to be treated subserviently. Disqus offered me a service to allow the community at Return Of Kings to discuss what was on their mind, but they banned the site because they didn’t want us to discuss certain things. Amazon said I could publish books on their platform and even make a living as a writer, but then they banned the paperbook and ebook editions of nine of my books with no explanation why. Paypal said it would be easy to add payment processing to my site, and then later showed how easy it is to ban me for political reasons.

I’ve covered deplatforming in newsletters, e.g. after Charlottesville and re Twitter censoring Canary Mission and Gab and about the banking/financial forces behind deplatforming (sadly and ironically, the Nick Monroe Twitter thread in the newsletter is no longer readable because Twitter deplatformed him. And the Thread Reader App archive of it is hidden by Twitter in the replies behind a warning saying “Show additional replies, including those that may contain offensive content” and then the content is deleted from their site anyway. But it’s still on the wayback machine.).

Some more examples from the open politics discussion on Curiosity (this website):

  • Roosh’s private account banned from Instagram.
  • Heartiste deleted from WordPress.
  • Michelle Malkin post deleted on Facebook.
  • An Objectivist defended deplatforming.
  • David Horowitz restricted on Twitter.
  • Borderless video had delayed processing, then was taken down, on YouTube.
  • Facebook deleted a Paul Joseph Watson post consisting of the single word “honk” because it referenced a right wing political meme.
  • Koch Brothers Team Up With George Soros, Patreon and Airbnb to Fight Online Extremism (fighting online extremism is code for deplatforming).
  • Pinterest whistleblower told Project Veritas about their political bias. Then YouTube deleted the video after it had a million views. One consequence is that the link to the video in my email newsletter archives, which can’t be edited, is now broken.
  • Vdare article with non-classical-liberal tech censorship response.
  • I answer Alan Forrester’s question about what fraud Facebook has committed (part 2).
  • Apple threated to kick Parler (a Twitter competitor) off their app store unless Parler banned some people. Apple also blocks some channels on Telegram.
  • Reddit quarantined the The Donald subreddit and suspended Veritas’ account.
  • YouTube officially fraudulently lied that we apply our policies fairly and without political bias.
  • I commented on fraud and deplatforming on the House of Sunny podcast.
  • Wikipedia has biased editing, e.g. an example related to Jeffrey Epstein.
  • A gaming channel got banned at a million followers on YouTube and had to start over.
  • Links to collections of examples of Google and Facebook censorship.
  • Cloudflare deplatformed 8chan.
  • Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell got suspended from Twitter for sharing a video showing people making violent threats against him
  • Owen Benjamin has been deplatformed by YouTube and others.
  • Games Done Quick speedrun marathon deplatforms people for MAGA hats.

This is just a small sampling of deplatforming info. There’s far more. Post more in the comments below. I’ve posted, as the first comment, a list of deplatforming related links that Justin Mallone gathered earlier this year.


Elliot Temple on November 17, 2019

Messages (483)

Deplatforming Links


Justin Mallone on FI, 2019-03-23 at 5:46 PM on November 17, 2019 | #14355 | reply | quote

Reason.com thinks that only total censorship counts as censorship:

> PragerU, the prolifically popular creator of conservative video content run by radio host Dennis Prager, claims that it is being censored by big tech. The organization took to Twitter to announce that the platform had banned it from running ads.

> Except that's not actually censorship. Far from it: A quick glance at the company's Twitter feed shows that it uses the platform to great advantage, with hundreds of thousands of followers and a bevy of tweets that drive mega-engagement. If PragerU was actually "censored" by Twitter, they would not have a Twitter platform at all.


Anonymous at 6:17 PM on November 17, 2019 | #14356 | reply | quote

Anonymous at 6:18 PM on November 17, 2019 | #14357 | reply | quote

#14357 From the same link:

https://reason.com/2019/07/30/prageru-does-not-understand-censorship/

> But Twitter's advertising policies have nothing to do with the First Amendment, which protects PragerU from government action—not from the decisions of a private company.

It's a good example of what i'm trying to oppose. The examples are readily available. I think most ppl don't wanna click a bunch of links, don't know the facts, and doubt half of what i'm arguing based on factual misconceptions ... without considering like *if* curi has the facts right, would he have a point?

Many libertarians and Objectivists who are siding with deplatforming are my biggest motivation for writing about this. They are on the side of massive fraud (which violates capitalism...), in addition to being on the side of the culture wars trying to destroy civilization (I've seen that second issue, that they're on the wrong side, pointed out plenty, but not the capitalism and fraud issue).


curi at 6:21 PM on November 17, 2019 | #14358 | reply | quote

WSJ: How Google Interferes With Its Search Algorithms and Changes Your Results

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/11/google-search-results-have-more-human-help-than-you-think-report-finds/ :

> Google's increasingly hands-on approach to search results, which has taken a sharp upturn since 2016, "marks a shift from its founding philosophy of 'organizing the world's information' to one that is far more active in deciding how that information should appear"

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-google-interferes-with-its-search-algorithms-and-changes-your-results-11573823753 :

> The company states in a Google blog, “We do not use human curation to collect or arrange the results on a page.” ... But that message often clashes with what happens behind the scenes.

> Over time, Google has increasingly re-engineered and interfered with search results to a far greater degree than the company and its executives have acknowledged, a WSJ investigation has found.

> Despite publicly denying doing so, Google keeps blacklists to remove certain sites or prevent others from surfacing in certain types of results.

> These moves are separate from those that block sites as required by U.S. or foreign law, such as those featuring child abuse or with copyright infringement, and from changes designed to demote spam sites, which attempt to game the system to appear higher in results.

> The [WSJ's] findings undercut one of Google’s core defenses against global regulators worried about how it wields its immense power—that the company doesn’t exert editorial control over what it shows users.

> One of the first hot-button issues surfaced in 2015, according to people familiar with the matter, when some employees complained that a search for “how do vaccines cause autism” delivered misinformation through sites that oppose vaccinations.

> At least one employee defended the result, writing that Google should “let the algorithms decide” what shows up, according to one person familiar with the matter.

> Instead, the people said, Google made a change so that the first result is a site called http://howdovaccinescauseautism.com — which states on its home page in large black letters, “They f—ing don’t.”

> Mr. Brin argued against human intervention, contending that Google should deliver the most accurate results as delivered by the algorithms, and that the algorithms should be tweaked only in the most extreme cases.

> Mr. Page countered that the user experience was getting damaged when users encountered spam rather than useful results, according to people familiar with the matter.

> Mr. Brin still opposed making large-scale efforts to fight spam, because it involved more human intervention. Mr. Brin, whose parents were Jewish émigrés from the former USSR, even personally decided to allow anti-Semitic sites that were in the results for the query “Jew,”...

> Google posted a disclaimer with results for that query saying, “Our search results are generated completely objectively and are independent of the beliefs and preferences of those who work at Google.”

> “Google used to say, ‘We don’t approve of the content, but that’s what it is,’ ” Mr. Wenley Palacios said. “That has changed dramatically.”


Anonymous at 11:03 AM on November 19, 2019 | #14385 | reply | quote

A video on Soph (aka LtCorbis) being banned from YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVoI5Vj11JQ

Guy seems center-left or moderate or something (hard to tell), not a Soph fan, but a free speech fan who has criticism of our tech dystopia.


Anonymous at 3:48 PM on November 19, 2019 | #14388 | reply | quote

Facebook censors PragerU post about top Dems voting for a border fence in 2016

Facebook censored a Nov 18, 2019 post by PragerU about top Dems voting for a wall in 2016 by obscuring it with a "Partly False Information" label and making the reader click a small "See Photo" link in the corner in order to read the post. The post says:

> “Did you know?

> In 2006, Hillary Clinton voted for a fence on the Mexican border.

> So did Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and 23 other Senate Democrats.

> Now, a border wall is considered racist. 🤔

> Why has the Left shifted so far on the issue of immigration?”


Alisa at 6:16 AM on November 21, 2019 | #14473 | reply | quote

#14473 You say 2016 twice then change to 2006 in the post. I'm guessing the 2016s are both errors?


Anonymous at 12:18 PM on November 21, 2019 | #14480 | reply | quote

#14480 Yes, those are both errors. Thanks.

I don't know how I messed that up.


Alisa at 12:58 PM on November 21, 2019 | #14489 | reply | quote

OGE banned from twitch

https://www.reddit.com/r/Competitiveoverwatch/comments/dzlniu/oge_has_been_banned_from_twitch/

> A whomegalul streamer accused him of being transphobic because he said ”okay dude.”

and

> Nah Flocculency deleted her VOD before proceeding to fabricate willful lies about what OGE said. She knew exactly what she was doing. The reluctant "apology" came after being called out as a proven liar.

> Make no mistake, this isn't an issue of a misunderstanding caused by a language barrier. It's an issue of a malicious, petty, self-loathing human being and her legion of twitch/twitter followers deliberately trying to ruin someone's livelihood over a minor in-game argument.

> She incited her followers to spam tweet at Twitch/Gladiators/other sponsors to cancel OGE based on lies, then tried to play it off as a misunderstanding after numerous people called bullshit. It's like a false sexual harassment claim followed by "haha maybe it was just a misunderstanding XD" after evidence disproves it.

and

> He said "okay, man". Which doesn't change a lot but it's a little detail that you could read differently in a transcript I guess. Don't get me wrong though I'm 100% on OGE's side and am baffled by Twitch's decision.

> Flocculency falsely accused OGE (Pro player for Overwatch League's Gladiators) of being transphobic and trying to raid her stream.

> Logic debunked the entire thing in this thread

> She has since deleted all the evidence from discord, twitter, and Twitch.

> She tried to do the same thing to xQc this year as well


curi at 3:04 PM on November 21, 2019 | #14499 | reply | quote

All advertising is false advertising.


Anonymous at 4:14 PM on November 21, 2019 | #14504 | reply | quote

Democrat presidential candidates Andrew Yang and Tulsi Gabbard are being massively deplatformed by the media, and i'm sure some by tech companies (not following closely).

https://twitter.com/EricQuachSpeaks/status/1197634241787387904

The tweet is wrong to blame this on anti-asian racism but i liked that chart. The cause is their politics. They're challenging the status quo and established powers in some ways. Bernie got treated unfairly in 2016 vs. Hillary btw. Similar thing. The mainstream media helps more mainstream candidates who they like better.


Anonymous at 11:53 AM on November 22, 2019 | #14520 | reply | quote

Andy Ngo (journalist known for negatively covering antifa and hate hoaxes) deplatformed from Twitter:


Anonymous at 3:41 PM on November 25, 2019 | #14578 | reply | quote

Anonymous at 4:16 PM on November 25, 2019 | #14579 | reply | quote

#14579 That article has a super biased paragraph:

> While PayPal has previously severed ties with extremist groups and individuals including the Ku Klux Klan, the Proud Boys and Alex Jones, Jammi theorized that Molyneux managed to evade investigation by calling himself a "philosopher" rather than a white nationalist. "Suspending Stefan Molyneux should have been an open-and-shut case," Jammi told Right Wing Watch.

It's smearing the Proud Boys by mentioning that right after the KKK in a list with the KKK. It's trying to trick readers into thinking the KKK and Proud Boys are similar.

This is extra dishonest because the KKK is part of the left and there have been ongoing attempts by the left to trick ignorant people into associating the KKK with the right.

It's also nasty how they say being a thinker or intellectual is no excuse and they want people like that deplatformed too.


Anonymous at 4:29 PM on November 25, 2019 | #14580 | reply | quote

> This is extra dishonest because the KKK is part of the left

You must be joking, can I get a hit of what you're smoking?

Why are you advocating for coercively making these platforms host racists anyway? If they don't want to that's their right. #liberty


Anonymous at 5:54 PM on November 25, 2019 | #14581 | reply | quote

TikTok Deplatforming

https://mailchi.mp/0c80c63798c7/benedicts-newsletter-no-450977?e=6d10385a84

> TikTok censorship: there was a kerfuffle this week after someone posted a make-up video to Tiktok in which they talked about China's oppression of Uyghurs while doing eye-lashes - the idea was to see if it got past the content moderation, and it did, until it disappeared and the account was disabled. First Tiktok claimed the person had previously posted Jihadi content and been permanently banned (they had posted a photo of Bin Laden but as an obvious joke), but now it's backtracked and said it's just a failure of automated moderation at scale ('if computer sees 'Bin Laden' then block'). Given the screw-up theory of large organisations, this explanation is probably even true, but it doesn't matter - it just brings that much more American attention to the fact that lots of American teenagers are using an app from a Chinese company, and the Chinese government has ultimate control of any Chinese company and can enforce its ideas of what should be allowed. (Of course, this is also the problem that everyone else on earth has faced with American companies' social networks for the last decade or two.) Link


curi at 2:01 AM on December 2, 2019 | #14648 | reply | quote

> TikTok censorship: there was a kerfuffle this week after someone posted a make-up video to Tiktok in which they talked about China's oppression of Uyghurs while doing eye-lashes - the idea was to see if it got past the content moderation, and it did, until it disappeared and the account was disabled.

reminds me of this Lauren Southern vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCMpIA4QEVo&app=desktop


Anonymous at 3:47 PM on December 2, 2019 | #14657 | reply | quote

Anonymous at 6:55 PM on February 10, 2020 | #15442 | reply | quote

#15442 Article says:

> Mr. Delzer, the proprietor of a secondhand store in Nashville called Defunct Books, has a different view. “If Amazon executives are so proud of their moral high ground, they should issue memos about which books they are banning instead of keeping sellers and readers in the dark,” he said.

rekt!


Anonymous at 7:00 PM on February 10, 2020 | #15443 | reply | quote

#15443 How does that wreck them? My first guess was that some evil entity once banned books and issued memos about its bans, and Delzer's comment was meant to link Amazon to that entity. But I did a web search for "moral high ground, they should issue memos" and didn't see anything about that.

I also searched Twitter and found that the quote has been quoted twice there, but with no discussion on either tweet.


Alisa at 9:55 PM on February 10, 2020 | #15444 | reply | quote

#15444 It's a self-contained argument. If they are doing something good, which they are rightly proud of, they should be happy to provide details of what they're doing instead of hiding it. Hiding it indicates they think people disapprove and that they're hiding from that debate/judgment because they lack arguments.


Anonymous at 10:50 PM on February 10, 2020 | #15445 | reply | quote

YouTube removes video of Rand Paul speaking on the Senate floor

https://thefederalist.com/2020/02/13/youtube-removes-video-of-rand-paul-naming-alleged-ukraine-whistleblower-on-senate-floor/

> YouTube removed a video clip of Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul reading the question Chief Justice John Roberts suppressed during the Senate impeachment trial naming Eric Ciaramella, a man identified as the whistleblower by Real Clear Investigations.

> “It is a chilling and disturbing day in America when giant web companies such as YouTube decide to censure speech,” Paul told Politico, which first reported the story. “Now, even protected speech, such as that of a senator on the Senate floor, can be blocked from getting to the American people. This is dangerous and politically biased. Nowhere in my speech did I accuse anyone of being a whistleblower, nor do I know the whistleblower’s identity.”


Alisa at 9:30 PM on February 14, 2020 | #15458 | reply | quote

YouTube bans Nick Fuentes, funds Young Turks

https://twitter.com/jamestulp/status/1228427730091466752 (first two inline links added by me):

> In the same week, Google owned YouTube has announced they are funding the left wing Young Turks and deplatforming the right wing @NickJFuentes.


Alisa at 9:36 PM on February 14, 2020 | #15459 | reply | quote

#15458 #15459 Good info. Sad.


curi at 11:30 PM on February 14, 2020 | #15461 | reply | quote

curi at 11:32 PM on February 14, 2020 | #15462 | reply | quote

#15462 Do you disagree with Shapiro because he is falsely insinuating that Fuentes threatened him, or for some other reason?


oh my god it's turpentine at 3:00 AM on February 15, 2020 | #15463 | reply | quote

I disagree that Fuentes is *an absolute disgusting shitshow*, and I particularly disagree with attacking Feuntes like that in the context of him being deplatformed. An evil disaster happened! All civilized people should be worried! But Shapiro enthusiastically social-signals how much he hates the victim while offering only a conditional, no-profanity-or-hate polite disagreement with YouTube.

I have no idea what's going on with the stuff about threats. Have not been following. I didn't read it as having anything to do with Fuentes threatening Shapiro. I assumed threats is YT's baseless excuse and Shapiro is saying if that is indeed baseless then YT is wrong, which is quite mild next to 1) how bad political deplatforming is 2) what he said about Fuentes for, afaik, thought crimes along the lines of being anti-immigration.

I've vaguely heard that Fuentes is anti-semitic. I have no idea if that's true. Even if it is, it doesn't explain Shapiro's treatment of him or the condemnation of his viewpoints in general rather than a particular error.


curi at 2:47 PM on February 15, 2020 | #15466 | reply | quote

Wikipedia and some article say Fuentes was banned from YT for violating their hate speech policies, not for threats, so idk what Shapiro is talking about re threats.

Maybe it's just cuz the YT form letter, besides mentioning hate speech, also mentions inciting or glorifying violence. But it doesn't accuse Fuentes of that, it just lists it as one of the things he might have done. They don't like to be specific about why they ban people. https://twitter.com/NickJFuentes/status/1228390570986483713 Maybe Shapiro misunderstood that or wanted to smear Fuentes.

The same sorts of accusations are made against Michelle Malkin and many others who are anti-immigration Trump supporters.

Apparently Ben Shapiro was a significant force in getting Fuentes deplatformed in the first place:

https://twitter.com/CassandraRules/status/1228484790095155201

Dunno details. I don't really follow Shapiro or Fuentes. I already knew Shapiro was a bastard though.


curi at 2:55 PM on February 15, 2020 | #15467 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/missmissykins/status/1228504672110907392

Apparently Shapiro has been fucking with Fuentes for a while – and being evasive about the actual issues – to the point that Fuentes confronted him IRL.


curi at 2:58 PM on February 15, 2020 | #15468 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet/status/1228348314179063809

I've liked some stuff Paul Joseph Watson said in the past.


curi at 2:59 PM on February 15, 2020 | #15469 | reply | quote

#15466 I agree that Shapiro shouldn't be qualifying his condemnation of Fuentes' ban. Also, if Fuentes was actually threatening Shapiro then why wouldn't Shapiro go to the police?

I think Fuentes is actually anti-Semitic cuz of this clip:

https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1196604727276064768


oh my god it's turpentine at 12:05 AM on February 16, 2020 | #15471 | reply | quote

#15471 Ugh, awful vid.

The guy who made that tweet thread of Fuentes saying awful stuff is unreasonable but that doesn't matter to evaluating the vids where Fuentes speaks for himself (it didn't look edited and was long enough I don't think it was clipped out of context).

https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1196604440238862343

> Fuentes is a Racist:

> Fuentes was at the Charlottesville white supremacy and Nazi march

Going to Charlottesville at all proves you're racist?

This vid is awful too (has a jump cut in the middle but doesn't seem misleading):

https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1196604600872251393

Says e.g. blacks being forced to drink out of separate water fountains was no big deal.

---

There's more in that thread, and it sucks, but none of it compares to the Green New Deal, which is far worse. Democrats are more despicable, quite openly, about many things, and don't get marginalized for it, let alone deplatformed. Lots of them are openly racist and anti-semitic too. BDS and other lefty anti-semitism is currently a larger threat to Jews and Israel than the less-popular and less-political-policy-affecting Fuentes-style anti-semitism.

Fuentes is doing this stuff partly to get attention, partly for in-group social signaling, partly to break taboos and stand up to political correctness, partly perhaps because he doesn't know about a better package deal of ideas to select for himself (with requirements like not racist against whites, pro-American, not letting in millions of third worlders to change America, etc.). Fuentes might change a bit if he got more mainstream. Or not. I don't know. With people like AOC, Hillary or Bernie, we can't even give them that maybe.

Just this morning I saw on Twitter that Richard Dawkins basically agrees with "race realist" views on IQ and eugenics. When lefty scientists don't know how to deny it, how is Fuentes supposed to know better?

https://twitter.com/RichardDawkins/status/1228943686953664512

Dawkins:

> It’s one thing to deplore eugenics on ideological, political, moral grounds. It’s quite another to conclude that it wouldn’t work in practice. Of course it would. It works for cows, horses, pigs, dogs & roses. Why on earth wouldn’t it work for humans? Facts ignore ideology.

Wrong and he has no Paths Forward, but the mainstream "scientific" part of our culture doesn't know better. The main opposition to this is the religious view that humans are special, not the BoI view about universal knowledge creators.

If Dawkins is right, of course race and various intellectual traits correlate today.

I saw the Dawkins tweet because it was retweeted by the anti-racist, not-at-all-Nazi or "alt right", smart and broadly reasonable @stucchio


curi at 11:39 AM on February 16, 2020 | #15473 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1196606079209213952

In this one, in last 20 seconds, Fuentes says ethnicity and race are what matter, not ideology and ideas.

https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1196606504637521920

This one is pro-Mussolini.


curi at 11:55 AM on February 16, 2020 | #15474 | reply | quote

Facebook/Instagram Deplatforms McInnes, Soph, Milo and more

https://www.thepostmillennial.com/censored-tv-banned-from-instagram-and-facebook/

> Censored.tv, formerly FreeSpeech.tv, founded by Vice co-founder and Proud Boy founder Gavin McInnes, has been banned across all Facebook-owned platforms, namely Facebook and Instagram.

> The platform, which has roughly 15,000 monthly subscribers, is popular for its hosts, who have mostly been banned from popular platforms like Twitter and YouTube—including Gavin McInnes, Milo Yiannopolous, Joe Biggs, Laura Loomer, and Soph.

(Soph was formerly LtCorbis.)

FB/IG censors links to the site in addition to kicking those people (and their associates like a show engineer) off FB/IG. You can't even PM a link to your friend.


curi at 12:00 PM on February 16, 2020 | #15475 | reply | quote

People getting deplatformed from government healthcare in the UK:

https://news.sky.com/story/nhs-staff-can-refuse-to-treat-racist-or-sexist-patients-under-new-rules-11937175

> NHS staff can refuse to treat racist or sexist patients under new rules

> The NHS will soon bar discriminatory patients from non-critical care - powers that currently only cover aggression or violence.

It's not currently about what you said on Twitter. It's if you say something "racist" to the NHS staff while trying to get care, then they can just tell you to leave if you don't have a medical emergency.

This shouldn't affect reasonable people much because you're already polite to your doctor right? But some people are gonna get kicked out over ~nothing or over the doctor being egregiously unreasoanble. There will be bad cases. And some people will be kicked out over acting a little dumb. It's going to disproportionately harm lower/working class people who are less polite in general. And sometimes people will be chatting in a friendly, social way instead of only politely saying relevant info – tons of people do social chit chat with tons of people they meet – and that chatting is sometimes going to involve some politics or something (especially with the massive overreach to politicize most of life) and SJWs are triggered so fucking easily in ways that are hard to predict for non-experts (and sometimes unpredictable to anyone). So bad things will happen.

And this is a slippery slope to much, much worse rules – if "racist" remarks are associated with denial of healthcare, if that becomes standard and legitimate, then it's going to spread to what you say on social media not just what you say IRL (initially maybe just tweets about your doctor, then maybe tweets about the NHS in general, then more).

The government promises to take care of people, it's a nanny/paternalistic state that controls healthcare, but then it's imposing conditions about thoughtcrime. Very nasty, worrying stuff.


curi at 12:18 PM on February 18, 2020 | #15491 | reply | quote

https://www.therebel.media/how_nyc_performer_martina_markota_was_blacklisted_for_being_a_trump_voter

> How NYC performer Martina Markota was blacklisted for being a Trump voter

> She worked for some of the city’s biggest nightlife names, but once she was outed as a Trump supporter, they started a campaign against her to ruin her life and career.

> They wrote countless articles about her online, accusing her of being a Nazi and white supremacist.

>Her agent even said no venue would work with her again due to the pressure.


Anonymous at 12:37 PM on February 18, 2020 | #15496 | reply | quote

https://legalinsurrection.com/2017/09/third-world-quarterly-publishes-the-case-for-colonialism-leading-to-censorship-demands/

> Third World Quarterly publishes “The Case for Colonialism” leading to censorship demands

> Demands for retraction, to fire the journal editors, even to fire author and to revoke his PhD.

> Members of the editorial board have threatened to resign. Some have threatened to boycott the journal entirely (even not to cite it). Cries of racism and ‘white supremacy’ dominating academia have naturally followed.


Anonymous at 12:40 PM on February 18, 2020 | #15497 | reply | quote

https://stratechery.com/2019/a-framework-for-moderation/

> On Sunday night, when Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince announced in a blog post that the company was terminating service for 8chan, the response was nearly universal: Finally.

> It was hard to disagree: it was on 8chan — which was created after complaints that the extremely lightly-moderated anonymous-based forum 4chan was too heavy-handed — that a suspected terrorist gunman posted a rant explaining his actions before killing 20 people in El Paso. This was the third such incident this year: the terrorist gunmen in Christchurch, New Zealand and Poway, California did the same; 8chan celebrated all of them.

> To state the obvious, it is hard to think of a more reprehensible community than 8chan. And, as many were quick to point out, it was hardly the sort of site that Cloudflare wanted to be associated with as they prepared for a reported IPO. Which again raises the question: what took Cloudflare so long?

pro deplatforming article.


Anonymous at 1:46 PM on February 18, 2020 | #15510 | reply | quote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi8ipMeFkz0

> David Horowitz Slams Twitter Suspension

3min vid


Anonymous at 2:26 PM on February 18, 2020 | #15517 | reply | quote

#15496 Geez. That was in June, 2017. I did a search for her name and found that Chase Bank shut down Martina Markota’s bank account in early 2019.


Alisa at 6:59 PM on February 18, 2020 | #15520 | reply | quote

#15520 :(((((((((((


curi at 7:02 PM on February 18, 2020 | #15521 | reply | quote

The Radical Youtube Algorithm MYTH The lies about how YT's algorithm spreads white supremacism are part of the excuses for deplatforming.

The DOWNFALL of Youtube talks about YT manipulating what videos are trending. Correlates a lot with being made by corporate media, not views/likes/etc. And they suppress people they don't like such as PewDiePie who is largely prevented from being promoted as trending in the US. (Twitter btw has a similar trending promotional feature which they bias and manipulate.)

Cancel Culture - A Social Plague covers 3 examples of deplatforming

Youtube is Deleting Iconic Videos - Idiotic New Policies discusses YT's censorship policies re so-called harassment and hate speech. YT also says they can ban or censor you even when no specific video or statement violates the rules. Reminds me of people criticizing my tone/style while having zero quotes they object to.


curi at 2:11 PM on February 20, 2020 | #15562 | reply | quote

I knew Reddit had quarantined r/TheRedPill a while ago (maybe a couple years). Just saw that r/MGTOW is quarantined now.


curi at 4:17 PM on February 23, 2020 | #15598 | reply | quote

#15598 The_Donald has ~790k subs and is quarantined


Anonymous at 4:42 PM on February 23, 2020 | #15600 | reply | quote

#15600 Sounds like you may not realize TRP has 1,724,546 subscribers. It's big!


Anonymous at 4:47 PM on February 23, 2020 | #15601 | reply | quote

> #15600 Sounds like you may not realize TRP has 1,724,546 subscribers. It's big!

Indeed I did not realize that


Anonymous at 4:50 PM on February 23, 2020 | #15602 | reply | quote

https://vdare.com/articles/lydia-brimelow-we-got-the-keys-to-the-castle

VDare got some physical space to hold IRL meetings. They mention deplatforming as a reason:

> Having a space where we can meet and share ideas without fear of deplatforming will make a difference so material it is hard to overstate. And for that we will be forever grateful.

Hurrah for private property


Anonymous at 7:18 PM on February 26, 2020 | #15649 | reply | quote

The_donald subreddit had a bunch of their mods removed (for supposedly approving stuff violating the Reddit content policy) and reddit is soliciting new people to sign up as mods for the_donald subreddit.

The_donald subreddit has already been quarantined for some time but apparently Reddit decided that wasn't enough and is escalating. Members of the subreddit see this as an attack by Reddit and some are fleeing to https://thedonald.win/


Anonymous at 6:43 AM on February 27, 2020 | #15654 | reply | quote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6rg-4YCnnI

House of Sunny Podcast

> #64 HOW TO DEFEAT TECH CENSORSHIP WITHOUT LOSING OUR FREEDOM


Anonymous at 11:38 AM on February 28, 2020 | #15669 | reply | quote

#15669 I posted a comment on that video:

We can take action against deplatforming using only currently existing laws that would exist in a minimal nightwatchman state too. They commit blatant fraud and false advertising. That's already illegal and should be illegal. They lie constantly to customers about their policies. As Objectivists, we don't have to either put up with it or advocate more regulation and government control; that's a false choice. I wrote about this at https://curi.us/2243-deplatforming-and-fraud


curi at 11:53 AM on February 28, 2020 | #15670 | reply | quote

CPAC 2020: James O'Keefe full speech 16min. Good summary info about Veritas insiders.


curi at 5:15 PM on February 29, 2020 | #15691 | reply | quote

https://www.newsweek.com/why-portland-police-stand-passively-when-leftists-riot-1489799

> Why Portland Police Stand By Passively When Leftists Riot

This deplatforms people from IRL spaces, among other downsides.


Anonymous at 7:20 PM on February 29, 2020 | #15692 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/VictoriaPeckham/status/1233727483272409094

> For those who still think "threats to free speech" is a right wing fantasy: Prof Selina Todd is noted Oxford historian of women & the working class, due to speak today at a celebration of 50 Years of Women's Lib. At 6pm last night she was no-platformed .


Anonymous at 7:21 PM on February 29, 2020 | #15693 | reply | quote

#15445

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/09/technology/amazon-bookstore-nazis.html :

> Mr. Delzer, the proprietor of a secondhand store in Nashville called Defunct Books, has a different view. “If Amazon executives are so proud of their moral high ground, they should issue memos about which books they are banning instead of keeping sellers and readers in the dark,” he said.

Regarding the above quote, anonymous wrote (in #15445):

> It's a self-contained argument. If they are doing something good, which they are rightly proud of, they should be happy to provide details of what they're doing instead of hiding it. Hiding it indicates they think people disapprove and that they're hiding from that debate/judgment because they lack arguments.

I think Amazon is wrong to ban books, but I disagree that the fact that Amazon isn't more transparent about which books they ban constitutes a *self-contained* argument that they're not "proud of their moral high ground".

I expect that Amazon believes, correctly, that publishing a list of the books they ban would draw more attention to those books -- something they don't want to happen.

Consider how a social media site that removes child abuse imagery doesn't describe the individual images that were removed. The reason they don't give details is not because the site owners think people will disapprove of what they did.

Or consider how a blog owner takes down a post that doxes someone. Just because they don't provide much detail about the contents of the removed post doesn't mean they're not proud of the removal.

For the argument about Amazon to be self-contained, it would need to explain how the situation with Amazon is different from the two examples I gave.


Alisa at 7:49 PM on March 8, 2020 | #15812 | reply | quote

> For the argument about Amazon to be self-contained, it would need to explain how the situation with Amazon is different from the two examples I gave.

It'd need that to be self-contained and (more) complete. There is an (incomplete) argument presented there in a self-contained way.


Anonymous at 7:53 PM on March 8, 2020 | #15813 | reply | quote

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2020/03/08/new-york-post-journalist-censored-on-twitter-for-exposing-champagne-socialist-carlos-maza/

> New York Post journalist Jon Levine was locked out of his Twitter account earlier today and forced to delete several tweets in connection to his article exposing the ultra-wealthy background of socialist YouTuber Carlos Maza.

> Twitter first locked Levine out of his account this morning, but after inquiries from the journalist and his followers, the platform restored access to his account, claiming that the lockout had been an “error” and that his tweets about Maza did not violate the platform’s policies.


Anonymous at 3:56 PM on March 9, 2020 | #15821 | reply | quote

Around 7:30 this guy, who has 414k subscribers, says he's been demonetized for a month straight (all his new vids get demonetized fast):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOHIhshyWE4

I think he's an American who lived in China for over 10 years, was kinda naive but eventually figured out China is awful.

The Chinese government harassed him about making videos ... and now YouTube does too.


Anonymous at 11:31 PM on March 11, 2020 | #15867 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/evdefender/status/1239754391885877248

6000 follower account tweets tons of stats, data, news and criticism re 1) Elon Musk 2) coronavirus

I started following them a week ago. Even little guys are often prevented from growing quite early on if they start getting some attention.


curi at 12:08 PM on March 17, 2020 | #16010 | reply | quote

Right Wingers Banned From Food Delivery During Pandemic

https://t.me/MichelleMalkin/1185

> Uber eats is offering a zero dollar delivery fee during corona virus to people so they don’t have to leave their homes.

> I’m banned on Uber Eats.

> Here is yet another example of big tech deciding who is and isn’t worthy of receiving food during a global pandemic.

> In other words, if you can’t leave your home and you need food delivery, big tech thinks you deserve to starve if they don’t like your political opinions.

> This type of discrimination by big tech companies needs to end. It’s actually criminal to silence and deny people resources and information at this point in time when we are in the middle of a global pandemic and people are being federally ordered to social distance.


curi at 1:47 PM on March 17, 2020 | #16015 | reply | quote

YouTube demonetizes videos on big channels, like thunderf00t and Upper Echelon Gamers, if they mention coronavirus. Sometimes even if they don't mention it. laowhy86 (an American who lived in China for over a decade and does journalism and China-related videos) has had everything demonetized for over two months.

Twitter has a new policy of censoring information that contradicts what the authorities say. So if some retarded CDC spokesman says we don't need to wear masks, you could get suspended or something for saying masks help.


curi at 6:05 PM on March 21, 2020 | #16088 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/PoliticsReid/status/1242822488549199878

Note:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPR#Funding

> During the 1970s and early 1980s, the majority of NPR funding came from the federal government.

Apparently it doesn't receive much government funding today, but the legacy of government funding still made a big impact on how it's perceived and helped it get big.


curi at 11:46 AM on March 25, 2020 | #16136 | reply | quote

https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2020/03/24/nolte-media-blackout-of-trump-coronavirus-briefings-begins/

> The news media have begun to impose blackouts on President Donald Trump’s coronavirus briefings to the American public. On Monday evening, multiple news outlets cut away from the president’s briefing before he finished.

> Far-left outlets like the Washington Post, NBC News, the Atlantic, CNN, the Boston Globe, etc., want to put an end to broadcasting Trump’s briefings; the idea being to block Americans from hearing directly from their president so these massive media corporations can censor whatever the president says that they do not approve of.

> Just writing the above sounds preposterous, like something outlandish, like something out of a dystopian novel where mega-corporations rule over everything.

> For those of you who doubt this, here is the Washington Post:

> > Radical change is necessary. The cable networks and other news organizations that are taking the president’s briefings as live feeds should stop doing so.

> > Should they cover the news that’s produced in them? Of course. Thoroughly and relentlessly — with context and fact-checking built in to every step and every stage.

> Here is far-left CNN staffer Jake Tapper:

> > If the president is not capable of leading stably and effectually, he should, at least, for his own reputation, for the good of the country, stop making things worse and consider leaving the podium to others.

> And now the blackouts have begun.


curi at 4:16 PM on March 25, 2020 | #16140 | reply | quote

This is the kind of material the Cultural Elites don't want you to see and deplatform:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dsW7oOhU58


curi at 5:31 PM on March 26, 2020 | #16157 | reply | quote

Anonymous at 7:07 PM on March 27, 2020 | #16167 | reply | quote

#16167 Horrifying. Thanks for sharing.


curi at 8:02 PM on March 27, 2020 | #16170 | reply | quote

VDare, which has had tons of deplatforming issues, bought a castle ⚔️🏰🏹so they could have their conferences in peace.

This article talks about some SPLC guy demonizing VDare.

https://vdare.com/articles/the-fulford-file-splc-thug-michael-hayden-demonizes-vdare-com-s-castle-purchase-his-twitter-followers-plot-violence-where-is-fbi

SPLC guy says:

> The castle is also securely embedded on a hill and surrounded by iron gates, making it hard for antiracist demonstrators to access it should VDARE decide to host a conference there. Well-attended counterdemonstrations have had a deleterious impact on the racist right’s ability to organize in public in recent years, making secure locations appealing to white nationalists like those linked to VDARE.

The SPLC's tweet about his article got a bunch of threatening replies. Read the article for details. Just taking one example, somebody tweeted:

> Aluminum powder mixed with iron oxide.

> Or Gallium if you're trying to be sneaky.

VDare says:

> That’s what we must call a really serious threat. The first part (aluminum powder and iron oxide) is the recipe for thermite, as used in arson and sabotage. And gallium reacts with aluminum in peculiar ways.

> I don’t know all the details, but I’m not trained in metallurgy, as “Dedwrekka” is. His Twitter profile reads “Questioning White Bio-male. He/Him/Yall. Veteran. Animation, Woodworking, Metalworking, Sculpting, Makeing".

> It doesn’t take much in the way of internet sleuthing to establish that this guy threatening us with thermite is a college student in North Texas named Aaron, who is studying metalcrafts.

> I don’t want to “doxx” him in the usual sense. But if the FBI or other law enforcement agencies are interested, I’ll forward them the details.

> *And they should be*. This is a “terroristic threat” *across state lines*.

> This is just one more instance of the danger of the SPLC, which as Hayden notes in his article, has been targeting us specifically for almost twenty years.

Some disturbing things going on here:

1. VDare has had to deal with enough problems hosting their peaceful events that they felt they needed to buy a literal castle and rely on medieval physical security technology to protect them from mobs.

2. The mob is being whipped up by activists and issuing very specific threats about what criminal acts they might engage in.

3. The police will probably do nothing to stop this.

The situation is bad :-(


Anonymous at 4:18 AM on March 29, 2020 | #16181 | reply | quote

Twitter seems to have deleted tweets from the President of Brazil related to coronavirus

https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1244414690740092940?s=20


Anonymous at 7:13 PM on March 29, 2020 | #16191 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/alx/status/1244815263461183491

> .@IngrahamAngle Tweeted about this story of a man who had Coronavirus that said Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin saved his life.

> Twitter locked her account for it and made her delete it.

> Man who had Coronavirus and says Experimental Drugs saved his life says it’s “Truly Un-American” for people to not want the drugs to work because President Trump mentioned them.


curi at 8:16 PM on March 30, 2020 | #16207 | reply | quote

https://vdare.com/articles/the-sin-of-sullivan-why-donald-trump-tulsi-gabbard-and-i-are-suing-for-libel

> The Sin Of SULLIVAN: Why Donald Trump, Tulsi Gabbard and I Are Suing For Libel

Peter Brimelow of VDARE is suing NYT (separately from Trump and Gabbard's suits). Lengthy article with a million links explains why.

MSM libels are trying to push people out of the town square so they have no voice, and are directly related to the extensive online deplatforming happening to vdare and others.


curi at 12:38 AM on April 5, 2020 | #16262 | reply | quote

Mainstream media double standards: attack conservatives & Christians, defer to progressives and adherents of other religions

https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/04/04/steady-devout-mike-pence-leads-coronavirus-fight-past-the-haters/ :

> Since the day [Pence] was picked as VP in 2016, the media has never missed an opportunity to mock him for being an evangelical, born-again Christian.

> You might be thinking, but wait — isn’t making fun of people for their religious beliefs politically incorrect? For the most part, yes. But there is one major exception.

> Religious intolerance is a big no-no in 2020, unless said religion has anything to do with Christianity.

> In which case, mocking isn’t just acceptable — it is encouraged.

> For instance, a few months before the #MeToo movement took center stage, the mainstream media got a real kick out of Mike Pence’s rule that he never dines with a woman alone without his wife present.

> The headlines from the mainstream media displayed complete revulsion for Pence, the archaic sexist weirdo.

> “Mike Pence doesn’t eat alone with women. That speaks volumes” (The Guardian)

> “Vice President Pence’s ‘never dine alone with a woman’ rule isn’t honorable. It’s probably illegal.” (Vox)

> “How Pence’s Dudely Dinners Hurt Women” (The Atlantic)

> But by far the most outrageous of all the questions was this whopper by ABC’s Byron Pitts, who asked the VP, “When you talk to God in your moments alone, do you find yourself worrying at all that people you represent and care deeply about have died and will die who did not need to because of steps the federal government did not take soon enough?”

> Can you imagine a member of the mainstream media ever asking a Democrat such a loaded question? Of course you can’t. It is hard to imagine things that would never happen.

> The only questions Joe Biden ever received as VP were about his bromance with President Barack Obama. And maybe, “When will you do another BuzzFeed video?”

> The double standard is mind-blowing...


Alisa at 11:30 AM on April 5, 2020 | #16277 | reply | quote

The YouTube Channel That Never Happened

Edward Ring, "The YouTube Channel That Never Happened", *American Greatness* (2019-11-16):

> On October 18, 2019, the YouTube channel Red Ice TV was erased. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Red Ice TV is a white nationalist hate site, promoting racist views. At the time of “cancelation,” Red Ice TV had 334,000 subscribers and its videos had been viewed nearly 50 million times.

That's a decent number of views.

The article talks about how "leftist activists use “mass flagging campaigns” to take down conservative online platforms":

> “What online activists do is post something on Reddit or a ‘discord server’ which is an encrypted online messaging app,” he said, “these mass flagging campaigns will originate from activists using these forums to say ‘all of you go and flag this channel.’” When the platform administrators receive a high volume of complaints, they suppress or erase the channel.

> There is no similar sort of online attack mob operating on the Right to silence left-wing voices, and these grassroots online flash mobs have become highly effective at shutting down conservatives online. In the case of sites without large fan bases that can raise objections, the power of the mob to erase is near absolute, and nobody knows how many of these smaller sites are gone as a result. In Red Ice’s case, it didn’t matter that thousands of their fans objected.

The article talks about the simultaneous deplatforming of InfoWars by multiple social media sites:

> InfoWars offers an important example. In November 2016 InfoWars attracted 125 million views.... For the first time, the major online platforms coordinated their efforts. Within a few days in early August 2018, InfoWars was expelled from Apple podcasts, Facebook, Spotify, and YouTube. On September 6, Twitter followed suit. On September 8, Apple banned the InfoWars app from its App Store. Jones was virtually erased. He had 2.4 million YouTube subscribers, all gone; 830,000 Twitter followers, purged; his Apple podcast archives were deleted; his Facebook page, with 2.5 million followers, wiped out.

It talks about the deplatforming of Milo Yiannopoulos and Sargon of Akkad as well as a left-winger named Carey Wedler who was been deplatformed:

> Carey Wedler ... has, so far, hung onto her YouTube channel, but was recently banned from Facebook and Twitter. Wedler is a *left*-leaning critic of the mainstream media and an outspoken opponent of America’s so-called endless wars.

There's a lot more. The whole article is over 7,000 words.


Alisa at 9:22 PM on April 6, 2020 | #16296 | reply | quote

#16296 +1


curi at 7:42 PM on April 9, 2020 | #16333 | reply | quote

Cernovich's HOAXED documentary banned from Amazon's streaming platform

Jack Dalton, "Tech Totalitarians Ban Mike Cernovich's HOAXED From Amazon, Erasing It From Purchasers Accounts", *VDARE* (2020-04-10):

> Amazon has banned [the] documentary Hoaxed ... from being streamed on their platform... First they came for Jared Taylor, committing digital bookburning by removing *If We Do Nothing* and *White Identity* from their Kindle store, now Amazon is resorting to an even crazier form of censorship by removing a digital product people already purchased from their accounts!

According to The Gateway Pundit:

> People who had purchased the film also reported to Cernovich that it is now gone from their accounts.


Alisa at 11:00 PM on April 10, 2020 | #16349 | reply | quote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgVbMLoIGV4

at 12:20 he talks about how YouTube sometimes doesn't send out notifications to subscribers and also unsubscribes people from his channel.

I noticed the other day that I don't get lots of the email notifications for Asmongold's YouTube.


curi at 1:18 PM on April 18, 2020 | #16387 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/SohrabAhmari/status/1251320048616079360

> This is jaw-dropping stuff: Our article was censored [by Facebook] based on the recommendation of a scientist who . . . collaborates with the Wuhan virology lab.

> Another “expert” who recommended our article be censored by Facebook did so based on her *belief* that “any responsible government” would prevent leaks from virology labs. Oh, good, thanks.


curi at 5:43 PM on April 18, 2020 | #16390 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/SharylAttkisson/status/1250561752066142209

> You cannot make it up.

> The "fact checker" Facebook is using to censor a documentary discussing possibility that corinavirus came from Wuhan lab... is scientist who worked at Wuhan lab with Chinese communists.

>Honestly, folks.


curi at 5:43 PM on April 18, 2020 | #16391 | reply | quote

YouTube bans coronavirus-related content that disagrees with WHO recommendations

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52388586 :

> YouTube has banned any coronavirus-related content that directly contradicts World Health Organization (WHO) advice.

> The Google-owned service says it will remove anything it deems "medically unsubstantiated".

> Chief executive Susan Wojcicki said the media giant wanted to stamp out "misinformation on the platform".

> The move follows YouTube banning conspiracy theories falsely linking Covid-19 to 5G networks.

> Mrs Wojcicki made the remarks on Wednesday during her first interview since the global coronavirus lockdown began.

> "So people saying, ‘Take vitamin C, take turmeric, we’ll cure you,’ those are the examples of things that would be a violation of our policy,” she told CNN.

> “Anything that would go against World Health Organization recommendations would be a violation of our policy.”


Alisa at 1:32 PM on April 24, 2020 | #16433 | reply | quote

YouTube Censors Viral Video of CA Doctors Criticizing ‘Stay-at-Home’ Order

Paul Joseph Watson, "YouTube Censors Viral Video of Doctors Criticizing ‘Stay-at-Home’ Order", *Summit News* (2020-04-28):

> YouTube has censored a viral video in which two doctors criticized the logic of whether California’s stay-at-home coronavirus order is necessary.

> The video, which had racked up over 5 million views, featured Dr. Dan Erickson and Dr. Artin Massihi, co-owners of Accelerated Urgent Care in Bakersfield, Calif.

Daniel Horowitz (@RMConservative) commented on Twitter about the censorship:

> Is it just me or did @YouTube take down Dr. Erickson's viral video with 5 million views?


Alisa at 9:07 PM on April 28, 2020 | #16462 | reply | quote

Meme artist Carpe Donktum has 14 Twitter memes removed after a wave of DMCA takedown notices

Tom Parker, "Meme artist Carpe Donktum has 14 Twitter memes removed after a wave of DMCA takedown notices", *Reclaim the Net* (2020-04-27):

> [O]ne of the most popular and prolific meme-makers on [Twitter], Carpe Donktum, has had 14 of his memes taken down after they were hit with a flurry of [DMCA] notices.

Some of the memes that were taken down are still available on YouTube, including this one:

> Donald Trumper and The Art of the Wand (a pro-Trump Harry Potter themed meme which had millions of views on Twitter according to Carpe Donktum)

It gets worse:

> After taking down Carpe Donktum’s memes, Twitter then hid his Periscope video explaining the situation behind a “sensitive material” warning notice.

> President Trump’s viral Biden-Obama Twitter meme was taken down a few days ago after a copyright claim from Warner Chappell Music.


Alisa at 9:16 PM on April 28, 2020 | #16463 | reply | quote

YouTube introduces fact checker info panels to editorialize user search results

Cindy Harper, "YouTube introduces fact checker info panels to editorialize user search results", *Reclaim the Net* (2020-04-28):

> YouTube is continuing its war on “misinformation” by rolling out info panels containing messages from fact-checkers to search results on the platform.

> Fact-checkers who are already in the program include PolitiFact, FactCheck.org, and The Washington Post’s fact-checker.

> Any fact-checker who is part of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) is allowed to participate in the new information panels, the organization that Google recently committed to donating $1 million to.


Alisa at 9:18 PM on April 28, 2020 | #16464 | reply | quote

Educating Liberals (@education4libs) banned from Twitter

On April 27, 2020, EducatingLiberals [wrote on Gab] (https://gab.com/EducatingLiberals/posts/104070858192829936):

> And just like that, my Twitter account I’ve been working on every day for over 3 years is now gone. And they wouldn’t even give me a reason.

According to the screenshot in his post, the account (@education4libs) had over half a million followers. Here's a snapshot of his Twitter profile from before he was banned: http://archive.is/PmpSG


Alisa at 7:37 PM on April 29, 2020 | #16466 | reply | quote

#16462 Are you aware the censored video is really stupid, bad info?

It still shouldn't be censored. Just wanna check you aren't accepting the info in it.


curi at 7:58 PM on April 29, 2020 | #16467 | reply | quote

#16466 Is he surprised? I know better than to try to grow on a platform like that and expect to keep my account.

It's an awful situation but why is he so naive that he works on it every day without a backup plan(?) and expects Twitter to give him a reason?


curi at 8:33 PM on April 29, 2020 | #16469 | reply | quote

#16467:

> Are you aware the censored video is really stupid, bad info?

No. I haven't watched it.

#16466:

> Is he surprised?

I don't know. He's been on Gab since November 2017, and he has ~12k followers there, so maybe that's part of his backup plan.


Alisa at 10:53 PM on April 30, 2020 | #16470 | reply | quote

ADL advocating for increased censorship on Steam

The ADL's new report “This is Not a Game: How Steam Harbors Extremists” advocates for increased censorship on Valve's *Steam* gaming platform. *Reclaim the Net* summarized the report as follows:

> Valve and Steam are urged to undergo “a significant change of focus and culture (…) and of their approach to platform governance both in terms of policy and practice.”

> “These would be the same steps mainstream social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, have been implementing and refining for at least a decade, adapted to the specific nature of the Steam platform,” ADL spells it out.


Alisa at 4:38 AM on May 3, 2020 | #16478 | reply | quote

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2020/05/06/twitter-will-now-warn-you-if-you-are-about-to-post-wrongthink/

article excerpt:

> “To let you rethink a reply, we’re running a limited experiment on iOS with a prompt that gives you the option to revise your reply before it’s published if it uses language that could be harmful.”

> It’s a bit like “precrime” in the 2002 Tom Cruise film Minority Report. Twitter will notice when you’re about to use a bad word, giving you the chance to avoid a rule violation and save your account from the digital gulag.

> “We’re trying to encourage people to rethink their behavior and rethink their language before posting because they often are in the heat of the moment and they might say something they regret,” said Sunita Saligram, Twitter’s global head of site policy for trust and safety, in a comment to Reuters.


Anonymous at 11:41 AM on May 6, 2020 | #16487 | reply | quote

#16487 disturbing

if you didn't already know: don't try to build a following on twitter. don't write content there which isn't mirrored elsewhere. don't invest in the platform.

i do read twitter and i retweet some. i think the platform works ok to get info if you are really picky about who you follow.

i mostly only read twitter via this public list:

https://twitter.com/i/lists/1157142697246748672

i retweet some of it, so you could get a more selective feed by only reading my tweets.

i may stop retweeting at some point, idk.


curi at 11:50 AM on May 6, 2020 | #16488 | reply | quote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPrbGU0Wyh4

> Tucker: Big Tech censors dissent over coronavirus lockdowns


curi at 11:31 AM on May 10, 2020 | #16505 | reply | quote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qyfPd3QD6k

> The PATHETIC State of Youtube Advertising

Biased demonetizing and biased control over who is paid how much via youtube ads.

Meanwhile youtube is fine with lots of porn stuff and letting people advertise their videos on other people's channels.


curi at 12:23 PM on May 10, 2020 | #16508 | reply | quote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFssiP6lS2k

End of video talks about all the ways YouTube is deplatforming them and whether they might leave the platform.


curi at 4:32 PM on May 13, 2020 | #16525 | reply | quote

Facebook censorship:

> US: We removed 19 Pages, 15 Facebook accounts, and 1 Group that originated in the US and focused domestically. Our investigation linked this network to VDARE, a website known for posting anti-immigration content, and individuals associated with a similar website The Unz Review. We found this activity as part of our internal investigations into suspected coordinated inauthentic behavior ahead of the 2020 election in the US.

https://about.fb.com/news/2020/05/april-cib-report/


Anonymous at 8:51 AM on May 16, 2020 | #16542 | reply | quote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILvhUVNJHxk

> The Intellectual Wasteland of Twitch Policy

wow, twitch moderators (from the company itself) are so biased that Alinity – a girl accused of having friends at twitch to get special treatment – has publicly complained that she should have been banned for some things but wasn’t, and self-banned for 3 days after an incident when twitch did nothing.

twitch's new policy team thing includes a trans person who is publicly opposed to voice chat in games and says that most gamers are white supremecists. they hire people who are hostile to gamers.


curi at 1:42 PM on May 17, 2020 | #16548 | reply | quote

Twitter deletes tweet with Michelle Malkin video clip after it is RT'd by Trump

https://vdare.com/posts/twitter-deleted-michelle-malkin-clip-after-it-was-retweeted-by-donald-trump-as-doj-moves-to-investigate-silicon-valley-for-antitrust

On May 16, 2020, Trump RT'd a tweet by @af_clips containing a video clip of Michelle Malkin speaking at the Western Conservative Summit 2019, adding:

> The Radical Left is in total command & control of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Google. The Administration is working to remedy this illegal situation. Stay tuned, and send names & events. Thank you Michelle!

Twitter subsequently deleted the @af_clips tweet. Embedded in Trump's tweet is now the text: "This Tweet is unavailable."

Malkin tweeted about the censorship:

> Thank you @realdonaldtrump - @Twitter has DELETED the video clip you RT'ed of my remarks against Silicon Valley censorship this morning! OUT OF CONTROL. The situation must be remedied ASAP. [...]


Alisa at 10:30 PM on May 17, 2020 | #16549 | reply | quote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXughXH7YTc

Some info about how bad YouTube's copyright-based deplatforming system is. 5min video. utterly ridiculous. summary: gusiness world records asked for a copy of a mario speedrun video, put it on their channel, then started going after the runner for copyright infringement for his original video that he sent them a copy of. *and* for many other videos by him and other runners that also contain mario footage.


curi at 10:38 AM on May 25, 2020 | #16573 | reply | quote

after reading this tweet: https://twitter.com/PalmerLuckey/status/1265077232176775168 i sent "五毛 CCP BAD" in the comment section of a youtube video, it then got deleted ~30 seconds after i posted it and refreshed the page. pictures of this in FI discord offtopic channel.


internetrules at 6:51 PM on May 25, 2020 | #16574 | reply | quote

In #15443, Anonymous wrote:

>> Mr. Delzer, the proprietor of a secondhand store in Nashville called Defunct Books, has a different view. “If Amazon executives are so proud of their moral high ground, they should issue memos about which books they are banning instead of keeping sellers and readers in the dark,” he said.

> rekt!

In #15443, I asked:

> How does that wreck them?

In #15445, Anonymous wrote:

> It's a self-contained argument.

In #15812, I replied:

> ... I disagree that the fact that Amazon isn't more transparent about which books they ban constitutes a *self-contained* argument that they're not "proud of their moral high ground"...

> For the argument about Amazon to be self-contained, it would need to explain how the situation with Amazon is different from the two examples I gave.

In #15813, Anonymous wrote back:

> It'd need that to be self-contained and (more) complete. There is an (incomplete) argument presented there in a self-contained way.

In #15445, Anonymous said the argument was *self-contained*. Now, in #15813, Anonymous says that the argument is incomplete but says that it was *presented in a self-contained way*.

I stand by my statement in #15812 that the argument itself is **not** self-contained.

In #15445, after stating that the argument was self-contained, Anonymous continued:

> If they are doing something good, which they are rightly proud of, they should be happy to provide details of what they're doing instead of hiding it. Hiding it indicates they think people disapprove and that they're hiding from that debate/judgment because they lack arguments.

Standard background knowledge includes counterexamples to this argument. For example, armies conduct secret missions of which they are proud but of which they don't publicize the details. Not dealing with this and other well-known counterexamples is an essential incompleteness in the original argument.

I looked up "self-contained" in 5 dictionaries (see below). 4 of the 5 definitions included being *complete*. The other definition, from Webster's 1913, includes *having all the essential working parts*.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/self-contained :

> 1a: complete in itself : INDEPENDENT

> a *self-contained* machine

> a *self-contained* program of study

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/self-contained :

> You can describe someone or something as self-contained when they are complete and separate and do not need help or resources from outside.

https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=self-contained :

> 1. Constituting a complete and independent unit in and of itself: A self-contained dictionary defines every word contained within it.

> 2.

>   a. Not dependent on others; self-sufficient: a self-contained settlement in the Arctic.

>   b. Keeping to oneself; reserved.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/self-contained :

> Not requiring external or additional support; complete in itself.

http://www.websters1913.com/words/Self-contained :

> 2. (Mach.) Having all the essential working parts connected by a bedplate or framework, or contained in a case, etc., so that mutual relations of the parts do not depend upon fastening outside of the machine itself.

> Self-contained steam engine. (a) A steam engine having both bearings for the crank shaft attached to the frame of the engine. (b) A steam engine and boiler combined and fastened together; a portable steam engine.


Alisa at 7:14 PM on May 25, 2020 | #16575 | reply | quote

correction

#16575

> In #15443, I asked:

I asked in #15444, not #15443.


Alisa at 7:16 PM on May 25, 2020 | #16576 | reply | quote

#16575 What's your goal here?


Anonymous at 8:17 PM on May 25, 2020 | #16577 | reply | quote

Postmortem: incorrect comment number

#16576

I got the comment number for a quote wrong. One thing I could do to help prevent this kind of error from happening again is to add a check for it in my post checker. It could download the comment I referenced (e.g., curi.us/comments/show/15443), and make sure that it includes the text I quoted and that it was sent by the author I named.


Alisa at 6:09 PM on May 26, 2020 | #16581 | reply | quote

I got an Amazon deplatforming notice. Zero information about which of my posts they object to or why, but nevertheless a threat to ban me if I ever do the unspecified thing again or anything else that they arbitrarily assert violated an unspecified rule. What an awful process. That's even worse than companies like Blizzard (has several categories of WoW bans, so you get a small amount of info about a reason instead of none) and Twitter (which, from what I've seen, tells you which tweet you're in trouble for).

Full text of Amazon's notice:

https://curi.us/2313-dennis-hackethal-plagiarist#16608


curi at 10:49 AM on June 4, 2020 | #16610 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/BethanyAllenEbr/status/1268611608672194560

WeChat accounts are permabanned for writing anti-CCP text in their *passwords*.


curi at 4:29 PM on June 4, 2020 | #16612 | reply | quote

YouTube Deletes Comments That Insult China youtube vid from china uncensored


curi at 12:49 AM on June 8, 2020 | #16640 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/RealJamesWoods/status/1270398334990028801

This is what they do to a celebrity with 2.4 million followers.


curi at 11:59 AM on June 9, 2020 | #16648 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/communism_kills/status/1270050817089900546?s=21

Conservative tweets "My Medium account was just suspended because of the list I’ve been creating of companies support Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and the rioters."


Anonymous at 10:54 PM on June 9, 2020 | #16656 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/communism_kills/status/1270052038378958848?s=21

> Here was their rational. Medium claimed my list of companies supporting Antifa and Black Lives Matter violated their rules against on-platform, off-platform, and cross-platform targeting, harassment, and hate speech.


Anonymous at 10:55 PM on June 9, 2020 | #16657 | reply | quote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuTyrN2Jet4

> Youtube - A brutally unSAFE SPACE


curi at 1:19 PM on June 11, 2020 | #16667 | reply | quote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S8IRaECo94

> Skai Jackson Needs to be SHUT DOWN

She's gaining Twitter popularity by encouraging her followers to harass and dox people who do or say something unPC.

She'll attack 12 year olds and post info like where they live and what school they go to. She's getting college applicants rejected to try to ruin their lives.

Most of the info is sent to her by followers and she does nothing to check if it's true.

Some of the info she posts is or could easily be out of context. E.g. she posted a 1 second video of someone saying a word. Another video was 3 seconds. You don't even get the full sentence for context. It could be talking about what someone else said or many other things; who knows.


curi at 1:21 PM on June 16, 2020 | #16709 | reply | quote

A lawyer has had his license to practice law suspended because he referred to George Floyd as a shitstain

https://www.fitsnews.com/2020/06/14/south-carolina-supreme-court-suspends-attorney-who-called-george-floyd-a-shtstain/


Anonymous at 5:33 PM on June 16, 2020 | #16710 | reply | quote

Google has banned ZeroHedge from Google's ad platform and gave The Federalist a warning for its comments section

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/google-bans-two-websites-its-ad-platform-over-protest-articles-n1231176


Anonymous at 5:35 PM on June 16, 2020 | #16711 | reply | quote

A black man wrote a reddit post about his criticisms of Black Lives Matter. Reddit admins deleted it multiple times and he got a load of nasty comments:

https://www.reddit.com/r/kotakuinaction2/comments/havu5k/black_redditor_makes_a_thoughtful_post_about_why/


oh my god it's turpentine at 11:59 PM on June 17, 2020 | #16716 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/robinhanson/status/1273322797650120704

The result:

https://www2.gmu.edu/news/586546

> **A message from George Mason University leadership**

> We have learned that George Mason University Professor, Robin Hanson, posted a tweet that is highly objectionable.

> As leaders of George Mason University, we express our profound reaction of repugnance about this posting. The posting by Professor Hanson is offensive. It does not represent the views of our university and is inconsistent with our values. His words are hurtful.

> The tweet is under review.


curi at 4:17 PM on June 18, 2020 | #16724 | reply | quote

#16724 Confused? This commentary thread may help:

https://twitter.com/sonyasupposedly/status/1273654797074198530

> fried chicken and watermelon can't be both precious cultural heritage worth uplifting and an unutterable taboo you ignoramuses

@GeorgeMasonU

Apparently you just aren't allowed to mention fried chicken, or any(?) race-associated food, sometimes (other times it's fine).


curi at 4:25 PM on June 18, 2020 | #16725 | reply | quote

#16725 Apparently Hanson tweeted this before the above tweets, but has now deleted it:

Less confusing, slightly. But still uhhh...


curi at 4:33 PM on June 18, 2020 | #16726 | reply | quote

VDare is getting deplatformed by its *domain name registrar* and is advising people to install TOR browser just in case

https://vdare.com/posts/breaking-network-solutions-driving-vdare-com-to-the-dark-web


Anonymous at 7:52 PM on June 18, 2020 | #16727 | reply | quote

Tucker: Officer Garrett Rolfe's step-mother has been let go from her job

Tucker Carlson, *Tucker Carlson Tonight* (2020-06-18):

> Well, a final point tonight, a kind of coda which really tells you everything about what's happening to our country right now, how it has gone with amazing quickness from one of the most tolerant places of goodwill on the planet to something very different very very fast. So we've been telling you this story of the [Atlanta] police officer charged [with felony murder in the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks], officer [Garrett] Rolfe. Until today, his stepmother, her name is Melissa Rolfe, was the HR director at a place called equity prime mortgage in Atlanta, GA. But today, she was let go. She's no longer in that role. Apparently, she was fired, and her only crime was being officer Rolfe's stepmother. According to a source familiar with the matter who spoke to this program, Rolfe was promised that her job was safe, but today she was told, and we're quoting, "We have to terminate our relationship with you." No other explanation was offered, and honestly, no other explanation was needed: it was obvious what happened. Rolfe has already been scrubbed from the company's web site. Wiped away, as the Bolsheviks did with those who lost favor with Josef Stalin. That will keep happening until lawmakers decide to resist the mob and protect ordinary people from its predations. This is where the country is going. It's becoming a place where you can be punished for the supposed misdeeds of your relatives. You don't want to be that country. All of us should put on the brakes immediately.


Anonymous at 7:53 PM on June 18, 2020 | #16728 | reply | quote

#16728 Tucker continued after a commercial break:

> We just told you a moment ago that the step-mother of officer Rolfe — the Atlanta cop who's facing the death penalty for the shooting of Rayshard Brooks — was just fired from her job today at a place called Equity Prime Mortgage in the Atlanta area. We told you she was fired with no explanation, obviously, because they disapproved of who her step-son. And in America, we don't do things like that, because it's immoral.

> We just got a statement sent to us from Equity Prime Mortgage. They're blaming Rolfe's step-mother, alluding to social media comments. They don't specify what those are, and they added a long boilerplate comment about how they support diversity. The bottom line is it seems pretty clear they fired this woman because of who her step-son was. And just to re-state the obvious: that shouldn't happen in this country, because it's wrong, and people should say it's wrong or [it'll] continue to keep happening.


Anonymous at 7:59 PM on June 18, 2020 | #16729 | reply | quote

#16727 I've read some of their stuff. VDARE is so fucking bland to be receiving this treatment.

I don't mean to call them bland. They are OK. Just bland for this reaction. They aren't saying "Heil Hitler" or ranting about jews or saying blacks are inferior or anything remotely like that.

I read a little bit of Daily Stormer after they got deplatformed. They stood out, e.g. they were quite openly anti-semitic. VDARE reads like it could be mainstream in a slightly better world.


curi at 8:04 PM on June 18, 2020 | #16730 | reply | quote

#16730 Meanwhile in big reactions over hardly anything, there is the attack on Robin Hanson yesterday for saying fried chicken and watermelon: http://curi.us/2243-deplatforming-and-fraud#16724


curi at 8:06 PM on June 18, 2020 | #16731 | reply | quote

Free-speech domain registrars

#16727 That happened to Gab back in 2018. It's hyperbolic of VDARE to suggest that this would relegate their site to the dark web. All VDARE has to do is to switch their domain to a registar with a record of standing up for free speech. For example: Gab's registrar is Epik, 8chan's is Eranet, and the Daily Stormer uses Tucows. VDARE could have switched domain registrars after they saw what happened to Gab, but for some reason they decided to wait.


Anonymous at 8:39 PM on June 18, 2020 | #16734 | reply | quote

#16728

Tucker:

> > Well, a final point tonight, a kind of coda which really tells you everything about what's happening to our country right now, how it has gone with amazing quickness from one of the most tolerant places of goodwill on the planet to something very different very very fast.

I disagree. Stuff like BLM (and the cultural context to enable it, e.g. the corruption of the universities) has been in process since at the very least 2004 and more broadly since at least the 60s.

False urgency and recency type stuff is really common in news and politics to generate hype, surprise, urgency, etc.


curi at 8:42 PM on June 18, 2020 | #16735 | reply | quote

A woman get swarmed on social media for saying she doesn't support BLM:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRuQ2S003ns


oh my god it's turpentine at 12:05 PM on June 19, 2020 | #16738 | reply | quote

Gab "blacklisted" by Visa

On 2020-06-19, Gab posted:

> Gab has been blacklisted by Visa for “promoting hate speech.” [...] We still accept payments via echeck, check by mail, and bitcoin.

So Gab currently cannot take payments by credit card. That's got to be tough.


Alisa at 2:53 PM on June 19, 2020 | #16740 | reply | quote

#16741 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53111295 :

> Ms Hopkins, who had more than one million followers, was previously suspended in January for a week.

> But Twitter said her latest ban is permanent.

> The social network did not, however, say which tweets Ms Hopkins had posted, to result in the ban.

> "Keeping Twitter safe is a top priority for us - abuse and hateful conduct have no place on our service and we will continue to take action when our rules are broken," it said.

Fuck Twitter.


Alisa at 2:57 PM on June 19, 2020 | #16742 | reply | quote

https://reclaimthenet.org/apple-parler-censor-offensive-content/

The CEO of Parler, a social media platform that claims to value free speech, said Apple was threatening Parler with being unable to update its app unless they banned offensive content.


oh my god it's turpentine at 3:55 AM on June 21, 2020 | #16759 | reply | quote

The NYT has gotten a blog cancelled, at least for now, by threatening to dox it.

https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/06/22/nyt-is-threatening-my-safety-by-revealing-my-real-name-so-i-am-deleting-the-blog/

> NYT Is Threatening My Safety By Revealing My Real Name, So I Am Deleting The Blog


curi at 2:01 AM on June 23, 2020 | #16766 | reply | quote

New project Veritas video of investigative journalism on Facebook content moderators who delete pro-Trump stuff and how biased FB's moderation is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7o4A16QCxE


curi at 1:33 PM on June 23, 2020 | #16768 | reply | quote

A pro-Trump meme creator has been permanently banned from Twitter

https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-meme-artist-carpe-donktum-permanently-banned-from-twitter


oh my god it's turpentine at 1:00 AM on June 24, 2020 | #16771 | reply | quote

new veritas vid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O8p4zK8ywY

> Another Facebook Insider Details Political Censorship; Current HR Exec 'No One Has White Man’s Back'


curi at 12:38 PM on June 25, 2020 | #16781 | reply | quote

Excerpt From Gab's Newsletter

> We were told this week that not only is Gab blacklisted by Visa as a business, but my personal name, phone number, address, and more are all also blacklisted by Visa. If I wanted to leave Gab tomorrow (something that isn’t going to happen) and start a lemonade stand I wouldn’t be able to obtain merchant processing for it.

> Simply because my name is Andrew Torba.

> If my wife wants to start a business she won’t be able to obtain merchant processing because she lives at the same address as me and would be flagged by Visa.

> This is obviously very concerning. We have done nothing wrong. Gab is and always has been a legally operated business. We sell hats, shirts, and a software subscription service that unlocks new features on Gab. My personal credit score is in the 800’s. I pay my bills. I have a wife and daughter to provide for, yet we are all being punished and defamed because someone at Visa has it out for me.

> We were told that Visa has someone camping on our website watching our payment processing. As soon as we get a new processor up they find out who it is on their end and contact them. They tell the processor that Gab is flagged for “illegal activity” and if they do not stop processing payments for us they will be heavily fined.

> When the processor inquires about this alleged “illegal activity,” Visa tells them that Gab has been flagged for “hate speech.” “Hate speech,” is of course not illegal in the United States of America and is protected by the First Amendment. As I have written, it’s not real and I refuse to acknowledge it as term. Visa doesn’t agree with me.


Anonymous at 3:24 PM on June 26, 2020 | #16788 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/i/events/1276679244442034176

I haven't watched him stream but I learned about him a few months ago by watching this video about him. The channel has a bunch of little documentary type things about different streamers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9e_85TuaBA


curi at 8:25 PM on June 26, 2020 | #16789 | reply | quote

#16789 oh wow, related to the banning:

> "In March, Dr Disrespect signed a multiyear exclusive deal to remain with Twitch that reportedly would entitle him to millions of dollars per year." – ESPN


curi at 8:25 PM on June 26, 2020 | #16790 | reply | quote

#16788 Not as bad as Visa's ban of Andrew Torba, but in 2019, Laura Loomer was banned from PayPal.


Anonymous at 9:51 PM on June 26, 2020 | #16791 | reply | quote

#16730 In Then the Registrars Came for VDare – But I was Already Banned (June 23, 2020), Andrew Anglin of The Daily Stormer wrote:

> The only competent person on the right is Tucker Carlson. He is literally The Last Man.

> Tucker was the only person who defended my rights when I was shut down. [Infowars'] Alex Jones and [VDARE's] Peter Brimelow were taking the high road, acting like I was a unique case, but Tucker went on Fox News – three separate times – and pointed out that the banning of me was a historic turning point in the suppression of speech in America.


Anonymous at 12:43 AM on June 27, 2020 | #16792 | reply | quote

Andrew Anglin: CNN Now Trying to Get Everyone Banned from Telegram

In CNN Now Trying to Get Everyone Banned from Telegram (June 26, 2020), Andrew Anglin writes:

> The messaging app Telegram is one of the few places right-wingers are still allowed to communicate with each other, so with the election coming up, the media is moving to bully the app into banning any supporters of Donald Trump.

> Of course, they don’t ever say, “we want to shut them down,” they say, “people are concerned…” but the people that are concerned are them; no one else is thinking about it. It’s very transparent, especially when you go through and look at the way they incited a mob against me, against Alex Jones, against anyone else they got banned for supporting Donald Trump.

> The mere fact that they refer to all white people as “white supremacists” shows what they’re trying to do. But it isn’t really newsworthy that a few thousand people who disagree with CNN are posting messages to each other on a phone app. This is not “in the public interest.” The only reason they would report on it at all is to try to bully the company, smear them as “enablers of white supremacist terrorism” for allowing Trump supporters to send messages to each other.


Anonymous at 12:52 AM on June 27, 2020 | #16794 | reply | quote

The EU is talking about the great firewall of china like it's a good thing and saying how they want to create something similar for themselves to censor the internet.

not joking. this is official stuff.

https://twitter.com/AlecStapp/status/1276604449616564224


curi at 12:41 PM on June 27, 2020 | #16797 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/michellemalkin/status/1276889689421537280?s=20

Twitter treats mentioning truth about George Floyd's criminal past as glorifying violence

The tweeter was already in trouble for this tweet

https://twitter.com/JadenPMcNeil/status/1276255988732039168?s=20


Anonymous at 7:49 PM on June 27, 2020 | #16798 | reply | quote

Gainesville, GA Fire Dept. Employee Suspended After His WIFE Asked On Facebook If Hispanic Floyd Rioters Were Illegals

(06/25/2020):

> In Gainesville, Georgia, a fire department employee was suspended for a week because his *wife* made a post on Facebook about the local George Floyd rioters.


Anonymous at 10:34 PM on June 27, 2020 | #16799 | reply | quote

Anonymous at 10:25 AM on June 29, 2020 | #16804 | reply | quote

Gab newsletter on reddit purge

> Reddit has purged some of the most popular communities on the site today after a recent announcement that they will be cracking down on "hate speech." Over 2,000 communities were purged including the pro-Trump community r/The_Donald and the popular left-wing community r/ChapoTrapHouse.

> Last year Reddit took a $150m investment from the Communist Chinese, so these bans and the pivot away from freedom should not be a surprise to anyone. Reddit is not only purging thousands of communities from the site, but they are also banning users who "upvote" content which breaks their new "hate speech" rules. Meaning even if you don't post the content yourself, Reddit will ban you if you engage with it.

> “I have to admit that I’ve struggled with balancing my values as an American, and around free speech and free expression, with my values and the company’s values around common human decency,” Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said.

> Perhaps all that communist Chinese money made his decision a little easier.

> At Gab we saw this purge and wave of censorship coming years ago. Which is why we have been building the market-leading free speech social network that now has millions of users from around the world. We welcome everyone who is getting banned from Reddit--both on the left and the right ideologically-- to join Gab.

> Gab has a groups feature which is similar to Reddit's subreddit functionality. Users have already set up a The_Donald group on Gab with 14,000 members. Get on Gab, and speak freely.


Anonymous at 12:01 PM on June 29, 2020 | #16805 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/Logicalmeme/status/1277701416862322691?s=20

Stefan Molyneux, American Renaissance, others banned from YouTube, Twitch suspended Trump's channel

Re twitch:

https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/29/21307145/twitch-donald-trump-ban-campaign-account

> Twitch has temporarily banned President Donald Trump, in the latest surprise and high-profile suspension from the streaming service. Trump’s account was banned for “hateful conduct” that was aired on stream, and Twitch says the offending content has now been removed.

> One of the streams in question was a rebroadcast of Trump’s infamous kickoff rally, where he said that Mexico was sending rapists to the United States. Twitch also flagged racist comments at Trump’s recent rally in Tulsa.


Anonymous at 2:29 PM on June 29, 2020 | #16807 | reply | quote

the new reddit hate policy "does not protect groups of people who are in the majority or who promote such attacks of hate."

https://www.reddithelp.com/en/categories/rules-reporting/account-and-community-restrictions/promoting-hate-based-identity-or

so it appears that you can "incite violence or [] promote hate based on identity or vulnerability" if you are targeting white people and be okay under this rule (at least if the targeted white people are in the majority).


Anonymous at 3:21 PM on June 29, 2020 | #16808 | reply | quote

Parler

In https://vdare.com/posts/youtube-bans-american-renaissance , Jared Taylor writes:

> Also, I have just joined Parler, and I invite you to follow me here.

I'm skeptical that Taylor will be allowed to communicate on Parler for long. The fact that Parler is available in Apple's App Store indicates that Parler is censored.

Tangentially, the second sentence on Parler's home page is:

> Our content is moderated based off the FCC and the Supreme court of the United States which enables free expression without violence and a lack of censorship.

That's a poorly-written sentence. It speaks poorly of Parler that they feature it so prominently.


Anonymous at 9:23 PM on June 29, 2020 | #16809 | reply | quote

Massive social media ban wave yesterday across many companies. E.g. Stefan Molyneux was banned on YouTube and Reddit banned 2000 subreddits including TheDonald. A few days earlier, DrDisrespect was banned by Twitch. He's one of the biggest streamers and had a contract with Twitch for over a million dollars. He says Twitch didn't tell him why he was banned and Twitch and journalists/insiders aren't saying either.

Watch: The Social Media Ban Tidal Wave - Control Itself Spirals Out of Control


curi at 12:17 PM on June 30, 2020 | #16814 | reply | quote

https://vdare.com/articles/ann-coulter-antifa-are-a-laugh-riot-until-they-come-for-you

> Over and over again, conservatives made excuses for doing nothing. They told themselves:

> *It’s only Milo—he’s shocking, not the kind of nuanced conservative thinker I am.*

> *It’s only Gavin McInnes and his “Proud Boys”—he’s funny, whereas I am aggressively humorless, so I’m safe.*

> *It’s only Heather Mac Donald and Charles Murray—they write about crime rates and I.Q. I steer well clear of any topic that might trigger liberals!*

> And thus were the most interesting and popular personalities on the right scrubbed from the public square by violent, low-I.Q. criminals. How tiny is the circle of speech and behavior you’ve permitted yourselves, conservatives?


Anonymous at 5:28 PM on July 3, 2020 | #16841 | reply | quote

Anonymous at 7:14 PM on July 4, 2020 | #16847 | reply | quote

Stefan Molyneux was first kicked off paypal, then YouTube, now Twitter


Anonymous at 7:31 PM on July 7, 2020 | #16853 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1280603481531912192

Yglesias signing onto a Trump-bashing letter that got the approval of people like *Noam Chomsky* somehow made this lady feel "less safe"

The letter: https://harpers.org/a-letter-on-justice-and-open-debate/


Anonymous at 7:41 PM on July 7, 2020 | #16854 | reply | quote

https://news.gab.com/2020/07/08/then-they-came-for-stefan-molyneux/

> As I write this the slack-jawed leftists on Twitter are cheering and rejoicing over Stefan’s bans. This boring and predictable cackling is not what I want you to pay attention to though.

> Instead, I want you to center your focus on the total silence from the Conservative Inc frauds who boast about how much they love free speech and hate big tech censorship. You won’t find them defending Stefan. You won’t find them speaking out against his bans. You won’t find them saying anything at all. Make no mistake: they know who he is, they know he has been banned, and they are secretly doing their own bit of celebrating about it too.


Anonymous at 9:27 AM on July 8, 2020 | #16860 | reply | quote

Top Tucker Carlson writer resigns after being doxxed by CNN. He'd worked for Tucker for 4 years.

He was a xoxo (autoadmit) poster, which is an anti-political-correctness free speech forum.

CNN found out what name the writer anonymously posted under and outted him. Real name is private personal info, which CNN shared with the world.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/10/media/tucker-carlson-writer-blake-neff/index.html

Will Tucker's content quality now drop?

The writer posted as CharlesXII on xoxo, and I enjoyed his lengthy review of the awful but very popular book Ready Player One at http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4248817&mc=515&forum_id=2

In response (same day the story broke – today – I think), the xoxo forum has randomized poster names on posts over a year old to help protect against doxing in the future. (Random names are regenerated if you refresh the page, but all posts from a user in one thread get the same random name, so you can still follow conversations.)

http://xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=4581003&mc=41&forum_id=2

This is a great move because the archives were about to be searched by a bunch of hateful leftist would-be doxxers sent by mob-leader CNN. Sadly it's too late to prevent CNN from finding a bunch of archived material to smear CharlesXII with.

The forum owner, Rach, also says that no identify information is saved on the server (e.g. signup email or poster IP address) http://www.xoxohth.com/thread.php?thread_id=4581141&mc=8&forum_id=2 and http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3739278&forum_id=2#34263552


Anonymous at 5:18 PM on July 10, 2020 | #16869 | reply | quote

#16869 So Blake Neff, one of Tucker's lead writers, had to resign. In contrast, despite having posted numerous anti-white tweets under her real name, Sarah Jeong kept her job on the NYT editorial board.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45052534 :

> Ms Jeong wrote in one tweet from July 2014: "Oh man it's kind of sick how much joy I get out of being cruel to old white men."

> "Are white people genetically predisposed to burn faster in the sun, thus logically being only fit to live underground like groveling goblins," she said in December 2014.

> [Jeong] also used the hashtag "#CancelWhitePeople" and complained about "white people marking up the internet with their opinions like dogs pissing on fire hydrants".


Anonymous at 7:48 PM on July 10, 2020 | #16871 | reply | quote

http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4581836&mc=3&forum_id=2

Now you understand gamergate

For years, I tried to explain it here. But it was impossible to explain because people got mixed up in the details. They didn't understand that gamergate was just an unfair, politically motivated attack by disingenuous left-wing actors who claimed to be "journalists".

If you were an outsider to XO today, and you had to understand the drama surrounding a weird, fringe website that billed itself as the most prestigious law discussion in the world, but was populated with racists, nude bodybuilders, self-deported Korean PUAs, guys who name themselves with semicolons and claim to be hung studs, dinosaur experts, white genocide promoters, and whatever the fuck Lisa Rowe is, you wouldn't understand.

But you get it now. The feeling you have right now is the same feeling that the gaming community had when they were under attack by a malicious press, and came together to fight back.

I hate that XO has to go through this experience. But at least now you guys get it.


Anonymous at 1:08 AM on July 11, 2020 | #16872 | reply | quote

http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4581708&mc=2&forum_id=2

the danger of CNN's shoddy journalism

this thread is mostly for lurkers and journos because anyone who uses this site already knows these things.

i read the article on charles earlier and there are a few quick things that other people probably already mentioned that i feel are important to note. these things aren't just relevant to charles but to everyone on this website.

1.) shared accounts

i'm not the only one who knows the password to my account. i know the passwords of others' accounts (and they know i do). i don't think that's uncommon on here.

2.) edits and blank bumps

anyone can edit any of his or her posts (not the title, but the body of the OP and all reply posts) at any time. someone could post, "justice for george floyd" in a thread, accumulate 15 blank bumps (or "upvotes" as cnn calls them, lol), and then change their post to "george floyd deserved it." the blank bumps would still be there and cnn would consider those "upvotes"/endorsements of the edited post.

3.) post history wiping

it's possible to run a script to erase all your past post history on this website (everything but thread titles, i think). when someone runs that script, all of his or her posts become blank bumps. if someone poasts something like "ugh i hate all women and jews and non-whites" and you disagree with that post in the replies, then later scrub your post history, cnn will think you're blank bumping/"upvoting"/endorsing that poast.

not to mention that cnn's "exposé" on charles included unsavory post titles he had merely replied to:

"When not making his own bigoted comments, [charles] has shown a willingness to respond to others who were, without expressing any hesitation, much less disgust, about what they've said. For instance, in 2016 he replied to a thread with the title, "Mary Poppins getting raped by a pack of wild ni***rs at the park; kids watching." That same year, he commented on a thread titled, "DIKES get wrong CUM at CUMBANK. N****R pops out." Just last month, [charles] replied to a comment on the thread that said, "And the n**s are always honor students or some bullshit." (The language on both posts was not censored on the forum.)"

how is that worthy of publishing? publishing that is irresponsible and misleading journalism, imo. there are threads with titles like that all the time containing replies from people insulting the OP or arguing against the post-- those who did also "replied" to the posts just like charles.

that's all. i don't agree with all charles said or poasted but what happened to him really sucks and i hope he's okay. this is better than christmas for tucker's rivals on other channels


Anonymous at 1:09 AM on July 11, 2020 | #16873 | reply | quote

#16873 a response poast:

I know that you're poasting this in good faith, and you mean well, but you have to understand that none of this matters to these people.

They don't care about accuracy in reporting, or the truth, or anything else. They just need their hate object of the moment, and will lie, slander, dox, and do anything else they can do to get their sacrificial lamb.

This is like telling a Mayan priest that actually you don't need to sacrifice a human to make the sun come up. The truth doesn't matter. The act of ritual slaughter is the only thing that matters.


Anonymous at 1:10 AM on July 11, 2020 | #16874 | reply | quote

http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4581737&mc=17&forum_id=2

it was incredibly cruel for CNN to tell AZN megashrew abt the thread

Can you imagine what it would be like to get an email with the nonsense string of characters "xoxohth," click a link, and learn that dozens of people have been following you for five years, compiling 900+ posts worth of brutal analysis about everything that's wrong with you? It would be like the Truman Show. It would be like being a gangstalking victim.

CNN caused that to happen to a completely innocent person. The anonymous wackos on this site had the common decency for FIVE FUCKING YEARS not to do that, but CNN did it and did it gleefully. It's all the worse that AZN Megashrew almost certainly already suffers from some sort of actual mental illness.


Anonymous at 1:13 AM on July 11, 2020 | #16875 | reply | quote

http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=2665487&mc=27&forum_id=2

okay. let's say i run an exploitative manure business. i hire guys to shovel shit for me into sacks and barrels, and then we sell them to feed stores. i'm a really abusive manager; i do drugs on the job, i whip people, i shoot my guys with paintballs, and i don't even pay very well.

you are a traditional leftist agitator. you hear these abuse stories from my employees, and it makes you really mad. "that manager is a real dick!" you exclaim. you focus on my behavior, and on the worker/management chasm, and your view of rights and obligations is framed in economic terms.

but you see, i am a bit ahead of the game. i know that leftist agitators are coming after me. so i transfer nominal control of my business to a board of directors, and i make sure that the new CEO is female. even better if she's a mexican immigrant or something. the shit-shovelers at my business are primarily white men.

as a leftist agitator from the old-school, this would not have bothered you. queen victoria was just as much of a capitalist bitch as anyone else, right? you had no sympathy for the coiffured matrons of the ruling classes, whether here or in latin america or wherever else. why the fuck would you? that would be SILLY relative to the plight of the workers.

but then modernity descends, and your fellow leftists begin to rephrase the whole game in terms of gender and race. my immigrant chick CEO is now a "minority" rather than a slavedriver. her story is one of "glass ceilings" rather than workers shoveling shit for her.

you can try and go against this narrative, and go on TV with her downtrodden employees complaining about their conditions, but you are ignored. and when you aren't ignored, you are attacked. why are you trying to drag down HER, of all people? are you mad that a MINORITY WOMAN is running the show? those whiny shit-heaver MEN should just have to GET OVER THEMSELVES and DEAL with it! grrrl power la raza squared!

even if you think these people are insane, you are still a man of the left who is not getting any sort of support from conservatives for your labor agitation. so you have little choice but to placate your purported allies.

so you back off. and then people like you also back off. and the old modes of leftism gradually wither, because your ability to critique power is now circumscribed by the "identities" of those IN power.


Anonymous at 1:17 AM on July 11, 2020 | #16876 | reply | quote

#16876 That is a repost from 2014!


Anonymous at 1:18 AM on July 11, 2020 | #16877 | reply | quote

Thanks, anon(s), for posting the CharlesXII autoadmit messages here.


Alisa at 2:06 PM on July 11, 2020 | #16878 | reply | quote

Thunderf00t's latest video is being deplatformed. Here's his second video about the matter after his edited reupload was also taken down.

His video that's being blocked uses science to debunk some anti-mask concerns/lies/myths.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H2wetuvrME


curi at 2:27 PM on July 11, 2020 | #16879 | reply | quote

https://apple.news/AEvimbx53Sii1HNWm1BJtNg

> Fox News "Condemns" Racist, Sexist Comments by Former Tucker Carlson Writer

> Tucker Carlson is expected to address the resignation of the writer from his show on Monday night.

...

> The internal memo sent out by FOX News Media CEO Suzanne Scott and FOX News Media president and executive editor Jay Wallace and obtained by The Hollywood Reporter reads: "Yesterday we learned that now former employee Blake Neff, a writer on Tucker Carlson Tonight, made horrendous and deeply offensive racist, sexist and homophobic comments under a pseudonym on the forum AutoAdmit."

> "We want to make abundantly clear that FOX News Media strongly condemns this horrific racist, misogynistic and homophobic behavior. Neff’s abhorrent conduct on this forum was never divulged to the show or the network until Friday, at which point we swiftly accepted his resignation. Make no mistake, actions such as his cannot and will not be tolerated at any time in any part of our work force. Tucker will be addressing this on his show on Monday night," the memo stated.


Anonymous at 2:28 PM on July 11, 2020 | #16880 | reply | quote

https://upolitics.com/news/fox-news-ceo-suzanne-scott-orders-producers-to-rein-in-host-commentators/

> Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott Orders Producers To Rein In Hosts & Commentators

from mid 2018


Anonymous at 2:33 PM on July 11, 2020 | #16881 | reply | quote

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-boeing-resignation-idUSKBN24334J

> SEATTLE (Reuters) - Boeing Co’s (BA.N) communications chief Niel Golightly abruptly resigned on Thursday, following an employee’s complaint over an article the former U.S. military pilot wrote 33 years ago arguing women should not serve in combat.

Fuck cancel culture.


Anonymous at 12:59 PM on July 12, 2020 | #16883 | reply | quote

Blog post on Tucker Carlson writer being cancelled (my italics):

https://thezman.com/wordpress/?p=20878

> This is the sort of stuff Tucker spends every night railing against. He has made his name condemning things like cancel culture. For him to *obsequiously go along with his key writer being cancelled makes him a hypocrite and a liar.* It means that in the end, his friends and neighbors in the ruling class come before the principles he claims to be fighting to advance. More important, he’s asking you to do what he lacks the testicular fortitude to do in his own domain.

TC is going to speak to the issue tomorrow on his show. The blog post is assuming it'll be cowardly because TC hasn't said anything yet. I think that's unfair/premature – wait for TC to speak and see what he says! The story broke Friday and TC didn't have a response ready a few hours later, which is fine, and then waiting through the weekend to respond on his show on Monday seems OK too. I can understand him wanting to respond on his show instead of putting out a statement. So I don't think TC has (publicly) done something clearly wrong yet. We'll get some clarity tomorrow and I'm not optimistic about what TC will do.


curi at 1:15 PM on July 12, 2020 | #16884 | reply | quote

An environmentalist disagrees with the standard story on climate change and Facebook warns the reader that it is an evil article full of lies:

https://environmentalprogress.org/big-news/2020/7/7/i-have-been-censored-by-facebook-for-telling-the-truth-about-climate-change-and-extinctions


oh my god it's turpentine at 2:44 PM on July 12, 2020 | #16885 | reply | quote

https://www.newsweek.com/petition-fire-nyc-professor-accused-sleeping-during-anti-racist-meeting-gathers-2000-signatures-1518056

People trying to get a professor fired for allegedly falling asleep during an anti-racism zoom meeting. Articles quotes indicate they already hated her and wanted her fired beforehand. Professor denies having fallen asleep and says she was engaged with the meeting. The evidence is apparently one photo in which the professor says she was looking down briefly or resting her eyes.


curi at 3:08 PM on July 15, 2020 | #16890 | reply | quote

Twitter got hacked by one of its employees cooperating with hackers and suspended users who tweet about how the hack happened

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/jgxd3d/twitter-insider-access-panel-account-hacks-biden-uber-bezos


oh my god it's turpentine at 12:06 AM on July 16, 2020 | #16894 | reply | quote

A New York Times writer and editor resigns:

> My own forays into Wrongthink have made me the subject of constant bullying by colleagues who disagree with my views. They have called me a Nazi and a racist; I have learned to brush off comments about how I’m “writing about the Jews again.” Several colleagues perceived to be friendly with me were badgered by coworkers. My work and my character are openly demeaned on company-wide Slack channels where masthead editors regularly weigh in. There, some coworkers insist I need to be rooted out if this company is to be a truly “inclusive” one, while others post ax emojis next to my name. Still other New York Times employees publicly smear me as a liar and a bigot on Twitter with no fear that harassing me will be met with appropriate action. They never are.

https://www.bariweiss.com/resignation-letter


oh my god it's turpentine at 12:13 AM on July 16, 2020 | #16895 | reply | quote

Former Facebook programmer banned from Facebook, possibly cuz he commented on BLM on his YT Channel https://youtu.be/oJcEDzgPRrc


Anonymous at 11:28 AM on July 19, 2020 | #16906 | reply | quote

NYT gonna dox Tucker Carlson. They want to harass him off the air. They know it will lead to death threats and IRL harassment for his family because it has before:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7IkxdLpJJg


curi at 8:21 PM on July 20, 2020 | #16909 | reply | quote

Anonymous at 11:14 AM on July 22, 2020 | #16912 | reply | quote

#16912 Breitbart:

> The QAnon theory centers around the belief that an anonymous tipster within the Trump administration is revealing how President Donald Trump is leading a war against the Deep State which is comprised of politicians, business executives, and Hollywood elites who abuse children and practice Satan worship.

> The FBI designated QAnon a potential domestic terror threat last year. The FBI’s report that detailed QAnon’s ties to dangerous real-world activities reportedly influence Twitter’s decision to crack down on the theory on its platform.

Is QAnon awful or sorta ok or what?


Anonymous at 11:31 AM on July 22, 2020 | #16913 | reply | quote

I don't really know much about QAnon.

My very vague impression is that it's mostly some people with some nonsense beliefs who also are pro-Trump and have some sense that much of the political and cultural elite is evil. and they're right on the evil part but wrong on a lot of the details.


Anonymous at 6:13 PM on July 22, 2020 | #16914 | reply | quote

some details on big tech lobbying in the conservative political sphere

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-conservative-inc-to-big-tech-pipeline/


Anonymous at 6:14 PM on July 22, 2020 | #16915 | reply | quote

Mark Steyn made some comments about VDare's deplatforming and deplatforming in general

https://vdare.com/posts/thanks-to-mark-steyn-for-his-kind-words-on-network-solutions-attempted-deplatforming-of-vdare-com


Anonymous at 9:14 PM on July 25, 2020 | #16924 | reply | quote

https://www.newswars.com/twitter-censors-trump-by-completely-removing-his-tweet-for-first-time/ (Tuesday, July 28, 2020):

> Twitter Censors Trump By Completely Removing His Tweet For First Time

> Twitter has completely removed President Trump's tweets, while it previously stuck to placing notices meant to debunk the president's claims

> On Monday [July 27, 2020] night, as President Donald Trump began posting about the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 following a viral video of a doctor touting its ability to not only treat but prevent the disease, Twitter removed at least three of the president’s tweets, leaving no trace of what the president wrote on the social media platform.


Anonymous at 5:03 PM on July 28, 2020 | #16928 | reply | quote

Patreon tried to get out of being taken to arbitration by Owen Benjamin supporters for throwing him off:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvWng0jQBcM


oh my god it's turpentine at 1:52 PM on August 2, 2020 | #16940 | reply | quote

#16940 I recently read a Twitter thread about this:

https://twitter.com/Cernovich/status/1282716063243747328


curi at 1:53 PM on August 2, 2020 | #16942 | reply | quote

Heather Mac Donald: YouTube censored my talk on policing

Heather Mac Donald, YouTube censored my talk on policing (NY Post, 2020-08-03):

> If your 12-year-old son goes on YouTube, he can watch a porn star giving a lap dance to a happily surprised young man. He can see nubile, naked girls spooning with a naked male and frolicking in Las Vegas hotel pools. Your 14-year-old daughter can watch videos on how and why to transition to the male gender.

> Both your son and daughter can learn how to become an “antifa warrior.” Under the tutelage of an anarcho-communist YouTube host, they can celebrate the fiery destruction of a Minneapolis police precinct during the recent anti-police rioting in that city, a conflagration the ­anarcho-communist deems the “high point” of the rioting to date. They can get tips on how to suit up for further anti-police action — with helmets, water bottles and, of course, personal protective equipment.

> Yet your children can’t watch a livestreamed speech on policing I gave Thursday, arguing that US law enforcement isn’t engaged in systemic violence against blacks. YouTube has deemed the speech inappropriate for children under 18 and blocked access to minors.


Anonymous at 4:00 PM on August 4, 2020 | #16963 | reply | quote

Twitter blocking bitchute links and/or flagging them as 'unsafe'

https://sociable.co/social-media/twitter-flagging-links-bitchute-videos-potentially-harmful-unsafe/ (2020-08-07):

> On Friday morning I saw that popular news commentator Tim Pool had tweeted that Twitter was blocking him from sharing BitChute videos, so I decided to test it for myself, and the same thing happened to me — I couldn’t share one of Pool’s BitChute videos on Twitter.

> Instead, I received the following messages:

> [image: "Something went wrong, but don't fret -- let's give it another shot."]


Anonymous at 1:02 PM on August 8, 2020 | #17010 | reply | quote

Roosh V banned from YouTube

Roosh V has been banned from YouTube. On July 14, 2020, he wrote:

> On Monday, July 13, YouTube terminated both my main channel and Roosh Hour Clips channel, deleting all my videos even though I did not have any existing community strikes. They also deleted all my personal favorites and playlists.

> Since I don’t glorify violence against any group, I presume I was banned for “encouraging hatred” (i.e. speaking the truth) about sodomites who groom children and those who worship in the synagogues of Satan. It seems that my coded means to discuss the current purveyors of evil was not enough to keep my account in good standing, and so I was banned like many other dissidents before me, including Alex Jones, Nick Fuentes, Owen Benjamin, E. Michael Jones, Rick Wiles (TruNews), Gavin McInnes, Stefan Molyneux, and David Icke.


Anonymous at 9:27 AM on August 9, 2020 | #17018 | reply | quote

Free-speech DDOS protection and DNS registration

#16734 Epik banned 8chan from its 'BitMitigate' DDOS protection service in 2019: https://mashable.com/article/epik-8chan

8chan (https://8kun.top) now appears to be protected from DDOS by "Vanwanet":

> $ ping 8kun.top

> PING 8kun.top (203.28.246.1): 56 data bytes

https://ipinfo.io/AS398088/203.28.246.0/24 :

> NetName: VANWATECH

> Comment: https://vanwatech.com

Vanwatech's "About" page says:

> Uncensorable Delivery

> Is your content entirely legal, but for political or social reasons is unable to find a stable platform? We have battle tested solutions that are guaranteed to bypass oppresive censorship.

Vanwatech's contact page says "Vancouver, WA - USA".

8kun's DNS registrar is Eranet:

http://www.nic.top/en/whois.asp?topdomain=8kun :

> Domain Name: 8kun.top

> Registrar URL: http://www.eranet.com

Eranet appears to be a Chinese company, so how pro-free-speech can they really be? http://www.eranet.com/news/Mess_68416.html :

> About the Eranet International Ltd

> Todaynic.com, Inc is a Guangdong-based network company founded in 2000.


Anonymous at 11:04 AM on August 9, 2020 | #17019 | reply | quote

YouTube permanently bans VDARE

https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/vdare-suspended-from-youtube-and-this-time-its-permanent/ (August 10, 2020 1:59 pm) :

> YouTube terminated the account used by ["]white nationalist hate group["] VDARE for violating the site’s policies against ["]hate speech["], a YouTube spokesperson told Right Wing Watch. ​This time last year, VDARE was suspended and reinstated on the platform, but a YouTube spokesperson told RWW that this suspension is permanent.


Anonymous at 4:14 PM on August 10, 2020 | #17159 | reply | quote

#17159 That's awful. Fuck YouTube. Thanks for sharing.


curi at 4:16 PM on August 10, 2020 | #17161 | reply | quote

#17161 If they really are a white nationalist hate group, why is it awful for them to get suspended? Let's say I run a business and I hate people with hats, why can't I ban people with hats from my business?

I genuinely want to know, not saying you're wrong, just surprised you'd find this awful.


Periergo at 6:16 PM on August 10, 2020 | #17180 | reply | quote

#17180 VDARE is not a white nationalist hate group. That's a lie.

And YouTube has advertised itself as an open platform, not a platform that bans people they don't like (e.g. hat wearers or right wing people). That's false advertising and fraud.


curi at 6:30 PM on August 10, 2020 | #17184 | reply | quote

I see. That is indeed awful then.


Periergo at 6:38 PM on August 10, 2020 | #17190 | reply | quote

Effective Altruism deplatforms people.

https://twitter.com/robinhanson/status/1292933270632648705

Robin Hanson at the moment. But in the comment replies I see others have run into this previously.

I'm guessing this is appeasement – doing it under some external pressure and not understanding the dangers of appeasement – but there's limited info. Maybe some EA people themselves, with some control, want to cancel people.


curi at 9:55 AM on August 11, 2020 | #17300 | reply | quote

https://reclaimthenet.org/facebook-coronavirus-misinformation-removals-q2-2020/ :

> Facebook has announced that it removed seven million posts about the coronavirus between April and June 2020 for containing what it deemed to be “harmful” COVID-19 misinformation.

> In addition to removing the posts, Facebook also put warning labels on 98 million posts across Facebook and Instagram during Q2 2020 for containing “misleading” coronavirus misinformation.

> Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has previously revealed that these warning labels almost have the same effect as removing the posts with the warnings dissuading users from clicking through to the content 95% of the time.


Anonymous at 8:59 PM on August 11, 2020 | #17354 | reply | quote

> Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has previously revealed that these warning labels almost have the same effect as removing the posts with the warnings dissuading users from clicking through to the content 95% of the time.

jfc ppl so trusting of warnings from authorities. oblivious that FB is not trustworthy or competent at judging issues like politics and pandemics?

reminds me of ppl going for whatever achievements the game designers put in their games instead of thinking for themselves about what goals make sense. ppl are way too eager to do whatever some authority says.


curi at 9:03 PM on August 11, 2020 | #17355 | reply | quote

> reminds me of ppl going for whatever achievements the game designers put in their games instead of thinking for themselves about what goals make sense. ppl are way too eager to do whatever some authority says.

i think speedrunning could be someones own goal in this example.

i guess a lot of achievements are kind of like just play the game more, and then you can get the 100% achievement or something just from playing without thinking to much.


Anonymous at 2:50 AM on August 12, 2020 | #17356 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1293603172842221570

> The federal government's premier nuclear research lab hosted a 3-day reeducation camp for "white males," with the goal of exposing their "white privilege" and deconstructing "white male culture."

> Here are the leaked documents from the race-segregated, taxpayer-funded session. [hand emoji pointing downward at the rest of the thread]


curi at 11:35 AM on August 12, 2020 | #17368 | reply | quote

I get very different results when searching for "socialism and racism" on Google and Duckduckgo. The Google results include a lot of lefty results about capitalism being racist.


oh my god it's turpentine at 1:16 PM on August 13, 2020 | #17391 | reply | quote

Titania McGrath, popular parody account, restricted by Twitter

https://reclaimthenet.org/twitter-restricts-parody-account-titania-mcgrath/ (2020-08-14):

> Titania McGrath, an account created by comedian Andrew Doyle that parodies woke culture and has more than 547,000 followers, has been placed in a restricted mode by Twitter.

> As a result of these restrictions, Twitter users who view Titania’s account will be met with a warning notice that says:

>> “Caution: This account is temporarily restricted.

>> You’re seeing this warning because there has been some unusual activity from this account. Do you still want to view it?”

> Users then have to select the “Yes, view profile” button before they can see Titania’s tweets.

> Titania’s tweets are also being replaced with a message stating, “This tweet is unavailable,” in some circumstances. For example, opening any of the replies under Titania’s tweets, hides Titania’s tweets and replaces them with this “unavailable” message.


Anonymous at 8:18 PM on August 14, 2020 | #17411 | reply | quote

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Fuentes#Career_and_views

> [Nick Fuentes] has received support from conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, who agreed to speak at Fuentes' "America First Political Action Conference" in February 2020.[2][28] As a result of supporting him, in November 2019 Malkin was promptly fired by the Young America's Foundation where she had been employed for 28 years.[29][30][31]


Anonymous at 1:09 PM on August 15, 2020 | #17421 | reply | quote

IIRC Fuentes is pretty awful and anti-semitic FYI.

tbf, there is a massive double standard. People on the left associate with awful people all the time without punishment. Some of the awful people, including anti-semites, are in congress.


curi at 1:13 PM on August 15, 2020 | #17423 | reply | quote

#17423 He is also racist and homophobic. This is not something he would dispute.


Periergo at 4:02 PM on August 15, 2020 | #17428 | reply | quote

Good article on QAnon

#16914 "Who’s Afraid of QAnon?" by Gregory Hood (American Renaissance, August 14, 2020) is a great summary of the QAnon movement and its significance.

The article identifies three main tenets of QAnon:

> - “Q,” an anonymous, highly placed government official, knows that President Trump is planning a series of dramatic events that will expose crimes and even treason implicating many Democrats and government bureaucrats. Q communicates what’s coming by posting on various forums, including 4chan and 8kun (formerly 8chan). He says there’s a fierce battle over this at the highest levels of the government.

> - President Trump himself communicates with followers of the movement through code phrases, gestures, and imagery. He and his family also occasionally retweet accounts linked to QAnon.

> - “The Storm,” the righteous day of justice that President Trump is bringing, is opposed by a cabal of financial and media elites who want to keep people from learning the truth. Thus, people must do their own research and not trust what the mainstream media tell them.

The article then explains the main problem with QAnon, from a conservative point of view:

> What is especially dangerous about QAnon is not that it promotes dangerous extremism, but that it urges complacency. Its core message is that Donald Trump knows all about the secret conspiracy running the world and has the power to crush it; after all, he’s President. All we have to do is wait. “Nothing can stop what is coming,” says one popular slogan...

> After almost four years of Trump’s presidency, QAnon is an attempt to explain the President’s failure to “Make America Great Again.” It’s true that he’s hobbled by powerful elites. However, President Trump’s biggest personnel problems, from John Bolton to Anthony Scaramucci, were people he appointed himself. No one forced him to make Reince Priebus his chief of staff, expel Steve Bannon, or pick a fight with Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Indeed, according to QAnon, Attorney General Sessions was the one who was supposed to rout the evildoers.

Finally, the article contrasts the relatively mild QAnon theory with another conspiracy theory that actually *is* dangerous:

> Journalists promote a conspiracy far more dangerous and deadly than QAnon. That is the “white privilege” conspiracy theory...


Anonymous at 5:37 PM on August 17, 2020 | #17456 | reply | quote

Twitter banned The Babylon Bee and then did their "oops just a technical mistake" thing and unbanned

https://twitter.com/michellemalkin/status/1295484845787758592?s=21

https://twitter.com/michellemalkin/status/1295496437371826176?s=21


Anonymous at 6:45 PM on August 17, 2020 | #17458 | reply | quote

Anonymous at 7:17 PM on August 17, 2020 | #17460 | reply | quote

The new Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War trailer features clips from a video banned by YouTube in 2019 for "hate speech"

Call Of Duty Features Soviet Defector Yuri Bezmenov in New Trailer For 'Black Ops: Cold War' (Chris Menahan, InformationLiberation, Aug. 20, 2020) :

> The new trailer for Treyarch Studios' "Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War" features Soviet defector Yuri Bezmenov whose viral lecture on how the US is being subverted from within was banned from YouTube late last year for so-called "hate speech."

YouTube Deletes Viral Yuri Bezmenov Lecture On Communist Subversion For 'Hate Speech' (Chris Menahan, InformationLiberation, Dec. 18, 2019):

> Google-owned YouTube has deleted Soviet defector Yuri Bezmenov's viral lecture on the process of subversion for "hate speech." ... Last I saw it, Bezmenov's lecture had well over a million views.

This appears to be a re-uploaded version of the video that YouTube took down: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrS1qDcgdTk


Anonymous at 3:54 PM on August 20, 2020 | #17520 | reply | quote

Paypal Bans Author of ‘Muslim Mafia’ After He Calls BLM Domestic Terrorists

https://creepingsharia.tumblr.com/post/626979076317626368/paypal-bans-author-of-muslim-mafia-after-he

PayPal has permanently banned author Dave Gaubatz (USAF, retired) who "sent a message to BLM informing them of their racist and criminal activity as a domestic terrorist organization".

In his response to the ban, Gaubatz urged patriots to "Boycott Paypal".


Anonymous at 11:32 AM on August 21, 2020 | #17526 | reply | quote

Outcome of AmRen’s suit against Twitter

After Twitter banned Jared Taylor (of American Renaissance/amren.com), Taylor sued Twitter for something like fraud.

What Finally Happened in Our Suit Against Twitter (Jared Taylor, American Renaissance, July 15, 2020) (emphasis added):

> *Our claim was that Twitter could be, in effect, guilty of false advertising by boasting about its support for free speech and then banning ideas it didn’t like.* At the time we opened our accounts, Twitter’s terms of service reflected its claim to be “the free-speech wing of the free-speech movement.” It promised to allow everything except: (1) threats of violence (2) promoting illegal activity (3) copyright or trademark violation (4) impersonating people (5) publicizing the personal information of others. Needless to say, neither I nor AmRen ever violated those rules. Judge Kahn noted that after we had opened our accounts, Twitter changed its rules and decided it could ban any user for any reason. He agreed that this was potentially an “unconscionable” violation of the law.

The presiding judge (Judge Kahn) allowed Taylor’s suit to move forward, and Taylor’s legal team prepared to put Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on the stand. But then:

> What then happened baffled both our legal team and Judge Kahn. Ordinarily, when a judge orders a case to move forward, the defendant — in this case, Twitter — has no choice but to fight it out. If it loses, it can appeal. Instead, Twitter petitioned the California Court of Appeal for a writ of mandate and immediate review, something so unusual it left even our appellate practice lawyers scratching their heads. Twitter claimed that, win or lose, merely to have to face a suit of this kind would cause it irreparable damage. Twitter persuaded Facebook, Google, Reddit, Snap (Snapchat), TripAdvisor, Yelp, and others to file a joint brief, agreeing with Twitter that letting our suit go forward would “open a Pandora’s box of litigation burdens and claims of liability against providers.”

Fuck all those companies.

> The California Court of Appeal didn’t even give our lawyers a chance to reply. It issued a ruling “commanding” Judge Kahn to reverse his original finding that we had a valid case against Twitter based on California’s Unfair Competition Law. When a superior court orders a trial judge to reverse himself, he doesn’t have much choice, and Judge Kahn did as he was told. Our lawyers asked him to reconsider, but on March 8, 2019, he issued his final ruling, in which he threw out our UCL grounds for suing Twitter.

Taylor and his legal team decided not to pursue the case further, because:

- the appeal would have been judged by the same Court of Appeal that ordered judge Kahn to reverse himself

-they didn’t want to set a bad precedent, and they figured that a more sympathetic plaintiff (one who had never been called a “white supremacist” by anyone) might have a better chance


FraudWatcher at 3:23 PM on August 26, 2020 | #17628 | reply | quote

Andrew Torba, Building The New Internet (2020-08-26):

> [I]f the Pilgrims were around today (and we are) where would we go? Where is our “new world?” Where do Christians, patriots, and sane people who cherish American values and freedom go to escape this madness?

> The more I think about it, the more I realize that Gab is that place. The physical location doesn’t matter. What matters is our shared values, vision, and mission.

I can’t find the quote now, but I remember Gab CEO Andrew Torba saying something about building an ark for free speech.

Gab seems well-intentioned, but I wish they didn’t suck so bad technically. Two examples: the web site frequently crashes when I try to post a comment, and, apparently intentionally, there is no way to search for posts by keyword or hashtag.


Gabber at 3:42 PM on August 26, 2020 | #17631 | reply | quote

#17628 Thanks for sharing. Glad someone else understands the fraud and false advertising thing. What the fuck, California (Court of Appeal). This looks like the ruling elite just doing whatever they want without regard for rule of law. It's about favors and political pull.


curi at 4:14 PM on August 26, 2020 | #17632 | reply | quote

Gregory Hood, RNC: Pandering While the Midwest Burns, American Renaissance (August 26, 2020) (the **bold** formatting was added by me; the *iitalics* and links were in the original):

> Last night, a 17-year-old white man named Kyle Rittenhouse shot three men in Kenosha, killing two. We don’t know the facts, his background, or his intentions. Video evidence suggests that Mr. Rittenhouse was attacked. At this point, it seems that he fired in self-defense. While police around the country let all sorts of crimes go unpunished, the state has

*already* charged Mr. Rittenhouse with *first degree murder*. **It appears GoFundMe already took down a page to raise money for his defense. However, it still allows people to donate to rioters in Portland.**


Anonymous at 5:41 PM on August 26, 2020 | #17634 | reply | quote

Woman fails at university course

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmDVzySPQ9I

because the lecturer thinks she has a conservative agenda.


oh my god it's turpentine at 4:13 AM on August 27, 2020 | #17637 | reply | quote

Facebook censors posts supporting Kyle Rittenhouse

Facebook has designated the shooting of two people by Kyle Rittenhouse during the August 2020 BLM riots in Kenosha, WI as a "mass murder" even though, to many on the right, Rittenhouse clearly shot in self-defense. Additionally, Facebook is censoring anyone who posts in support of RIttenhouse.

According to CNBC (Wed., Aug 26, 2020 6:36 PM EDT):

> Facebook has *designated the killing as a mass murder*, and it will *remove content that praises, supports or represents the shooting or the shooter*, the company said.

> “We’ve designated this shooting as a mass murder and have removed the shooter’s accounts from Facebook and Instagram,” a company spokeswoman said in a statement.

That seems premature, to say the least. As Matt Walsh (441k Twitter followers) asked on Twitter:

> Have we seen any video of Kyle Rittenhouse than shows anything other than self-defense?

Would Facebook even allow that question to be asked?

Or consider this tweet by by Atlanta attorney Lin Wood:

> In touch with some great people in effort to get Kyle Rittenhouse competent defense counsel.

@michellemalkin is an American hero.

> The line in the sand has been crossed. If Kyle cannot defend himself under the circumstances shown in videos, we are all at risk.

> Think about it.

Would Facebook censor that?

I take it Facebook will censor any posts that share revolver.news' summary of the shootings:

> Kyle Rittenhouse Did Nothing Wrong: All Available Evidence So Far Points to Clear-Cut Case of Self-Defense


Fuck Facebook at 8:38 AM on August 27, 2020 | #17638 | reply | quote

#17638 On Twitter, two more attorneys are offering to help defend Rittenhouse.

https://twitter.com/CaliKidJMP/status/1298977367600148483?s=20 :

> I think @ClydeLewis interviewed the reporter who took the Kyle Rittenhouse video. Perhaps he or that reporter has contact information for Kyle. Someone please get and send to me. Will fly up there tonight and I will handle his defense with team of best lawyers in USA

https://twitter.com/shipwreckedcrew/status/1298870091585486848 :

> I will defend Kyle Rittenhouse.

> 32 years practicing law.

> 22+ years as a federal prosecutor.

> 7 years a criminal defense attorney.

> It would be a pleasure battering the prosecution in this case.


Anonymous at 9:55 AM on August 27, 2020 | #17639 | reply | quote

#FightBack

Fight Back is an organization, endorsed by Michelle Malkin, for crowdfunding the defense of Kyle Rittenhouse. fightback.law says (emphasis added):

> *Conservatives are not the silent majority; we are the silenced majority.* Social media companies have shut down conservatives while favoring far left radicals... It's time to #FightBack by making social media companies do what they said they would they do in the first place: let all people, including conservatives, freely speak their minds.

According to The DC Patriot, Lin Wood, the main attorney behind Fight Back, will be defending Kyle Rittenhouse pro bono. Wood previously represented security guard Richard Jewell and Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann.


Anonymous at 3:45 PM on August 27, 2020 | #17642 | reply | quote

Link to Malkin's endorsement of #FightBack: https://twitter.com/michellemalkin/status/1299094340287913984?s=20


Anonymous at 3:49 PM on August 27, 2020 | #17644 | reply | quote

#17638 Reclaim the Net, Facebook scrubs all searches for “Kyle Rittenhouse,” will remove posts “supporting or praising the violence”:

> If users search his name Facebook will say they "couldn't find anything."

> Facebook has suspended the Instagram and Facebook accounts of a 17-year-old teenager, Kyle Rittenhouse, charged with murder after shooting at men who were pursuing him in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Tuesday night. Facebook is also blocking all searches for “Kyle Rittenhouse,” preventing posts, photos, videos and even news articles from appearing when a user searches his name.

> Instead of alerting users that they’ve hidden the search results, Facebook instead tells users that it “couldn’t find anything.”

I have deactivated my Facebook account.


Fuck Facebook at 4:10 PM on August 27, 2020 | #17646 | reply | quote

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24304275

The Google Play Store is banning Fediverse clients, apparently because some Fediverse sites publish “hate speech”.


Anonymous at 8:52 AM on August 28, 2020 | #17649 | reply | quote

#17638 On Friday, 2020-08-28, the Stanford College Republicans tweeted:

> On Wednesday, we posted commentary on our FB page highlighting evidence that shows that Kyle Rittenhouse acted in self-defense. It was deleted for violating the Community Standards on "nudity and sexual activity.” Why does FB feel that it has to lie to justify this #Censorship?

The tweet has an image of the content they tried to post. It consists of a photo and a headline: New Photo Reveals "Protester" Who 17-Year-Old Kyle Rittenhouse Shot, Was Pointing A Gun At Him.


Fuck Facebook at 5:29 PM on August 28, 2020 | #17650 | reply | quote

https://reclaimthenet.org/sc-mayor-resign-black-lives-matter/

Brian Henry, the mayor of Pawley's Island, SC, posted a great comment about BLM to his Facebook, but the post was deleted (unclear whether that was voluntary or forced by Facebook) and Henry posted a follow-up apology. The NAACP is calling for his resignation and people on Twitter are organizing a boycott of his company, Palmetto Cheese.

Excerpt from Henry's original FB post:

> Why do we stand by and allow BLM to lawlessly destroy great American cities and threaten their citizens on a daily basis? Should they have a carte blanche license to pillage and destroy? Why? This has gone on too long. Rise up America. This BLM and Antifa movement must be treated [sic] like the terror organizations that they are. Law and order, protection of liberty, and right of peaceful enjoyment. If we don’t have that, we no longer have a country.


Anonymous at 6:54 PM on August 28, 2020 | #17654 | reply | quote

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/08/maryland-governor-larry-hogans-office-fired-employee-supporting-kyle-rittenhouse/ :

> Maryland’s Republican Governor Larry Hogan has fired an employee for supporting Kyle Rittenhouse on social media


Anonymous at 4:41 PM on August 29, 2020 | #17664 | reply | quote

https://footwearnews.com/2020/business/executive-moves/adidas-paul-gaudio-kyle-rittenhouse-victim-instagram-1203048171/ :

> A longtime Adidas executive is no longer employed by the brand mere days after he took to Instagram to refer to 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse — who is accused of shooting protestors on Sunday in Kenosha, Wis. — as “also a victim.”

> *Complex* shared an image on social media this week outlining the charges Rittenhouse is facing. Adidas global creative director Paul Gaudio — @neckbelly on Instagram — was one of the people who commented.

> “He is also a victim here. He’s a kid, who raised him? Who taught him? Who gave him a gun? Not excusing him by any means… but the adults who radicalized him and enabled him should be punished,” Gaudio wrote.

> Today, Adidas told FN [Footwear News] that Gaudio is no longer employed by the brand. The news of his exit was first reported by Complex.


Anonymous at 8:07 PM on August 29, 2020 | #17666 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/tweetbrettmac/status/1300099005842677760?s=21

Cassandra Fairbanks was suspended from Twitter for 12 hours for tweeting “Kyle Rittenhouse did nothing wrong,”


Anonymous at 11:24 AM on August 30, 2020 | #17670 | reply | quote

#17670 the comma in the quote should have been a period.

Also, what Cassandra tweeted is almost a direct quote from Kyle’s legal team, who wrote: “Kyle did nothing wrong.”

https://twitter.com/gkcinspiredcsl/status/1300100828611710976?s=21


Anonymous at 11:25 AM on August 30, 2020 | #17671 | reply | quote

#17671

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2020/08/30/journalist-cassandra-fairbanks-suspended-from-twitter-over-kyle-rittenhouse-support/ :

> Fairbanks commented on the temporary suspension, telling Breitbart News: “The fact that you can no longer defend someone on social media who has not been convicted of any crime should shock and terrify everyone. They want to control all narratives… and we are letting them get away with it. KYLE RITTENHOUSE DID NOTHING WRONG.”

> On the same day that Twitter suspended Fairbanks, the platform was flooded with users glorifying the murder of a right-wing activist in Portland yesterday.

One tweet the article quotes reads:

> Last time I checked, this is what patriotism looked like. I seem to remember an entire generation of Americans who killed fascists and were called heroes.


Anonymous at 12:15 PM on August 30, 2020 | #17675 | reply | quote

Facebook threatens to ban conservative commentators "the Hodgetwins"

On Aug 28, 2020, Facebook threatened to ban conservative black commentators the Hodgetwins. On the same day, the NYT published an article stating that the Hodgetwins had the "most-shared Facebook post containing the term ‘Black Lives Matter’ over the past six months."

Corinne Weaver, Facebook Threatens to Unpublish Black Conservative Creators Hodgetwins (August 31st, 2020 1:44 PM) (emphasis mine):

>Facebook claims it wants to promote racial equality by “elevating Black voices.” But if those voices promote conservative content, then Facebook does not want to elevate it.

> The Hodgetwins, who market themselves as conservative comedians, received a notification on August 28 from Facebook which stated, “Your page is at risk of being unpublished because of continued Community Standard violations.” Below the message, three pieces of content had been removed. One was a video with the title, “Liberal has mental breakdown.” Another video, found on YouTube, was titled “AOC YOU CRAZY!”

> In the video “AOC YOU CRAZY!”, the twins make statements about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, (D-NY) including: “Man how the hell did she get out of high school,” and “She’s got a Ph.D, a Ph.D in stupidity. ”*Meanwhile, Facebook allows many anti-Trump statements to stay online.*

> “If you haven’t heard,” said a Hodge brother in a video posted on Twitter, “we’re on the verge of having our Facebook page unpublished.”

> The New York Times had published a piece on the same day that stated that the Hodgetwins had some of the most shared posts on Facebook. “The most-shared Facebook post containing the term ‘Black Lives Matter’ over the past six months is a June video by the right-wing commentators The Hodgetwins, which calls the racial justice movement a ‘damn lie,’” wrote The Times technology columnist Kevin Roose.


Anonymous at 4:42 PM on August 31, 2020 | #17705 | reply | quote

#17705 The article also mentions that a Candace Owens Facebook post was "fact-checked" by the AP. Facebook used the fact-check as an excuse to suppress Owens' post for 30 days:

> Owens had written, “I am SO EXCITED that we get to watch [Kamala Harris], who swore into congress as an ‘Indian-American’, now play the ‘I’m a black a woman’ card all the way until November.’” The Associated Press had a fact-check that was applied to that post.


Anonymous at 4:44 PM on August 31, 2020 | #17706 | reply | quote

PayPal and Zelle (another payment service) banned Identity Evropa:

> Identity Evropa/American Identity Movement had previously relied on the payment processor Zelle to receive funds. After we reached Zelle for comment in our reporting earlier this year, the company announced that it was taking steps to prevent hate groups from using its service. The group then switched to using a PayPal account, which seems to have also been shut down. IE/AmIM president Patrick Casey then switched to telling members to pay dues via a PayPal account. The group’s PayPal seems to have also been shut down after our recent reporting in late April, leading the group to switch to using Cash App, which has not yet banned them. (Identity Evropa had previously been banned from PayPal before rebranding as the American Identity Movement.)

Since the article says Identity Evropa moved on to Cash App, I searched for evidence that Cash App had subsequently banned Identity Evropa, but couldn't find any. In 2019, Cash App did ban Gab and Gab CEO Andrew Torba, though.

Not being able to pay and get paid for things is a big deal.


Anonymous at 7:28 PM on August 31, 2020 | #17708 | reply | quote

Google censoring negative search suggestions about BLM

Allum Bokhari, [Google Refuses to Show Negative Search Suggestions About Black Lives Matter] (https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2020/09/01/google-refuses-to-show-negative-search-suggestions-about-black-lives-matter/) (1 Sep 2020):

> Google’s search autocomplete feature fails to generate negative suggestions for the term “BLM,” in stark contrast to other search engines.

> Typing the words “BLM is” on Google currently only returns the suggestion “BLM israel.” It does not show a long list of suggestions, which is unusual for a popular search term and suggests that a list of suggestions formerly existed but was removed.


Anonymous at 10:28 AM on September 1, 2020 | #17716 | reply | quote

[American Greatness](amgreatness.com) assistant editor Pedro L. Gonzalez, who was on Daniel Horowitz's show last week, has been suspended from Twitter for posting a message in support of Kyle Rittenhouse. Here is the text of Gonzalez's tweet, retyped from an image shared on Twitter by Michelle Malkin :

> Unlike all of the criminals and drug addicts the media portrays as "good boys who didn't do anything wrong," Kyle Rittenhouse actually is that. The kid is a hero. https://twitter.com/MarkDice/status/1299250471069085696


Anonymous at 11:08 AM on September 1, 2020 | #17718 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/CaliKidJMP/status/1300903277522026499 :

> Twitter has just shut down Lin Wood ⁦@LLinWood the lawyer for Nicholas Sandmann and Kyle Rittenhouse and the creator of the #FightBack Foundation.

The person who tweeted that, John Pierce (@CaliKidJMP), is one of the attorneys representing Kyle Rittenhouse. He was on Tucker Carlson last night.


Anonymous at 2:11 PM on September 1, 2020 | #17720 | reply | quote

#17718 Pedro Gonzalez has been un-suspended on Twitter. He tweeted:

> So this is the tweet that got my account locked temporarily. To start the countdown for unlocking an account, Twitter has you manually delete the offending tweet. Kind of funny, kind of a humiliating-dystopian-classroom vibe

> [image of text from #17718]


Anonymous at 2:27 PM on September 1, 2020 | #17722 | reply | quote

Twitter suspended @Communism_Kills

In July 2020, Twitter suspended @Communism_Kills, apparently for criticizing Twitter's ban on Qanon-related content. She's still suspended. In June 2020, she posted to Medium a list of companies that support Antifa & BLM, which Medium subsequently took down. She now posts on Telegram.


Anonymous at 3:35 PM on September 1, 2020 | #17725 | reply | quote

Twitter Shadowbanned Me

I'm shadowbanned on Twitter via reply deboosting.

Found via https://shadowban.eu/curi42

If you go to private browsing windows (so you're logged out) you'll have to hit "Show more replies" to see my replies to these tweets. That's the kind of barrier that probably prevents over 80% of people from seeing my tweet who would otherwise see it:

https://twitter.com/DPiepgrass/status/1298344518819799040

https://twitter.com/AmandaAskell/status/1297669947217203201

I don't know the extent of the issue. E.g. maybe hidden replies don't create a notification for the person I replied to.

I checked some other accounts. Also shadowbanned:

@ZEinternetrules

Not shadowbanned:

@patio11

@ggreisman

@ESYudkowsky

@j_mallone

@alan_forrester

@stucchio

@_khaaan

@UE_UpperEchelon

I'm being specifically targeted in a way that most accounts aren't, including political right wing accounts.


curi at 10:33 PM on September 1, 2020 | #17740 | reply | quote

#17740 I'm thinking I should now reduce Twitter usage, e.g. stop retweeting things. Objections, criticism, etc?


curi at 9:36 AM on September 2, 2020 | #17749 | reply | quote

#17749 I looked through you Twitter. I don't use Twitter so I might be missing crucial things.

Does not look like you engage much on Twitter anyway except to retweet others or advertise your vids/blog.

If someone slightly disagrees with you, you don't engage but link your debate policy. So clearly you're not looking to reply much anyway.

The reply deboost won't make much difference to you.

Have you objectively analyzed how much of your audience comes from Twitter? Have you objectively analyzed how much time you spend on Twitter and its cost to you?


Anonymous at 11:15 AM on September 2, 2020 | #17760 | reply | quote

On 2020-09-02, @AntifaWatch2 posted on Twitter:

> Discover has terminated acceptance with http://GiveSendGo.com, a Christian fundraising website following them allowing campaign for Kyle Rittenhouse.

> Discover supports http://fundrazr.com which has a running campaign for a man who threw bricks at police during riots...

> Discover supports @gofundme, who's OWN employees donated to a man arrested at riot by the ATF with molotov cocktails.

@AntifaWatch2 provided links with evidence for each claim.


Fuck Discover at 12:04 PM on September 2, 2020 | #17763 | reply | quote

curi at 12:18 PM on September 2, 2020 | #17764 | reply | quote

curi at 2:27 PM on September 2, 2020 | #17765 | reply | quote

Kyle Rittenhouse lead defense lawyer John Pierce locked out of Twitter over tweet advocating for his client, *Reclaim the Net* (September 3, 2020) :

> Twitter locked the account of John Pierce, the lead defense lawyer for Kyle Rittenhouse, over a tweet comparing Rittenhouse to the “unknown patriot” who fired the opening shot of the Battle of Concord on April 19th, 1775 that started the American Revolutionary War.

Tangent: my understanding, from Paul Revere's Ride, is that it's disputed whether a Patriot or a Redcoat fired the first shot in the War of Independence. Both sides supposedly intended to fire only when fired upon.

> After the restrictions on his account were lifted, Pierce tweeted:

>> “I am back from the Twitter penalty box. Twitter has now censored TWO of Kyle Rittenhouse’s lawyers. Myself and @LLinWood. I would like to thank Jack Dorsey for handing us yet another lawsuit.”

Is it wise to announce one's intention to sue under these circumstances? Maybe it'd be better to simply file suit (once you're ready).


Anonymous at 9:13 PM on September 3, 2020 | #17787 | reply | quote

YouTube takes down Thunderf00t video again. That's the third one recently. He's a scientist and YouTube is specifically taking down videos where he scientifically debunks (including with video taped experiments) *coronavirus misinformation*.

This is an escalation compared to YouTube's more typical policy of demonetizing tons of stuff from a lot of the people I think are worth watching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z1KgNqsN3s


curi at 9:17 PM on September 3, 2020 | #17788 | reply | quote

#17788 Are there any good alternatives to YT that you know of?

By good I mean 1) does not block / remove videos in similar manner as YT *and* 2) has ppl with good ideas posting on a regular basis.


nikluk at 10:13 PM on September 3, 2020 | #17789 | reply | quote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmsVT95sdfE

More on YouTube deleting videos which *debunk* coronavirus misinformation.


curi at 12:24 PM on September 6, 2020 | #17886 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/reciaimthenet/status/1303009891955740672?s=21 :

> Twitter suspended another account after getting retweeted by @realDonaldTrump. A RT from the President seems to significantly increase the chances of it being banned within 24 hrs.


Anonymous at 9:48 AM on September 7, 2020 | #17902 | reply | quote

#17902 Apparently, the tweet that Trump retweeted dealt with black crime statistics: https://www.nationalistreview.net/2020/09/07/video-internet-censors-purge-posts-shared-by-president-trump-detailing-african-american-crime-statistics/

The tweet was effectively deleted when the poster was suspended by Twitter.


Anonymous at 9:56 AM on September 7, 2020 | #17903 | reply | quote

#17902 Even if it doesn't get direct attention from any Trump-hating Twitter staff, a Trump retweet probably leads to more flags/reports.


curi at 10:10 AM on September 7, 2020 | #17904 | reply | quote

Twitter has "search shadowbanned" Rittenhouse attorney @LLinwood: https://reclaimthenet.org/lin-wood-username-shadowbanned-twitter-search/

If you search Twitter for "from:llinwood", you won't get any results unless you already follow him.


Anonymous at 8:19 PM on September 8, 2020 | #17937 | reply | quote

On Sep 5, 2020, two French journalists were suspended from Instagram after they shared cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

https://reclaimthenet.org/instagram-suspends-accounts-of-two-charlie-hebdo-journalists/ :

> On Twitter, Daussy said:

> “My Instagram account has been deactivated. The last photo I posted was the front page of Charlie Hebdo.”

> Daussy acknowledged that sharing the photo was the most likely reason for the suspension but she also touted mass reporting, which she described as a new method of censorship.


Anonymous at 8:32 PM on September 8, 2020 | #17938 | reply | quote

Facebook suppressed and labeled as false a video of Tucker interviewing a chinese scientist who claims Coronavirus came from a lab https://www.zerohedge.com/political/facebook-censors-tucker-carlsons-interview-rogue-chinese-scientist


Anonymous at 6:09 PM on September 16, 2020 | #18048 | reply | quote

#18048 It's currently watchable on YT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFlqXPl_hZQ


Anonymous at 6:20 PM on September 16, 2020 | #18049 | reply | quote

Twitter's Photo Cropping Algorithm

https://twitter.com/skrossa/status/1308155753115480065

> Twitter has a cropping algorithm for displaying previews of images that prefers to center white faces over Black faces… and apparently pictures with lots of cleavage over those without.

Examples:

https://twitter.com/JeffFromRegina/status/1307903677290561536

https://twitter.com/sina_rawayama/status/1307506452786016257

The point is to show Twitter doesn't crop to the person on top in an image with two people. It crops to the boobs or white guy over the non-boobs or black guy. In the white/black example they tried doing 3 images: one guy top and bottom, other in middle. Trying it both ways (black in middle or black top and bottom) it crops to white guy regardless.


curi at 4:01 PM on September 21, 2020 | #18104 | reply | quote

oh my god it's turpentine at 3:10 AM on September 26, 2020 | #18135 | reply | quote

n at 7:00 AM on September 29, 2020 | #18172 | reply | quote

AP recommends reporters stop using the term “riot”

AP recommends reporters stop using the term “riot”, *Reclaim the Net* (2020-10-02):

> The AP Stylebook, often regarded as the go-to resource for learning about the accepted norms of English-language media, is now attempting to change the definition of the word “riot.”

> Acknowledging the dictionary meaning of the word, which is “wild or violent disturbance of the peace,” AP suggests that the word can’t be used for “stigmatizing” the groups that are protesting for the sake of “racial justice.”


Anonymous at 9:20 PM on October 2, 2020 | #18219 | reply | quote

#16577 I think my goal is to discuss the issue to a conclusion. (The conclusion could be that I'm not yet competent enough to discuss the issue.)


Alisa at 7:30 PM on October 5, 2020 | #18240 | reply | quote

#18240 What sort of conclusion? What is your goal within the discussion?


Anonymous at 11:01 PM on October 5, 2020 | #18242 | reply | quote

YouTuber gets a strike for posting a video of a doctor being arrested at a protest in London:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y8PTRouF5o


oh my god it's turpentine at 11:27 PM on October 5, 2020 | #18243 | reply | quote

#18242 I would like to discuss to a conclusion two issues on which I disagree with Anon about the comment by Mr. Delzer from #15443:

> Mr. Delzer, the proprietor of a secondhand store in Nashville called Defunct Books, has a different view. “If Amazon executives are so proud of their moral high ground, they should issue memos about which books they are banning instead of keeping sellers and readers in the dark,” he said.

1. Whether it "rekt" Amazon, as Anon wrote in #15443. I questioned this in #15444.

2. Whether it is a "self-contained argument", as Anon wrote in #15445. I argued against this in #15812 and #16575 + #16576.


Alisa at 5:49 PM on October 6, 2020 | #18246 | reply | quote

#18246 How did you reach the conclusion that you want to do that?


Anonymous at 6:13 PM on October 6, 2020 | #18248 | reply | quote

#18248

For reaching conclusions on my own, I generally don't use methods that I know how to explain in words. I tend to just go by intuition. The conclusion you asked about is no exception.


Alisa at 8:21 PM on October 7, 2020 | #18254 | reply | quote

British banks banning dissidents

https://twitter.com/akarlin88/status/1314185915883978752 :

> Western dissident sphere should no longer take having a bank account for granted (joining Uber, Airbnb, PayPal, donation platforms, web services, etc).

That tweet quotes the following tweet by @MarkACollett :

> Today I was informed by my bank, HSBC, that they will no longer provide me with banking services. @thisislaurat faced the same situation last week when Santander closed her account. This is clearly a coordinated effort to silence those who speak out against demographic change.

@MarkACollett describes himself on Twitter as:

> British political activist and the author of The Fall of Western Man. http://thefallofwesternman.com


Anonymous at 8:07 PM on October 8, 2020 | #18258 | reply | quote

If you search for #obamagate on Twitter, Twitter falsely says there are “No results”.

Twitter hides all search results for the “Obamagate” hashtag, *Reclaim the Net* (2020-10-08):

> Twitter is hiding hashtag search results related to “Obamagate” – a common reference to the FBI’s secret surveillance of the Trump campaign under the Obama administration in 2016.

> The Obamagate story has topped the news cycle several times over the last few years. It was pushed to the forefront again this week after President Trump ordered the declassification of all documents pertaining to the Russia collusion allegations that triggered the FBI investigation into his campaign. Vice President Mike Pence also brought up the topic of the FBI spying on the Trump campaign during Wednesday’s vice presidential debate.

> Data from Twitter hashtags analysis website hashtags.org estimates that the #obamagate hashtag is being used thousands of times per hour.


Anonymous at 1:40 PM on October 9, 2020 | #18267 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/johnstossel/status/1315405312829149185?s=21

John Stossel’s video on the impact of forest management on CA’s wildfire situation was censored by Facebook for being misleading. The “fact check” misquotes Stossel’s video badly, and two of the people the fact checker listed as reviewers admitted they never even watched Stossel’s video!


Anonymous at 10:36 PM on October 11, 2020 | #18293 | reply | quote

#18293 text version of the video: https://www.johnstossel.com/fake-fact-checking/

Seems to follow the video fairly closely.


Anonymous at 10:45 PM on October 11, 2020 | #18295 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/RitaPanahi/status/1316533418432159744

A little cut off cuz twitter is bad at displaying images that crop poorly (and meanwhile makes people use them a ton due to lack of alternatives). You can click through and view the images individually but they're pretty readable this way.

@stucchio comments:

> These are the people who claim to fairly evaluate the suppression of stories about Biden abusing his power to help his crack addict son.


curi at 1:48 PM on October 15, 2020 | #18316 | reply | quote

Twitter claims they are suppressing the Hunter Biden story because the info was obtained without authorization. But they didn't suppress the Trump tax returns leak story.


curi at 1:49 PM on October 15, 2020 | #18317 | reply | quote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd4U1owjcVw

Tim mentions that google search blacklisted his YT channel (1.15 million subs) a while ago.

I tried searching timcast and tim pool and google wouldn't show his YT channel. The searches worked on duck duck go.


curi at 1:50 PM on October 18, 2020 | #18352 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/AlexBerenson/status/1317952825075355649

> Dude has a Nobel Prize. And he’s not allowed to speak at a conference on a field he helped invent.

> Because Covid.

> Cancel culture’s come a long way, baby.

The guy is a computational biologist, who was going to give a non-covid-related talk, but elsewhere questioned the cost/benefit ratio of some anti-covid policies.


curi at 11:18 AM on October 19, 2020 | #18356 | reply | quote

Project Veritas on Google playing god

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9uT8zve9wk&

> Google Program Manager: Google "Trying to Play God" via "Drivers of Algorithms" In 2020 Election


Anonymous at 9:34 PM on October 19, 2020 | #18364 | reply | quote

Discord starts shutting down communities for “misinformation”

Tom Parker, Discord starts shutting down communities for “misinformation”, *Reclaim the Net* (2020-10-21):

> Conversations within closed, non-public groups are no longer safe from censorship.

> After public-facing social media platforms have aggressively censored what they deem to be misinformation throughout 2020, community chat app Discord is now starting to follow in their footsteps and implementing similar crackdowns, even for private chat communities.

> Ice Age Farmer, a community which its owner says was dedicated to “gardening, preps, seed saving, canning, alternative construction & greenhouses channels,” has been purged from Discord “for the spread of misinformation.”


Alisa at 7:25 PM on October 21, 2020 | #18377 | reply | quote

Twitter bans user for saying “only females get cervical cancer”

Naga Pramod, Twitter bans user for saying “only females get cervical cancer”, *Reclaim the Net* (2020-10-21):

> Twitter is now accused of banning users over tweets that are stating biological facts. An account that stated “only females get cervical cancer” ended up getting banned. Apparently the tweet was violating Twitter’s “rules against hateful conduct.”


Alisa at 7:28 PM on October 21, 2020 | #18378 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/BretWeinstein/status/1319355932388675584

Facebook disabled Bret Weinstein's account without explanation. He's part of the "Intellectual Dark Web" (IDW) with e.g. Sam Harris and Jordan Peterson. IDW (like LW and SSC) is roughly center left people who are willing to have civil debates with the right, and agree with some right ideas associated with the right, instead of just hatefully yell at everything connected to the right. The left but not hard left position is reasonably common among Silicon Valley people who are into "rationality". Some of those people aren't woke SJWs, and oppose cancel culture! That's too right wing for many leftists to put up with, as we also saw with the NYT's interest in doxing Scott Alexander.


curi at 1:53 PM on October 22, 2020 | #18386 | reply | quote

A somewhat off topic: google are rejecting some ads (run by an Australian company targeting Australians on Australian specific things; though that's not maybe not obvious unless the reviewer watches the whole video) on these grounds:

https://files.fish.xk.io/ga-election-advertising-usa-aus.png

The "policy" link goes here: https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/6014595?hl=en#700


Max at 1:04 PM on October 23, 2020 | #18444 | reply | quote

Timcast IRL - Facebook Whistleblower In Studio EXPOSES Election Interference And Censorship

Lots of specific stories and details about what Facebook moderators do.


curi at 9:29 PM on October 23, 2020 | #18460 | reply | quote

https://thecritic.co.uk/the-left-wing-bias-of-wikipedia/

> Wikipedia’s list of deprecated sources currently contains 16 right-leaning sources: Breitbart, the Daily Caller, the Daily Mail, the Daily Star, the Epoch Times, FrontPage Magazine, the Gateway Pundit, Infowars, LifeSiteNews, News of the World, One America News Network, the Sun, Taki’s Magazine, VDare, WorldNetDaily, and Zero Hedge – and just one left-leaning source, Occupy Democrats.

Meanwhile (from the article) wikipedia has around 2400 links to Daily Kos.


curi at 1:35 PM on October 24, 2020 | #18469 | reply | quote

Wikipedia redirects Hunter Biden email controversy to some Trump and Ukraine stuff:

https://twitter.com/DoppelMark/status/1319431516108173312

some more anti-wikipedia info here:

https://twitter.com/DoppelMark/status/1318279900638416896


curi at 1:37 PM on October 24, 2020 | #18470 | reply | quote

Twitter is censoring the video Biden touching girls compilation

People are saying you get your account locked if you tweet it or you may get the option to delete your tweet.


Anonymous at 2:24 PM on October 27, 2020 | #18511 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1321869227226222593

Co-founder of The Intercept resigns after editors refuse to publish his article unless all criticism of Biden is removed.


curi at 12:54 PM on October 29, 2020 | #18529 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/stucchio/status/1321783546692964354

FYI, Twitch has been owned by Amazon for years.


curi at 1:14 PM on October 29, 2020 | #18532 | reply | quote

http://blog.archive.org/2020/10/30/fact-checks-and-context-for-wayback-machine-pages/

Internet Archive to add fact checks by, e.g., Politifact, to its archived web pages.


Anonymous at 2:30 PM on October 30, 2020 | #18540 | reply | quote

https://reclaimthenet.org/mailchimp-misinformation-censorship/

> Mailchimp … outlines right to ban users for “inaccurate” content


Anonymous at 2:34 PM on October 30, 2020 | #18542 | reply | quote

Banks are closing people's accounts (sometimes with no warning or explanation) for their political views:

https://unherd.com/2020/10/how-corporations-can-delete-your-existence/


curi at 3:03 PM on October 30, 2020 | #18543 | reply | quote

I found this site via a google search (for "champers") and saw they have this notice up:

> Google has been penalizing this site in its search rankings for years and a Google employee lied about it. Since they have almost killed this site, I am going to start releasing details on Monday August 17 of my conversation with the Google employee who told me about the penalty in secret. This will culminate in my release of an MBOX file including full headers. More here.

I don't know what the update frequency is but the last update to the linked page was 13th October 2020.

There is a *lot* of details by the looks. Several sections are collapsed by default. It looks like ~4800 words in full.

The editor's been collecting data and analytics since 2007 and shows some graphs that suggest google has been actively penalising the site since 2011.


Max at 9:13 PM on November 8, 2020 | #18588 | reply | quote

#18588 I read most of it. It's awful. Thanks for sharing.

I'm not sure if you're aware by Google has been penalizing curi.us and presumably my other sites for years in various ways. I've noticed it when searching for specific articles doesn't work but does work on other search engines. Some of the penalized pages contain politically sensitive content, e.g. claims about IQ and race (I happen to be on basically the same side as google on that issue, but I think their algorithm can't tell, and meanwhile it *can* see e.g. "positive statements about trump on the domain; page says stuff about IQ and genes"). I also found that google was heavily penalizing pages for having comments linking to project veritas youtube videos (i assume that you can go to any blog, link veritas in comments, and get their page penalized by google – it certainly works in an automated fashion on this site including on decade old posts, which i tested both by adding and removing comments with veritas links and watching the search penalties appear and disappear)


curi at 9:33 PM on November 8, 2020 | #18589 | reply | quote

https://reclaimthenet.org/gofundme-deletes-fundraiser-for-election-fraud/ (November 7, 2020)

> GoFundMe has removed a fundraiser page for an analyst who wanted to raise funds to investigate possible election fraud in the presidential race. The fundraiser platform claimed he was spreading misleading information.


Anonymous at 6:07 PM on November 9, 2020 | #18599 | reply | quote

a law firm representing the Trump campaign withdrew in Pennsylvania election case:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/13/trump-law-firm-withdraws-pennsylvania-election-case


Anonymous at 11:06 AM on November 13, 2020 | #18633 | reply | quote

AirBnB cancelled the reservation of a person who planned on attending Trump rally cuz some left wing twitter activist complained


Anonymous at 9:33 AM on November 15, 2020 | #18670 | reply | quote

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/11/15/the-treehouse-is-deplatformed/

The Conservative Treehouse, linked in FI newsletter #4, says:

> CTH is being kicked-off the WordPress website hosting platform because the content of our research and discussion does not align with the ideology of those who define what is acceptable speech and what is not.


Anonymous at 9:49 AM on November 15, 2020 | #18671 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/lukerosiak/status/1328170513332572160 :

> Mailchimp, a common email delivery service, has refused to provide service to the Northern Virginia Tea Party, citing that it violates their terms of agreement about "potential... misinformation." It had attempted to notify members about a recount rally.


Anonymous at 8:00 PM on November 15, 2020 | #18686 | reply | quote

#18692 Awful. But also why the hell were they (still) using wordpress? What is wrong with them? They should have been able to se this coming for at least the last couple years.


curi at 7:01 PM on November 16, 2020 | #18693 | reply | quote

https://reclaimthenet.org/twitter-shadowbanning-rudy-giuliani-sidney-powell/ :

> Twitter caught shadowbanning Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell tweets from its search results

> A Twitter search for the latest tweets from either Giuliani or Powell returns no results.

> Searching for the exact text from their tweets also returns no results.


Anonymous at 9:57 PM on November 17, 2020 | #18710 | reply | quote

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/youtube-suspends-pro-trump-news-network-oann-completely-demonetizes-channel-over-covid-19 :

> YouTube has suspended the One America News Network from posting new content for one week and has completely demonetized the channel, after the pro-Trump news network reportedly uploaded a video touting a non-approved 'cure' for COVID-19.

> If OANN wants to re-monetize the channel, they will need to re-apply to YouTube's Partner Program. If they receive two more strikes, their account will be terminated.

According to the Epoch Times:

> … the video was not made public on YouTube and was unlisted on the platform “for review by internal OAN staff only.”


Anonymous at 12:15 PM on November 25, 2020 | #18854 | reply | quote

https://reclaimthenet.org/youtube-removes-tom-woods-covid-cult-video/ (November 25, 2020):

> YouTube has removed New York Times best-selling author and libertarian podcast host Tom Woods’ “The COVID Cult” video for violating its increasingly strict “medical misinformation” rules.

> The video featured a talk Woods gave at the Mises Institute’s November 7 Symposium with Ron Paul. Woods said that it had racked up almost 1.5 million views before it was purged by YouTube.


Anonymous at 4:17 PM on November 25, 2020 | #18857 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1331756986707415040 (Nov 25, 2020):

> BREAKING: Twitter has suspended COL @dougmastriano after leading the PA Senate Hearing today about election fraud

> His Senate acct is here: @SenMastriano

Mastriano is a PA state senator (not a member of the U.S. Senate). His PA Senate Twitter account is still active.

Here's a link to the PA senate hearings by RSBN. That video has over 950,000 views as of right now. And I think YouTube is somewhat conservative about recording views. Like, you have to watch most of the video, I think, in order for it to count as a view. And that video is almost 4 hours long!


Anonymous at 6:19 PM on November 25, 2020 | #18858 | reply | quote

#18858 You think 950,000 ppl watched 3+ hours of that video? You should google how YouTube counts views instead of making up something unrealistic.


Anonymous at 6:22 PM on November 25, 2020 | #18859 | reply | quote

Anon wrote:

> You think 950,000 ppl watched 3+ hours of that video?

Yeah, I did think that.

Anon continued:

> You should google how YouTube counts views instead of making up something unrealistic.

The former method sounds more effective than the latter. I did a web search for [how does youtube count views] and one of the first hits was https://www.tubics.com/blog/what-counts-as-a-view-on-youtube/ :

> YouTube view is only counted when the following two criteria apply:

> - A user intentionally initiates the watching of a video.

> - The user watches it on the platform for at least 30 seconds.

Wow. That's pretty far from what I thought.


Anonymous at 8:39 PM on November 25, 2020 | #18861 | reply | quote

#18861 My standards for believing ideas are too low. Any belief of mine that I would qualify with "I think" is not reliable.

I qualified my false statement about how YouTube counts views (from #18858) with a few "I thinks":

> And *I think* YouTube is somewhat conservative about recording views. Like, you have to watch most of the video, *I think*, in order for it to count as a view.

Here's my takeaway. Suppose there's an idea for which all of the following are true:

- I'm somewhat confident, but not fully confident, in the idea – e.g., if I qualify it with "I think"

- the idea is something that can readily be looked up

- I have time to look up the idea

Then I should look up the idea instead of just believing it.


Anonymous at 7:11 PM on November 26, 2020 | #18866 | reply | quote

#18866 Correction: In my comment #18866, emphasis was added by me to the text I quoted from #18858.


Anonymous at 7:13 PM on November 26, 2020 | #18867 | reply | quote

#18866 I agree with your proposed method, mostly. "have time to look up the idea" is a bit ambiguous, esp for big things, but I think I get your meaning.

I use "I think" and "I guess" to separate ideas based on whether I would and wouldn't be surprised if they were wrong. I've also started hooking "I imagine" and replacing it with "I guess" if I'm not actually imagining things.

I aim for instances of "I think" to be reliable, but not instances of "I guess". Tho "reliable" is ambiguous w/o qualification.


Max at 7:28 PM on November 26, 2020 | #18868 | reply | quote

Sidney Powell’s Website Apparently Blocked by Twitter, *The Epoch Times* (November 26, 2020):

> A website belonging to former federal prosecutor Sidney Powell, who recently filed lawsuits on behalf of President Donald Trump alleging election fraud, appear to have been blocked by Twitter.

> When one tries to share the link, defendingtherepublic.org, or includes it in a direct message, the social media website says: “Something went wrong, but don’t fret—let’s give it another shot.”

> Another message toward the bottom of the screen adds: “We can’t complete this request because this link has been identified by Twitter or our partners as being potentially harmful. Visit our Help Center to learn more.” The message doesn’t elaborate on why the website is “potentially harmful” and doesn’t identify who “our partners” might be.

The website would appear to be important for Powell's legal fundraising efforts. Preventing people from sharing the link on Twitter harms those efforts.

People are trying to evade the censorship by sharing modified forms of the URL, e.g.:

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1331973607967371271 :

> Whatever you do, don't go to

> defendingtherepublic dot org

https://twitter.com/ElijahSchaffer/status/1332043991492272128 :

> Please never go to the website “defendingtherepublic . org”

Below are some thoughts on the timing of this and other recent Twitter censorship.

Twitter suspended Sydney Powell (@SidneyPowell1) around the time the Trump legal team announced that she was "practicing law on her own" and she announced her own website. This interfered with her ability to raise funds and gain followers at a crucial time when people would have been searching for her posts on Twitter and wanting to follow her.

Similarly, Twitter blocking the personal account (@DougMastriano) of PA state senator Doug Mastriano, just when he was generating so much interest due to the hearings on election fraud that he led, interfered with his ability to gain followers at a time when people would have been interested to follow him. Right after yesterday's hearings, I followed his official @SenMastriano account when he had around 20k followers. That account now has over 100k followers. I bet his personal account would also have seen a bump if people had been allowed to follow it, but you can't follow a suspended account.


Anonymous at 7:33 PM on November 26, 2020 | #18869 | reply | quote

#18869 This reminds me of *The Big Short*. The end of the movie version gives very short statements about what happened next for each group of characters. For one it basically says "so then we tried to sue the financial ratings agencies [for the egregious misconduct that played a huge role in the movie] but no lawyer would take our case [because they are powerful, not because of the lack of legal merit of the case]".

It also reminds me of Less Wrong, Reddit, Hacker News, etc.: sites that use a karma/voting system so long as you don't make waves much, but if you push too much it turns out that system is not actually how things are run. It's just the facade that is used to trick people and make stuff seem more grass roots, community generated, etc., than it actually is. But there are hidden power structures, which are lied about, which are used when needed (from pov of the ppl who want things they don't want to publicly admit to trying to control).

Despite this, Reddit works OK in some ways. The US legal system also works OK in some ways. Often it works pretty well. But the standard rules don't apply to everyone. Hillary Clinton gets off. Jeffrey Epstein gets murdered instead of getting his trial. And attempts to use the legal system to protect the integrity of the election are suppressed.


curi at 8:17 PM on November 26, 2020 | #18870 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/evanakilgore/status/1333545991333679110?s=21 (Nov 30, 2020):

> Bobby Piton, a man who gave an account of statistical fraud in Arizona moments ago, has been SUSPENDED from Twitter.

> I'm sure this was another Twitter "mistake," just like @dougmastriano.

> It's SO obvious Twitter censors political voices they disagree with.

It looks like the suspended account is @BobbyPiton.


Anonymous at 4:38 PM on November 30, 2020 | #18904 | reply | quote

#18904 got a link to the censored analysis?


Anonymous at 4:52 PM on November 30, 2020 | #18905 | reply | quote

I think the trigger was Pitton's testimony in the AZ vote fraud hearing today. You can't link directly to a timestamp in a YouTube livestream, and, as of this post, the hearing is still going on, so scroll to 4:43 PM ET (timestamp in lower-left corner) in this stream from RSBN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rri6flxaXww


Anonymous at 5:05 PM on November 30, 2020 | #18907 | reply | quote

*Piton


Anonymous at 5:05 PM on November 30, 2020 | #18908 | reply | quote

#18907 I watched his presentation. Seemed pretty good.


curi at 8:56 PM on November 30, 2020 | #18910 | reply | quote

#18910 https://youtu.be/rri6flxaXww?t=24324

just like a minute ago from that timestamp another lady was saying how the Dominion voting machines were so bad and untested that people weren't sure they could handle all the votes so they restarted and zeroed them out like 3 times during the election. (they wrote down the vote totals before resetting the machines. they weren't just deleting votes. but still wtf)


curi at 8:59 PM on November 30, 2020 | #18911 | reply | quote

Wikipedia bans Newsmax as a “reliable” source after election coverage (December 2, 2020):

> Wikipedia is accused of conducting a purge of conservative media outlets, rejecting them as reliable sources of reporting about the integrity of the US presidential election, as it continues to ban these outlets from being used in that capacity.

> The latest example is Newsmax, a news platform that has been gaining in popularity after the vote, as President Trump has been critical of some other conservative media reporting about election fraud that he and his legal team claim has happened.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources/Perennial_sources :

> Newsmax was deprecated by snowball clause consensus in the November 2020 RfC. Concerns of editors included that Newsmax lacks adherence to journalistic standards, launders propaganda, promulgates misinformation, promotes conspiracy theories and false information for political purposes, and promotes medical misinformation such as COVID-19-related falsehoods, conspiracy theories, and anti-vaccination propaganda.

Newsmax is shown in that table in red, like Breitbart (which I remember was banned previously).


Anonymous at 5:55 PM on December 2, 2020 | #18936 | reply | quote

https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/supporting-the-2020-us-election/ (2020-12-09):

> Yesterday was the safe harbor deadline for the U.S. Presidential election and enough states have certified their election results to determine a President-elect. Given that, we will start removing any piece of content uploaded today (or anytime after) that misleads people by alleging that widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, in line with our approach towards historical U.S. Presidential elections. For example, we will remove videos claiming that a Presidential candidate won the election due to widespread software glitches or counting errors.


Anonymous at 7:55 AM on December 9, 2020 | #19110 | reply | quote

#19110 @SelimSeesYou tweeted:

> They didn’t have this take in 2016. “Trump is past the safe harbor date. He won. Any talk (*cough* Mueller *cough*) that he didn’t legitimately win the election will be removed.”


Anonymous at 10:54 AM on December 9, 2020 | #19117 | reply | quote

curi at 10:58 AM on December 9, 2020 | #19118 | reply | quote

Lauren Southern vid on how google has contractors derank pages in political biased ways, using the media, wikipedia and left wing groups as guideposts for what's acceptable https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UspdphbJAvI&feature=emb_title


Anonymous at 3:07 PM on December 10, 2020 | #19125 | reply | quote

#19118 RSBN will stop streaming most Trump events on YouTube due to recent rule change on election content, *Reclaim the Net* (2020-12-10):

> Right Side Broadcasting Network (RSBN), an independent news network that has built an audience of over 1 million subscribers on YouTube, has announced that it will no longer be streaming most events on YouTube due to a recent controversial rule change that prohibits videos alleging “widespread voter fraud or errors” changed the outcome of the 2020 US presidential election.

> Over the last five years, RSBN has become one of the go-to sources for live, on the grounds coverage of President Trump’s rallies and speeches and other conservative events. But because of this YouTube rule change, simply broadcasting Trump’s rallies or covering the ongoing legal challenges to the election results puts RSBN’s content at risk of being deleted.

> In its announcement, RSBN wrote that it will stop streaming most events on YouTube because of this rule change and described it as a “sad day.” For now, RSBN is encouraging its YouTube subscribers to watch the broadcasts on Facebook or Twitter.


Anonymous at 8:49 PM on December 10, 2020 | #19127 | reply | quote

On 2020-12-12, Walter Olson (bio: author, affiliated with Cato Institute) tweeted :

> New Facebook hate speech policy dispenses with treating groups alike; algorithm will no longer auto-delete slurs or contemptuous comments aimed at "whites," "men" or "Americans" as groups, while auto-policing will continue for other group slurs. [@VolokhC]

Olson's tweet links to this article: Facebook Discriminating Against Whites, Males, Americans in Its "Hate Speech" Policy, *Reason* (2020-12-07)


Anonymous at 10:28 PM on December 11, 2020 | #19135 | reply | quote

From VDare email newsletter

> Second, I have to report some very bad news: on Friday morning, our payment processor of several years standing abruptly sent us an email announcing that because of "violations" of its Service agreement, which it did not specify, it intends to stop working with us after Sunday, December 13.

> At this point, I do not know if VDARE.com will be able to process credit card donations beyond that date.

> We all know that these are dark days for America. This is further proof.

> Right now, I must implore you: if you were intending to make a donation to VDARE.com before the year’s end to take advantage of the tax deduction, and wanted to use a credit card, please do so immediately.

> We will always accept snail-mailed checks and money orders to PO Box 211, Litchfield CT 06759. Cryptocurrency addresses are also available at VDARE.com/donate.


Anonymous at 5:10 AM on December 12, 2020 | #19136 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/news_ntd/status/1337873614725656587 :

> #YouTube has removed 2 new ads from the @realDonaldTrump campaign, which allege widespread #Corruption in the #2020Election and call on #Voters to contact state legislators “to demand a free and fair election.

The tweet links to this story: https://www.ntd.com/youtube-blocks-trump-campaigns-2-new-election-fraud-ads_539138.html


Anonymous at 1:47 PM on December 12, 2020 | #19147 | reply | quote

https://nypost.com/2020/12/13/northwestern-wipes-ex-lecturer-from-website-after-jill-biden-critique/

> Northwestern University wiped one of its former lecturers from the school’s website after he penned a controversial Wall Street Journal editorial arguing First Lady-elect Jill Biden shouldn’t use the title of “Dr.” before her name.

> Joseph Epstein had been listed as an “emeritus lecturer of English” on the school’s website earlier Saturday, but the page had vanished later in the day, journalist David Gura noted.

> The college also issued a statement saying it “strongly disagrees” with Epstein, who argued Biden should drop the title as she’s not a medical doctor.

> “Northwestern is firmly committed to equity, diversity and inclusion, and strongly disagrees with Mr. Epstein’s misogynistic views,” said the university, the Daily Northwestern reported.


Anonymous at 2:00 PM on December 13, 2020 | #19153 | reply | quote

Proposed US regulation would prevent financial services blacklisting for non-financial reasons, *Reclaim the Net* (2020-12-15):

> New rules are being drafted in the US to make sure that individuals and businesses are not targeted with financial blacklisting for reasons unrelated to finance – including for their political persuasions.

> The issue of banks blocking financial assets for political reasons is not a new problem in the US, having been present over the past five or so years, the frequency and severity of the problem causing organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) to speak up against the practice, especially in cases when banks and online payment processors acts as “de facto internet censors” – to aid in deplatforming individuals and organizations.

> If the current plans come to pass, this would be made much more difficult, with the authorities demanding that banks exercise both due diligence and sound judgment before succumbing to pressure, or seeking to avoid risk to their own business at any cost, disregarding interests of their clients both in instances of political interference, and because a customer might “fall into a category that on its face appears to carry an elevated level of risk.”

> Initiatives for this type of financial blacklisting often come from political opponents, activists, and media outlets reaching for financial blacklisting as a weapon.

Sounds like a good proposal. I hope it becomes law.


Anonymous at 9:38 PM on December 15, 2020 | #19175 | reply | quote

Tech & media censorship of claims/suggestions that there was fraud in the 2020 election (from an article posted on 2020-12-22):

> President Trump's attorney Jesse Binnall complained that his opening statement before a Senate Homeland Security hearing on election fraud was banned on YouTube.

> Fox News cut off Kayleigh McEnany when she began speaking about voter fraud. At least seven major TV networks cut off Donald Trump during a White House address in which he called the presidential race into question.


Anonymous at 8:08 PM on December 22, 2020 | #19225 | reply | quote

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2020/08/04/factcheck_sidebar_factcheck_sidebar_factcheck_sidebar_factcheck_sidebar__124710.html

> In announcing the formation of an independent oversight board with authority to allow or remove content from Facebook and Instagram, the board’s four co-chairs stressed the body’s diversity.

> “The board members come from different professional, cultural and religious backgrounds and have various political viewpoints,” they wrote in a New York Times op-ed on May 6. “Some of us have been publicly critical of Facebook; some of us haven’t.”

> Contemporaneous news articles reinforced this message, reporting that the board’s ideologically and geographically diverse members criss-cross the ideological spectrum.

> A closer look, however, reveals that 18 of its 20 members collaborated with or are tied to groups that have received funding from George Soros’ Open Society Foundations – which is one of the most well-funded and influential progressive organizations in the country.


Anonymous at 7:19 AM on December 26, 2020 | #19242 | reply | quote

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/jimmy-galligan-moral-monster-racism-mimi-stokes/

> The New York Times has a story about a young man, Jimmy Galligan, who is an example of the kind of moral monsters this culture of ours has created.

> His mother is black, his father white. He went to high school in Leesburg, Va. Four years ago, a girl in his class, Mimi Groves, used an antiblack racial slur in a Snapchat video lasting three seconds, and sent privately to a friend. Somebody showed him the clip. He saved it, and waited for his chance.

>> Mr. Galligan had not seen the video before receiving it last school year, when he and Ms. Groves were seniors. By then, she was a varsity cheer captain who dreamed of attending the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, whose cheer team was the reigning national champion. When she made the team in May, her parents celebrated with a cake and orange balloons, the university’s official color.

>> The next month, as protests were sweeping the nation after the police killing of George Floyd, Ms. Groves, in a public Instagram post, urged people to “protest, donate, sign a petition, rally, do something” in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

> You might think that Galligan would rejoice in the fact that his classmate, who as a freshman had used a racial slur, had changed, had matured, had become more sensitive. Nope. More:

>> “You have the audacity to post this, after saying the N-word,” responded someone whom Ms. Groves said she did not know.

>> Her alarm at the stranger’s comment turned to panic as friends began calling, directing her to the source of a brewing social media furor. Mr. Galligan, who had waited until Ms. Groves had chosen a college, had publicly posted the video that afternoon. Within hours, it had been shared to Snapchat, TikTok and Twitter, where furious calls mounted for the University of Tennessee to revoke its admission offer.

> The university forced Mimi Groves’s parents to withdraw her. She now lives at home with them and attends a community college


Anonymous at 4:31 PM on December 27, 2020 | #19267 | reply | quote

Louisiana police Lieutenant Brent Mason fired over social media posts, *Reclaim the Net* (2020-12-30):

> Another police officer has been removed from his position after public reaction to his social media posts. A police instructor with the Shreveport Police Department in Louisiana has been fired over a Facebook post, yet another case of a public servant being punished for expressing their opinions.

> On Monday, December 28, Shreveport Police Chief Ben Raymond fired Lieutenant Brent Mason over a Facebook post where Mason criticized civil rights activist Breka Peoples. Some interpreted the post as racist and called for him to be fired.

More #CancelCulture.


Anonymous at 9:20 PM on December 30, 2020 | #19322 | reply | quote

Scientific journals are going to shit

After causing Twitter outrage with recent paper, Nature Communications to review papers for “potential harm”, *Reclaim the Net* (2020-12-30):

> Nature Communications, a prominent science journal, has now revised its internal guidelines after a recently-published paper caused outrage on Twitter as it concluded that male mentors were a better fit for female students...

> After the Twitter outrage, going forward, Nature Communications will be considering “the dimension of potential harm” before publishing any paper.

On Sex and Gender, The New England Journal of Medicine Has Abandoned Its Scientific Mission, *Quillette* (2020-12-23):

> Two years ago, “Titania McGrath,” whose satirical Twitter account regularly skewers the ideological excesses of social-justice culture, suggested that “we should remove biological sex from birth certificates altogether to prevent any more mistakes.” [...]

> But the line between satire and sincerity has become blurry on this issue. Last Thursday, the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), widely considered to be the world’s most prestigious medical journal, published an article entitled *Failed Assignments—Rethinking Sex Designations on Birth Certificates*, arguing that (in the words of the abstract) “sex designations on birth certificates offer no clinical utility, and they can be harmful for intersex and transgender people.”


Anonymous at 9:23 PM on December 30, 2020 | #19323 | reply | quote

oh my god it's turpentine at 12:06 AM on January 5, 2021 | #19369 | reply | quote

https://sharylattkisson.com/2021/01/read-trump-lawyer-cancelled-from-her-law-firm/ :

> Top attorney Cleta Mitchell has announced she is leaving her law firm job, Foley & Lardner. Mitchell, who represents President Trump in his election integrity challenges, was recently overheard in a confidential call leaked to the press...

> Mitchell says once it became public that she was assisting President Trump in his election integrity challenges, enormous pressure was exerted to punish and "cancel" her.

Of the leak, attorney Robert Barnes wrote on Twitter:

> The leak was illegal by @GaSecofState b/c the call was a settlement conference which, by law in Georgia, must be kept confidential.


Anonymous at 9:14 PM on January 6, 2021 | #19388 | reply | quote

Facebook and Instagram censor Trump for the next two weeks

https://twitter.com/WyattDobrovich/status/1347209835842990085?s=20

> From Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg — Facebook & Instagram are “extending” the block on President Trump’s accounts “indefinitely” for the next two weeks until a peaceful transition of power has taken place

The tweet includes screenshots of the full statement by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (which you would otherwise have to log in to read).


Anonymous at 8:00 AM on January 7, 2021 | #19389 | reply | quote

#19389 You don't actually have to log in to Facebook to read Zuckerberg's statement. Here it is:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10112681480907401&id=4


Anonymous at 8:02 AM on January 7, 2021 | #19390 | reply | quote

#19390 https://www.wsj.com/articles/shopify-takes-trumpstore-com-offline-in-response-to-riot-11610035673 (https://archive.is/4cHxe) :

> Ecommerce websites run by the Trump campaign and Trump Organization were taken offline by Shopify, an ecommerce provider, in response to Wednesday’s riot in Washington, D.C.


Anonymous at 8:22 AM on January 7, 2021 | #19391 | reply | quote

Tim Pool tweeted:

> Youtube has just announced that due to the events of yesterday at the Capitol they are moving up the timeline on "election related misinformation" removals from the 20th to today

> Videos claiming widespread fraud or error altered the election will receive a strike and be removed


Anonymous at 8:28 AM on January 7, 2021 | #19392 | reply | quote

Facebook: Our Response to the Violence in Washington (Jan 6, 2021) :

> ... we have been searching for and removing the following content:

> - Praise and support of the storming of the US Capitol

> - Incitement or encouragement of the events at the Capitol, including videos and photos from the protestors. At this point they represent promotion of criminal activity which violates our policies.

> - Calls for protests — even peaceful ones — if they violate the curfew in DC

> .... we removed from Facebook and Instagram the recent video of President Trump speaking about the protests and his subsequent post about the election results. We made the decision that on balance these posts contribute to, rather than diminish, the risk of ongoing violence.

> Today we’re implementing several additional ones as well, including:

> - Increasing the requirement of Group admins to review and approve posts before they can go up

> - Automatically disabling comments on posts in Groups that start to have a high rate of hate speech or content that incites violence, and

> - Using AI to demote content that likely violates our policies

> We’re continuing to monitor the situation and will take additional measures if necessary to keep people safe.


Anonymous at 10:51 AM on January 7, 2021 | #19395 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/kotaku/status/1347262923052343297?s=21 :

> Twitch Suspends Trump's Channel To Prevent Him From Inciting 'Further Violence' bit.ly/3s5O6XN


Anonymous at 12:26 PM on January 7, 2021 | #19399 | reply | quote

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2020/11/30/wikipedia-blacklists-newsmax-following-post-election-popularity-boost/ :

> Wikipedia Blacklists Newsmax Following Post-Election Popularity Boost

> Newsmax has seen growing audiences at its online and televised news platforms since the disputed 2020 Presidential election amid President Donald Trump’s criticism of other conservative media coverage. After a Wikipedia editor suggested having the outlet treated as reliable, other editors responded by having Newsmax banned from use as a source for factual claims instead, partly citing its coverage of election fraud allegations, making it the latest conservative outlet banned on Wikipedia in an ongoing purge.


Anonymous at 12:31 PM on January 7, 2021 | #19400 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/brandonstraka/status/1347592064322719744?s=21 :

> 🚨🚨🚨FACEBOOK has removed the #WalkAway Campaign and has BANNED ME and EVERY MEMBER of my team!!!

Over half a million people in #WalkAway with hundreds of thousands of testimonial videos and stories is GONE. Facebook has banned everything related to #WalkAway.


Anonymous at 10:56 AM on January 8, 2021 | #19407 | reply | quote

#19407 both lines in the previous comment were a quote, I accidentally left out the quote mark on the second line.


Anonymous at 10:57 AM on January 8, 2021 | #19408 | reply | quote

Anonymous at 11:03 AM on January 8, 2021 | #19409 | reply | quote

#19408 Ugh, jfc.

People should stop relying on big tech and putting their content and audiences on sites like FB and Twitter!

Or at the very least run a nightly archiving script.


curi at 11:04 AM on January 8, 2021 | #19410 | reply | quote

https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-journalist-elijah-shaffer-banned-from-facebook-and-instagram (2021-01-08):

> Journalist Elijah Schaffer has been banned from Facebook and Instagram on Friday. He reported on Twitter that the two social media platforms, both of which are owned by Facebook, took down his profile and content.


Anonymous at 11:05 AM on January 8, 2021 | #19411 | reply | quote

https://torrentfreak.com/sci-hub-founder-criticises-sudden-twitter-ban-over-over-counterfeit-content-210108/ )202-01-08):

> Twitter Suspends Sci-Hub Permanently

> This morning, Sci-Hub founder Alexandra Elbakyan informed us that Twitter has suspended the site’s official account, which had over 185k followers and operated without notable issues for nine years. Elbakyan believes that it may be directly related to the legal action in India.


Anonymous at 12:35 PM on January 8, 2021 | #19415 | reply | quote

Trump is currently being deplatformed. Is Trump being debanked? Is his fundraising getting kicked off any sites or payment processors?

I saw something brief about it happening somewhere. Anyone have good info?


curi at 1:24 PM on January 8, 2021 | #19418 | reply | quote

Anonymous at 1:31 PM on January 8, 2021 | #19419 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1347660160806825984?s=21 :

> Apple is currently threatening to ban Parler -- the free speech alternative to Twitter -- unless the service enacts draconian censorship policies demanded by left-wing Big Tech oligarchs, according to two sources familiar with Apple's threats.


Anonymous at 1:52 PM on January 8, 2021 | #19421 | reply | quote

#19421 "If you don't like it, just compete with Twitter using the free market", they said.


curi at 2:23 PM on January 8, 2021 | #19422 | reply | quote

#19421

https://www.cnsnews.com/blog/rob-shimshock/exclusive-parler-ceo-responds-apples-reported-threat-kick-it-app-store

> But Matze indicated that the Twitter alternative would not amend its policies to appease the Big Tech company.

> "We plan on enforcing our [terms of service] and complying with law enforcement as we usually do," he told CNSNews. "Apple believes they are in a political position strong enough to protect their anti-competitive interests by enforcing their censorship onto people on Parler."

> "We will and always have enforced our rules against violence and illegal activity," Matze said in a subsequent Parler post. "But we WON'T cave to politically motivated companies and those authoritarians who hate free speech!"


Anonymous at 2:59 PM on January 8, 2021 | #19423 | reply | quote

Trump completely blocked from Twitter https://mobile.twitter.com/realdonaldtrump?lang=en


Anonymous at 3:29 PM on January 8, 2021 | #19425 | reply | quote

things coming fast and furious now


Anonymous at 3:29 PM on January 8, 2021 | #19426 | reply | quote

Anonymous at 4:04 PM on January 8, 2021 | #19427 | reply | quote

#19427 He should get it set up to mirror his posts on a bunch of platforms instead of picking one.


curi at 4:08 PM on January 8, 2021 | #19428 | reply | quote

Anonymous at 4:21 PM on January 8, 2021 | #19429 | reply | quote

#19425 Twitter's explanation of the permanban is laughable:

https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2020/suspension.html


Anonymous at 4:26 PM on January 8, 2021 | #19430 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/raheemkassam/status/1347697915117133824?s=21

> The War Room account has been deleted by YouTube.

That’s Steve Bannon’s show.


Anonymous at 4:41 PM on January 8, 2021 | #19431 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1347678701861949443?s=21

> BREAKING - Apple has given #Parler a 24 HOUR ULTIMATUM to implement a "moderation plan" or it's getting scrubbed from the app store.


Anonymous at 4:43 PM on January 8, 2021 | #19432 | reply | quote

#19432 I downloaded Parler on iOS ahead of the ban.

I tried to download Gab too but found out they were banned on iOS a while ago:

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2019/06/17/apple-bans-gab-from-app-development-after-company-makes-antitrust-case-to-doj/


curi at 4:51 PM on January 8, 2021 | #19433 | reply | quote

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damnatio_memoriae :

> Damnatio memoriae is a modern Latin phrase meaning "condemnation of memory", indicating that a person is to be excluded from official accounts. There are and have been many routes to damnatio memoriae, including the destruction of depictions, the removal of names from inscriptions and documents, and even large-scale rewritings of history. The term can be applied to other instances of official scrubbing; the practice is seen as long ago as the aftermath of the reign of the Egyptian Pharaohs Akhenaten in the 13th century BC, and Hatshepsut in the 14th century BC.


Anonymous at 4:52 PM on January 8, 2021 | #19434 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/spectatorindex/status/1347706213526511617 :

> BREAKING: Parler, which is popular with President Trump's supporters, has been removed from the Google Play Store.


Anonymous at 5:00 PM on January 8, 2021 | #19435 | reply | quote

#19433 Gab has long argued that it's more effective to exercise free speech on a web site than in a walled garden app, since apps are captive to the policies of the app store owners.


Anonymous at 5:02 PM on January 8, 2021 | #19436 | reply | quote

Twitter suspended Rush Limbaugh. https://twitter.com/RealRLimbaugh


Anonymous at 7:12 PM on January 8, 2021 | #19437 | reply | quote

#19437 some are claiming Limbaugh deleted it on his own, perhaps out of solidarity with Trump/disgust with Twitter


Anonymous at 7:23 PM on January 8, 2021 | #19438 | reply | quote

#19438 Thanks.

https://twitter.com/oliverdarcy/status/1347748221846773760?s=20 :

> A Twitter spokesperson tells me the company did not suspend Rush Limbaugh’s account. In other words, it appears Limbaugh (or someone acting on his behalf) deactivated it.


Anonymous at 7:39 PM on January 8, 2021 | #19439 | reply | quote

Now that the left is in power, I have a feeling they are going to treat conservative speech the same way the civilized world treats child sexual abuse material – as something evil, disgusting, and beyond the pale, something that no decent person would want to have any part of producing or distributing, even at the level of an ISP, a domain name provider, or a cloud compute provider. For an example of this, see how Sleeping Giants and AOC are going after AWS for offering cloud services to Parler:

> @googleplay has banned Parler and @apple has given them 24 hours to moderate their platform in full.

> No word from @amazon’s @awscloud which provides web services or registrar @DreamHost!


Anonymous at 11:46 PM on January 8, 2021 | #19449 | reply | quote

#19449 If they start deplatforming websites, web hosting and domain registrars, idk wtf I'll do. (Carry on anyway until repeatedly cancelled, I guess.)


curi at 12:31 AM on January 9, 2021 | #19450 | reply | quote

#19450 (I know they've already started that, but only a little bit so far. Just a few canaries.)


curi at 12:32 AM on January 9, 2021 | #19451 | reply | quote

https://gab.com/developers/posts/105524726510735555 :

> [...] It's currently 3AM at Gab HQ, with **5x normal daytime peak traffic**, which is *25x normal 3AM traffic*.

> We are pretty excited that the system is online, and have made numerous changes to address slowness during spikes like today's, and **much larger**.


Anonymous at 12:46 AM on January 9, 2021 | #19452 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/horowitz39/status/1347986411404754945

I was going to say Twitch banned Trump too, but then I realized their icon was there. I didn't recognize it at first because *there's no purple*.

Apparently Twitch also banned Trump temporarily in June 2020, too.

Twitch branding uses purple consistently:


curi at 11:28 AM on January 9, 2021 | #19455 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/aka_realdirty/status/1347957967619022848?s=21 :

> Delta airline landed a plane to remove these people because they was having a private conversation about supporting President Trump.

I haven’t verified the info in the tweet. A video is included.


Anonymous at 4:26 PM on January 9, 2021 | #19459 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/brandonstraka/status/1348036019095007232?s=21

> My email service has been cancelled by mail chimp and constant contact. Is anybody aware of a conservative run mass email service?

Brandon Straka is the founder of the #WalkAway organization.


Anonymous at 4:45 PM on January 9, 2021 | #19460 | reply | quote

#19407 https://twitter.com/chicksonright/status/1347910987022823427?s=21 :

> Pretty chilling what @BrandonStraka just said on FNC. It's not just that his page was pulled from FB. It's that every page admin/employee/contractor/associate of his page was pulled from FB PERSONALLY. What does that mean? Well...

> 2) It means that if you're a gig worker (videographer, editor, writer, etc.) and you were simply fulfilling a contract for a gig to earn a living, and you didn't even give a crap about what Brandon's page was all about, you just lost access to OTHER GIGS. Why? Well....

> 3) Because social media platforms are what connects us all to each other. If your personal page was the admin for your own business gig page, then your business gig page is gone too as a result. […]


Anonymous at 5:15 PM on January 9, 2021 | #19462 | reply | quote

#19460 https://twitter.com/brandonstraka/status/1348026448460861440 :

> Leftists have engaged in a coordinated attack on my email. They signed up then mass reported me for spam. My email service is now shut down. My Facebook is shut down.

> You’re kidding yourselves if u think we’re not experiencing a cold civil war. We’re being attacked & slaughtered.

More details from the #WalkAway guy. Elliot has talked about mass flagging before, but I never thought about mass signing up for a newsletter and then mass flagging it for spam!


Anonymous at 5:35 PM on January 9, 2021 | #19463 | reply | quote

#19463

Wow that's really dirty and seems really exploitable


Anonymous at 5:40 PM on January 9, 2021 | #19464 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/barnes_law/status/1348007865684959232 :

> Twitter should face a large class action claim from stockholders for their lies to the marketplace about censorship intentions.


Anonymous at 5:48 PM on January 9, 2021 | #19465 | reply | quote

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/09/apple-removes-parler-from-app-store-in-wake-of-us-capitol-riot.html :

> Apple removes Parler from App Store in wake of U.S. Capitol riot


Anonymous at 6:11 PM on January 9, 2021 | #19466 | reply | quote

#19449 Amazon Is Booting Parler Off Of Its Web Hosting Service, *Buzzfeed* (January 9, 2021, at 9:07 p.m. ET):

> Amazon's suspension of Parler's account means that unless it can find another host, once the ban takes effect on Sunday Parler will go offline.


Anonymous at 6:24 PM on January 9, 2021 | #19467 | reply | quote

Stripe Stops Processing Payments for Trump Campaign Website, *WSJ* (2021-01-10):

> Stripe Inc. will no longer process payments for President Trump’s campaign website following last week’s riot at the Capitol, according to people familiar with the matter.


Anonymous at 3:23 PM on January 10, 2021 | #19480 | reply | quote

#19480 I recently contacted Patrick Collison (Stripe CEO) and patio11 (works at Stripe) re deplatforming risk if FI uses Stripe. They both used ~"we bank Trump" as a talking point. I thought that was a bad talking point for various reasons (banking the US President should not be notable, and does not mean that less prominent right wingers will be treated well), and it's just become a much worse talking point...

Collison's short reply lowered my confidence in Stripe despite being in the ~"everything will be fine" ballpark. He didn't seem to have much understanding of what my concern was.

patio11's reply was good and convinced me that he understands my concern. He said several things. The conclusion was roughly a tactful way of saying: Stripe has a variety of viewpoints in high level internal discussions; it's has some SV SJWs but they don't dominate it; so there's hope but no guarantees.


curi at 3:37 PM on January 10, 2021 | #19481 | reply | quote

https://deadline.com/2021/01/parler-ceo-says-service-dropped-by-every-vendor-and-could-end-the-company-1234670607/

> Parler CEO Says Service Dropped By “Every Vendor” And Could End His Business

...

> “They all work together to make sure at the same time we would lose access to not only our apps, but they’re actually shutting all of our servers off tonight, off the internet,” Matze said. “They made an attempt to not only kill the app, but to actually destroy the entire company. And it’s not just these three companies [Apple, Google, Amazon]. Every vendor from text message services to email providers to our lawyers all ditched us too on the same day.”

...

> He added: “We’re going to try our best to get back online as quickly as possible. But we’re having a lot of trouble because every vendor we talk to says they won’t work with us. Because if Apple doesn’t approve and Google doesn’t approve, they won’t.”


curi at 6:23 PM on January 10, 2021 | #19487 | reply | quote

#19487 I have little sympathy for Parler. They were founded in August 2018, and I don’t remember them standing up for Gab when Gab was deplatformed after the Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting in late October 2018. Rather than following the lead of organizations like Gab and Infowars that learned to make themselves more censorship resistant, or at least standing up for them loudly, Parler just let themselves be sitting ducks.


Anonymous at 6:58 PM on January 10, 2021 | #19491 | reply | quote

Amy Peikoff is the Chief Policy Officer for Parler.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/parler-down-amazon-web-services-ban (2021-01-10):

> “We are clearly being singled out,” Chief Policy Officer Amy Peikoff told “Fox & Friends Weekend” one day after Apple suspended Parler from its App Store even as it surged to the No. 1 spot in the free apps section earlier in the day.


Anonymous at 10:15 PM on January 10, 2021 | #19493 | reply | quote

Attempted deplatforming of Andy Ngo's new book by Antifa

https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1348514002171817985 :

> Antifa are threatening to picket Portland bookstore

@Powells if they don’t ban my book about antifa.

Ngo's tweet includes screenshots of example tweets, including those below which are archived at https://archive.is/2MP9J :

> Powell's Books @Powells is platforming the PNW's most notorious fascist propagandist.

> Boycott these bourgeois reactionary booksellers for putting profit over black lives.

> There's nothing that stops us from planning to picket the store on 2/2/21, the release date. If Powell's doesn't want that, they can pull it and send it back to the publishers and cancel preorders.

> (won’t) see you there when all the copies go mysteriously missing

> [Smiling face with open mouth and tightly-closed eyes emoji] def won't see me


Anonymous at 10:25 PM on January 10, 2021 | #19494 | reply | quote

#19494 Correction: the line beginning with "@Powells" should have been a continuation of the first quoted line:

> Antifa are threatening to picket Portland bookstore @Powells if they don’t ban my book about antifa.


Anonymous at 10:26 PM on January 10, 2021 | #19495 | reply | quote

Twitter thread requesting (apparently successfully, in some cases) a bunch of companies to cut ties with Parler.

> Now that @Amazon is kicking them to the curb, what do you think about the situation @Atlassian?

> https://jira.parler.com/secure/Dashboard.jspa

> Think Parler should continue to be serviced by your company? Just had to ask.

> It seems that Parler may also be using a @gitlab enterprise license. https://gitlab.parler.com/users/sign_in

> Any thoughts over there on continuing to service their company?

> Hey @okta - you want to keep Parler as a customer, perhaps? Would be a shame if you continued to service them.

> https://parler.okta.com

> Yo, @Zendesk, wondering if you have any comment on Parler utilizing your services? Seems to be a problematic company.

> https://support.parler.com/hc/en-us

> Hey, @Dreamhost - I don't know what your position is on providing domain registrar services to breeding grounds for hate movements and insurrectionists, but it seems http://parler.com is under your purview. Thoughts?

> Yo @GoDaddy, @Stripe, wondering if you're in any way okay with servicing Parler for their merchandise store? Seems the domain and payment processing are using your services.

> BREAKING - @twilio has cut services with Parler, registration is now inoperable due to SMS capabilities being lost.

> Thank you, Twilio. Let us hope other vendors follow suit.

> John Matze is clearly having a moment. Keep pushing. RT everything in this thread.

> Don't stop. Make sure every vendor servicing Parler hears you.

> Hey! @Microsoft @Outlook - Are you okay with Parler utilizing your services? Might want to reconsider doing business with them, given their current state of affairs and lack of moderation.

> http://autodiscover.parler.com

> BREAKING: DUE TO TWILIO CUTTING SERVICES WITH PARLER, THERE IS NO PHONE VERIFICATION OR 2FA ACTIVE.

> YOU CAN ENTER RANDOM DIGITS AND REGISTER. HAVE FUN!

> NO EMAIL VERIFICATION IS REQUIRED EITHER! THE FLOODGATES ARE OPEN, EVERYONE!

> @okta has terminated service to Parler

>> We were notified that Parler was using a free trial of Okta’s product and we have terminated Parler’s access to the Okta platform. While we support organizations across the political spectrum, our platform will not be used for threats of violence and illegal activity.

> Update: @Zendesk is terminating their business with Parler at midnight tonight at the same time as @awscloud

> Thank you!

> Keep the RTs of this thread flowing! We still have a few more vendors left as we fully deplatform the hate-filled extremist nightmare called Parler! WE'RE MAKING IT HAPPEN!

> TERMINATED: @Twilio @Okta @Zendesk

> REMAINING: @Stripe @GoDaddy @Dreamhost @Microsoft @Office @Office365

> In another moment of classical Anonymous hilarity, Dan Bongino has been openly doxxed and musings of ordering pizza to his house is abuzz. [image including phone numbers, supposedly Bongino's]

> Guys, check it out! We might have actually put Parler out of business today! Seriously!

> https://deadline.com/2021/01/parler-ceo-says-service-dropped-by-every-vendor-and-could-end-the-company-1234670607/ :

>> “They all work together to make sure at the same time we would lose access to not only our apps, but they’re actually shutting all of our servers off tonight, off the internet,” Matze said. “They made an attempt to not only kill the app, but to actually destroy the entire company. And it’s not just these three companies. Every vendor from text message services to email providers to our lawyers all ditched us too on the same day.”

> Can't let up yet though, they still have service from some key players - @Stripe and @Microsoft / @Office / @Office365

> Do they agree with Parler continuing to be their client? Let's find out! RT and make more noise!

Quoting screenshots of the above thread, @getongab wrote:

> You’re witnessing the Gab Treatment: the systematic deplatforming of a business for purely political purposes on behalf of the communist regime.

@RealOGAnonymous replied :

> I'm coming for Gab next.


Anonymous at 10:54 PM on January 10, 2021 | #19496 | reply | quote

Twitter thread by Sleeping Giants trying to get Cloudflare to stop providing DDOS protection to "all of these extremist sites".

> We aren’t talking enough about the one company that provides services to all of these extremist sites: @cloudflare. This isn’t even a moderation issue. Their CEO @eastdakota KNOWS he’s doing business with them and is proud of that fact.

> Their CEO penned a regretful letter after they had to take The Daily Stormer (the neo-Nazi website) offline because we had contacted the company’s investors.

> Imagine being sad about no longer working with Nazis. https://blog.cloudflare.com/why-we-terminated-daily-stormer/

> As of now, @cloudflare is continuing to work with TheDonald [dot] win, where the same threats appear, numerous QAnon sites, and Gab, where users are now likely heading after Parler.

> This company, despite making billions, is steadfastly refusing to take responsibility.

One person replied:

> Who are their biggest clients that we should contact and ask why they support a company that platforms terrorists?

Someone else replied:

> It's time.

> Blackhole Cloudflare

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole_%28networking%29 :

> In networking, black holes refer to places in the network where incoming or outgoing traffic is silently discarded (or "dropped"), without informing the source that the data did not reach its intended recipient.

He's suggesting that ISPs and other big internet players should drop all traffic from Cloudflare.


Anonymous at 11:23 PM on January 10, 2021 | #19497 | reply | quote

RIP Parler?

#19496 On 2020-01-10at around 11 PM Pacific, Parler CEO John Matze posted to Parler:

> I wanted to send everyone on Parler an update. We will likely be down longer than expected. This is not due to software restrictions—we have our software and everyone’s data ready to go. Rather it’s that Amazon’s, Google’s and Apple’s statements to the press about dropping our access has caused most of our other vendors to drop their support for us as well. And most people with enough servers to host us have shut their doors to us. We will update everyone and update the press when we are back online.

> Parler is my final stand on the Internet. I won’t be making an account on any social. Parler is my home. See you all soon 👋


Anonymous at 11:26 PM on January 10, 2021 | #19498 | reply | quote

#19480 Sleeping Giants is now asking Stripe (on Twitter) to cut off fundraising platform GiveSendGo:

> Still no word from @stripe on why they’re processing payments for GiveSendGo, the “Christian” fundraising platform raising funds for the leader of the Proud Boys and the Kenosha shooter.


Anonymous at 12:04 AM on January 11, 2021 | #19499 | reply | quote

People are now trying to get Gab kicked off of their ISP.

Gab connects to the internet entirely through [Hurricane Electric](he.net), a backbone ISP. One hour ago, someone who works for Amazon AWS (according to his Twitter bio) asked Hurricane Electric about their relationship with Gab:

> Good evening @henet

> [Waving hand emoji] You appear to be the sole transit to Gab (AS42651) via a port in Miami. Are you working with them on content moderation, or reconsidering this peer’s relationship with your network?


Anonymous at 1:08 AM on January 11, 2021 | #19500 | reply | quote

There is a Twitter account called @gab_takes that shares screenshots of Gab posts that they find objectionable or funny: Example:

> Guns of Gab has a new banner and a LOT of new members. Fuck.

> [screenshot of Gab post consisting of an image of a gun, accompanied by the text: "When democracy becomes tyranny... I still get to vote"]

> [screenshot of Gab post talking about election fraud and suggesting that there will be problems if anti-2nd-amendment legislation is passed]


Anonymous at 1:14 AM on January 11, 2021 | #19501 | reply | quote

#19500 @bad_packets says on Twitter that Gab lacks a robust internet connection.

> [Gab’s] One /24 that's single-homed through @henet ain't gonna cut it sadly. https://bgpview.io/asn/42651#prefixes-v4

> Gab has their own autonomous system (AS42651) that routes the IP netblock 45.88.203.0/24 – which is ~255 usable IP addresses.

> AS42651 (Gab) connects to the internet via AS6939 (@henet). No other ASN (network provider) peers with Gab, making them single-homed to the internet.

> Extremely insufficient and not failure redundant.


Anonymous at 1:41 AM on January 11, 2021 | #19502 | reply | quote

#19449 Example of a left-winger comparing a social media network with a #1A-based moderation policy to Al Qaeda.

https://twitter.com/quinnypig/status/1348127975892402176 :

> https://twitter.com/rchrdbyd/status/1348127437406826496 :

>> Imagine going to a bar and seeing some Nazis getting bounced and saying to your friend "we should avoid that bar, they might kick us out. Let's go to the bar where nobody gets kicked out"

> This is an amazing and poignant analogy. There are valid reasons to avoid one or more cloud providers; "they might hit us with the banhammer" is absolutely not one of them for any business that isn't basically Al Qaeda.


Anonymous at 1:52 AM on January 11, 2021 | #19503 | reply | quote

#19500 https://twitter.com/gbinsf/status/1348334087711297539 :

> FYI, here’s the Acceptable Use Policy & contact info for Hurricane Electric, Gab’s hosting provider, for when you find messages that advocate violence or harass others

> http://he.net/aup.html


Anonymous at 2:00 AM on January 11, 2021 | #19504 | reply | quote

Talk-radio owner orders conservative hosts to temper election fraud rhetoric, *Washington Post* (2020-01-11):

> Cumulus Media, which employs some of the most popular right-leaning talk-radio hosts in the United States, has told its on-air personalities to stop suggesting that the election was stolen from President Trump — or else face termination.

> We need to help induce national calm NOW,” Brian Philips, executive vice president of content for Cumulus, wrote in an internal memo, which was first reported by Inside Music Media. Cumulus and its program syndication arm, Westwood One, “will not tolerate any suggestion that the election has not ended. The election has been resolved and there are no alternate acceptable ‘paths.’ ”

> The memo adds: “If you transgress this policy, you can expect to separate from the company immediately.”

> Since the election, Cumulus has remained silent while some of its most popular hosts — which include Mark Levin and Dan Bongino — have amplified Trump’s lies that the vote was “rigged” or in some way fraudulent.

> Atlanta-based Cumulus owns 416 radio stations in 84 regions across the country. Many of its stations broadcast a talk format, a medium that has been dominated by a conservative point of view for decades. In addition to its national personalities, it employs local talk-radio hosts in many of its markets.

> Cumulus’s biggest stations include WMAL in Washington, KABC in Los Angeles, WLS in Chicago and KGO in San Francisco, all of which air a news-talk format.


Anonymous at 9:45 AM on January 11, 2021 | #19505 | reply | quote

#19505 CORRECTION: the article was posted on 2021-01-11, not 2020-01-11.


Anonymous at 9:50 AM on January 11, 2021 | #19507 | reply | quote

#19497 More knives out for the free-speech platforms protected by Cloudflare. Sleeping Giants’ anti-free-speech activism has been effective in the past.

Sleeping Giants tweeted:

> If you had to name one company responsible for the platforming of violent extremism and hate right now, you’d be hard pressed to find one worse than @Cloudflare.


Anonymous at 12:11 PM on January 11, 2021 | #19511 | reply | quote

#19494 Caving to pressure from left-wing activists, Portland-based Powell’s Books has agreed to not carry Andy Ngo’s new book *Unmasked* in their physical store, though they will still sell it online.

https://twitter.com/powells/status/1348715239093669889 :

> This book will not be placed on our shelves. We will not promote it. That said, it will remain in our online catalog. We carry a lot of books we find abhorrent, as well as those that we treasure. (2 of 3)


Anonymous at 2:45 PM on January 11, 2021 | #19513 | reply | quote

Salesforce ‘Takes Action’ to Prevent RNC Emails From Inciting Violence, *Vice* (2021-01-11):

> The Donald Trump campaign has not used its millions-strong email list since the riots at the Capitol. Its email provider says it has taken action to prevent Republicans from using "our services in any way that could lead to violence.”

> To send its emails, the Trump campaign uses infrastructure from a company called ExactTarget, an email marketing firm now owned by Salesforce, according to a Motherboard analysis of the emails. The emails are sent in conjunction with the Republican National Committee, according to the emails themselves. In response to a question about whether the company had taken action to prevent Trump from using the "contact@victory.donaldtrump.com" email infrastructure, Salesforce said it had "taken action" against the RNC to "prevent its use of our services in any way that could lead to violence."

> "We are all deeply troubled by the terrible events of January 6. And while we all hope that they are never repeated, sadly there remains a risk of politically incited violence across the country," Salesforce said in a statement. "The Republican National Committee has been a long-standing customer, predating the current Administration, and we have taken action to prevent its use of our services in any way that could lead to violence."


Anonymous at 3:03 PM on January 11, 2021 | #19514 | reply | quote

#19513 A crowd of left-wing activists has gathered in front of Powell’s Books in Portland, OR to demand that they “stop selling Andy NGO’s book” . (video)


Anonymous at 3:11 PM on January 11, 2021 | #19515 | reply | quote

The discussion forum ar15.com has been banned by GoDaddy, their domain name registrar. Their members analyzed in detail many pieces of video evidence of the incidents involving Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha, WI last year.

https://twitter.com/AR15COM/status/1348718045049610241 :

> ARFCOM Is Down. We've been booted from GoDaddy and are looking for an alternative solution.

> The site will return at[ ]https://www.ar15-backup.com

> Standby for more information


Anonymous at 3:48 PM on January 11, 2021 | #19516 | reply | quote

The makers of the pro-life film Gosnell have been permanently banned from Twitter. Partial transcript of their video:

> The day has come. We knew it would. Twitter has decided to permanently ban us from the site. And the reason they give is "platform manipulation and spam". We call bull on that.


Anonymous at 4:19 PM on January 11, 2021 | #19517 | reply | quote

Facebook now removing posts with the phrase "stop the steasl"

"Our Preparations Ahead of Inauguration Day", about.fb.com (2021-01-11):

> We are now removing content containing the phrase “stop the steal” under our Coordinating Harm policy from Facebook and Instagram.


Anonymous at 4:31 PM on January 11, 2021 | #19518 | reply | quote

Sleeping Giants is going after the credit card companies that allow their cardholders to buy stuff from Epik:

> Epik, which now will host Parler and all of the death threats against cops and the Vice President that come with it, along with Nazi-friendly Gab and Sandy Hook parent-harassing InfoWars works with @visa @mastercard @AmericanExpress and @discover for payments.

This kind of online activism has commonly been followed by deplatforming in the past.


Anonymous at 4:55 PM on January 11, 2021 | #19519 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/lawenforcetoday/status/1348788062516555778 :

> FB has just blocked Law Enforcement Today - with it's nearly 900,000 members - from posting. All admins blocked from posting to any page and group they are associated with. This is out of control.

Law Enforcement Today seems to be a conservative group. They just tweeted a news story about a new speech code being enforced by the National Association of Realtors, a group in which membership is required in many areas to access the Multiple Listing Service used by real estate agents.


Anonymous at 6:11 PM on January 11, 2021 | #19521 | reply | quote

NYT says Deutsch Bank is banning Trump:

> Deutsche Bank, which has been Mr. Trump’s primary lender for two decades, has decided not to do business with Mr. Trump or his company in the future, according to a person familiar with the bank’s thinking.


Anonymous at 6:31 PM on January 11, 2021 | #19522 | reply | quote

#19522 Signature Bank too (same article):

> Susan Turkell, a spokeswoman for the bank, said Signature had decided that it “will not do business in the future with any members of Congress who voted to disregard the Electoral College.” Ms. Turkell said that in the wake of the riots the bank began closing Mr. Trump’s two personal accounts, which had about $5.3 million.


Anonymous at 6:34 PM on January 11, 2021 | #19523 | reply | quote

#19523 NYT reporter David Enrich (not an author of the above article) tweeted:

> I asked other banks where Trump has checking/savings or brokerage accounts – including @jpmorgan and @CapitalOne – what they were doing about their Trump relationships.

> They declined to comment.

Conservative commentator Yossi Gestetner quote tweeted that and wrote:

> Folks, see how it works? “Reporters” are just “asking” questions.

> No they are not. They are intimidating business into doing things because those businesses don’t like the political/policy [heat].

> David also uses handles to drive outrage tweets that will be seen by the banks.Z


Anonymous at 6:57 PM on January 11, 2021 | #19524 | reply | quote

An album of Big Tech megacorp monopolies pledging their commitment to "free speech, free expression, and an open Internet." (Via /r/kotakuinaction)


Anonymous at 7:29 PM on January 11, 2021 | #19525 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/hacks4pancakes/status/1348854087366926337

> I know I am not the first one to say this, but there are a lot of very well credentialed people in tech worrying what would happen if internet giants collectively de-platformed a group who isn't right wing, while totally erasing the fact that it already happened to sex workers.


curi at 9:16 PM on January 11, 2021 | #19527 | reply | quote

#19527 Deplatforming sex workers coerces them into more dangerous situations. More from the thread:


curi at 9:17 PM on January 11, 2021 | #19528 | reply | quote

A detailed discussion of Parler's attempt to sue AWS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFp5E7akgy8


oh my god it's turpentine at 12:21 PM on January 12, 2021 | #19536 | reply | quote

Twitter thread explaining how the government influences banks to deplatform *legal* businesses:

> If you want to see how the state actually controls private firms, read the FDIC circular. the strategy: arbitrarily (and extra-judicially) declaring certain industries 'high risk', and threatening enormous compliance costs to banks who support them.

This deplatforming began with a secret Obama-era program called "Operation Choke Point". That program ended after it was exposed in 2015, but the deplatforming continues, because, the thread author claims, banks are afraid it may come back:

> 'operation choke point' as it is known "ended" in 2015 when Rep. Luetkemeyer blew the lid off the scandal. but it didn't end. payment processors internalized this guidance and now carry it out informally, in the hopes of not being sanctioned in the future when it returns.


Anonymous at 2:20 PM on January 12, 2021 | #19538 | reply | quote

#19527 I was planning to link that thread, including this pic of targeted industries:

> payment processors are 'just private companies'. from 2011 to 2015, they were pressured by the DoJ (via banks) to deplatform the (legal, if sometimes distasteful) industries listed below. private companies always exist in an inescapable political context.


curi at 2:31 PM on January 12, 2021 | #19539 | reply | quote

curi at 10:49 PM on January 12, 2021 | #19543 | reply | quote

crit of UEG's *The Fall of a Society*

> The Fall of a Society

I thought the video was mostly good. The author is wrong a few times about Bitcoin, though:

He claims it's a digital commodity, not a digital currency. I'm not sure what definition of commodity he's using, but I don't see how it fits into any definition of a commodity that I know of. Principally: commodities have a use outside of: storing value, being a medium of exchange, and unit of account. What is Bitcoin's uses besides those things?

He also claims that it is "as of yet unregulated" which is only true if you add an implied 'by government' or something like that. Bitcoin has rules governing the supply and transfer of the unit itself. The supply and throughput of Bitcoin is regulated. This is maybe a less serious error than the above in that 'regulation' typically implies something like 'by government agencies'. It's also in a section regarding the US dollar. But it's misleading bc it also implies that Bitcoin is absent of governing principles and rules.

(Also, lots of the Bitcoin ecosystem is regulated: KYC on exchange accounts, reporting of capital gains tax and buy/sell events, etc. Additionally the SEC has shut down plenty of dodgey crypto schemes, and although they're not technically Bitcoin, the statements made are not representative of the current state of affairs.)

(Also, Bitcoin goes through this pattern regularly; it wasn't surprising to me and the pattern started a relatively long time ago. the pattern doesn't fit an explanation like 'the recent civil unrest in the US is driving BTC price'.)

I think these errors are significant (but probs not a constraint) bc they don't add anything substantial to the vid. Why did the author include these things, driven mostly by opinion, when he claims early in the vid that he's doing objective analysis?

The bit about maths/stats said there was a problem with 'in general, all math really' but the author then only talks about stats and doesn't explain the other bits. That's misleading, and I don't think he should have included it without more explanation. He would have been better to say something like 'all evidence-based analysis' since framing can play a role in that and the mechanism is clearer.


Max at 3:01 AM on January 13, 2021 | #19544 | reply | quote

YouTube and Twitter are anti 'western values'

It is (or was?) widely recognised both that the media played an important role as an info source and that it was *necessary* for media to be capable of providing 'town square' like environments; i.e. free from censorship and able to broadcast/publish dissenting ideas. 'Freedom of the press'. This value is, IMO, a *western value*. It's not something non-western countries have, and it's causally related to (western) prosperity.

YouTube and Twitter both act like news sources. e.g. YouTube has a dedicated 'news' section that is like 3rd or 4th on the home page.

If YT and Twitter want to be that -- and claim to be that and make features emphasising their broadcast of news -- but do not provide a free environment for news and discourse to take place, then *they are deliberately forsaking principles of free press*. They're acting immorally. They should be recognised as what they are: voluntary regulators of acceptable ideas and practitioners of anti-western values.

They *want* to be the Ministry of Truth; they *want* to become peddlers of propaganda.

ctx: watching *You Have Been Convicted of WrongThink*; 6:30, section on twitch


Max at 3:22 AM on January 13, 2021 | #19545 | reply | quote

#19545 it only gets worse the more i watch


Max at 3:28 AM on January 13, 2021 | #19547 | reply | quote

Former MLB pitcher and current BlazeTV commentator Curt Schilling tweets:

> We will be just fine, but wanted to let Americans know that @AIGinsurance canceled our insurance due to my "Social Media profile"

He didn't say what kind of insurance policy it was.


Anonymous at 7:46 AM on January 13, 2021 | #19552 | reply | quote

Andrew Torba, Gab’s Response To The ADL and CNN, news.gab.com (January 13, 2021):

> So now the ADL is lobbying the US government to remove us from the internet. We will never bend to their demands and we will never censor legal, 1A-protected speech that hurts the ADL’s feelings. Ever. Jesus is King.

Re "Jesus is King", in a March 2019 FI list post, someone [asked]:

>> We can ask [ourselves]: Had I been around back then, would I have acted differently [from the Nazis]?

Anon replied:

> ... One of the best groups to find "yes" answers from is American Christians who exemplify American values and the American spirit.


Anonymous at 9:35 AM on January 13, 2021 | #19553 | reply | quote

Fox News article: Parler CEO John Matze, family forced into hiding over death threats, security breaches: court filing (not very much content beyond the headline and that Parler has started a lawsuit with Amazon)


curi at 12:22 PM on January 16, 2021 | #19601 | reply | quote

oh my god it's turpentine at 2:26 PM on January 16, 2021 | #19602 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/sharylattkisson/status/1350550063718813703 :

> Loews Hotels just canceled an upcoming fundraising event for Sen. Josh Hawley.

> They will no longer allow the Conservative Senator to rent their facilities.


Anonymous at 11:03 PM on January 16, 2021 | #19609 | reply | quote

Veritas Video: Twitter Senior Executive Vijaya Gadde Details Plans for Political Censorship on a Global Scale

It's easier to record people on Zoom/etc than with hidden cameras IRL.


curi at 12:54 PM on January 18, 2021 | #19626 | reply | quote

Article: A new and innovative way for Google to kill your SaaS startup

Google can blacklist you in Chrome (and FireFox and Safari use the blacklist some) even if you don't use any Google services.

How? Via their safe browsing stuff that allegedly is just for phising, malware, etc. It has false positives and awful customer support. It may or may not currently have political bias, but certainly could in the future.


curi at 12:56 PM on January 18, 2021 | #19627 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/MorlockP/status/1351202070175637510

> There's a bunch of different black pills that members of my tribe and adjacent tribes are tempted to take.

> One is "the game is all over, the commies won."

> Friend, censoring dissident voices, building walls, and lying about everything is not what winning looks like.


curi at 1:02 PM on January 18, 2021 | #19630 | reply | quote

curi at 1:10 PM on January 18, 2021 | #19631 | reply | quote

#19631 That turned out to be intentional downtime.


curi at 5:20 PM on January 18, 2021 | #19644 | reply | quote

#19175 New rule banning financial services from dropping clients for political reasons is at risk under Biden, *Reclaim the Net* (2021-01-21):

> The rule announced on Wednesday, the same day Biden was inaugurated, makes it illegal for banks regulated by the OCC and have more than $100 billion in assets to refuse a customer for any other reason aside from financial risk. The rule seems to target banks that refuse to deal with oil drilling and firearms companies, for “ethical reasons,” but also has wider implications in today’s cancel culture world.

> The Biden administration, which is likely going to oppose it, has many options to prevent it from taking effect.


Anonymous at 8:21 PM on January 21, 2021 | #19707 | reply | quote

YouTube removing dislikes from Biden's videos

https://www.libertariannews.org/2021/01/21/most-popular-president-in-us-history-has-youtube-removes-dislikes-from-his-videos-still-gets-ratioed/ :

> Joe Biden, the most popular President in US history, who won his election with over 80 million votes; the highest number of votes ever recorded for a US Presidential candidate, has been busy deleting, delisting and re-uploading videos to YouTube because they keep getting ratioed into the ground.

*Reclaim the Net* covered this story too.

https://reclaimthenet.org/youtube-scrubs-thousands-of-dislikes-from-joe-biden-videos-on-official-white-house-channel/ :

> YouTube has deleted thousands of dislikes on videos that were uploaded to the official White House YouTube channel by the Biden administration during its first day in office.

> On some videos, YouTube’s purging of dislikes resulted in the dislike to like ratio temporarily dropping from 6.7 to 1.3 – a change that drastically alters the public perception of a video. When there are 6.7 dislikes for every like, a video seems wildly unpopular but when there are 1.3 dislikes for every like, it seems like the video is getting a mixed response from viewers.


Anonymous at 9:39 PM on January 22, 2021 | #19716 | reply | quote

#19716 I checked President Biden Signs Executive Orders and Other Presidential Actions and it's currently at ~600k views, 6.7k likes, 35k dislikes. mb streisand effect thing going on.

in the reclaim the net article they show screenshots around 100k views and around 2k likes.


Max at 3:58 PM on January 24, 2021 | #19745 | reply | quote

Literary agent fired for having an account on Gab and Parler, *Reclaim the Net* (2021-01-26):

> Colleen Oefelein, a former agent at The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency, was fired after Twitter users complained that she was using anti-big tech platforms Gab and Parler.

> In a series of followup tweets, De Chiara wrote that the agency was “distressed to discover this morning, January 25th, that one of our agents has been using the social media platforms Gab and Parler. We do not condone this activity, and we apologize to anyone who has been offended or affected by this."


Anonymous at 6:33 PM on January 26, 2021 | #19766 | reply | quote

Phil Shiver, Goya Foods board silences pro-Trump CEO for questioning election results, *Conservative Review* (2021-01-27):

> Last Friday, the nine-member board of the Hispanic foods giant voted by majority to censure Unanue over controversial remarks he made to the media following the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol, including an appearance on Fox Business Network last week during which he called the election of President Joe Biden "unverified."

> "I think this is mission accomplished. Mission accomplished by the union, the partnership, the conglomerate of social media, Big Tech, big media, and government, big government, for ushering in the dawn of a new world order — this great reset — with an unverified election, and the big prize is the United States," Unanue told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo on Jan. 20.

> Those comments were reportedly the tipping point for board members, who initiated the censure vote two days later. The vote by majority to silence Unanue means he will no longer be able to speak to the media without the board's permission, the Post noted.

I didn't see any corporate leaders silenced for praising BLM as they burned and looted cities across America.


Anonymous at 9:37 AM on January 27, 2021 | #19769 | reply | quote

https://element.io/blog/element-on-google-play-store/

Google Play Store removed a decentralized chat platform app that moderates everything it has control over (they run a server themselves with a moderation team).

This is like removing a web browser from your app store because some websites have nasty stuff on them (even though all the web sites owned by the app maker have nothing problematic on them).

Google did not provide any advance warning and did not even send a notification at the time of the removal.

They like to ban you first and then negotiate (or not) from a position of power, while you're busy receiving user complaints. It'd be more reasonable in most cases (where the app was already approved in the past and there's no egregious, urgent abuse like changing the app to hack user devices) to discuss the problem and then ban as a possible conclusion to that discussion.


curi at 1:54 PM on January 30, 2021 | #19810 | reply | quote

#19810 The post has updates:

https://element.io/blog/element-on-google-play-store/

> UPDATE: At 2021-01-30 23:17 UTC we received a call from a VP at Google who apologised for the bad communication from Google and explained the situation, which related to some extremely abusive content which was accessible on the default matrix.org homeserver. Our Trust and Safety team had already identified and acted on this content to enforce the server's terms of use, and so we've explained how Element and Matrix works, established a channel for communication over any future moderation concerns, and expect the app to be restored shortly.

> UPDATE: The app is restored as of 2021-01-31 00:30 UTC. Huge thanks to everyone for your patience and support while we sorted this out, and to the wider Element team who spent their Saturday on this. Thanks also to Google for being transparent and apologetic and the rapid resolution once we'd established contact.


curi at 12:07 PM on February 1, 2021 | #19816 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/JonathanMayorca/status/1357059674244218881

A left wing channel called the convo couch has been demonetized on YouTube.


oh my god it's turpentine at 1:09 PM on February 3, 2021 | #19847 | reply | quote

Ofcom, the British ministry of truth, is investigating bitchute, which is supposedly an evil video site populated entirely by Nazis:

https://archive.vn/D6fTh


oh my god it's turpentine at 6:05 AM on February 5, 2021 | #19859 | reply | quote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjD2zWNmxyE

Fidelity is blocking charitable contributions to Project Veritas. They lied to Veritas donors and slandered Veritas with false, damaging statements. Their own lawyer on the phone said they shouldn't be saying that and that he has no knowledge of any of the allegations against Veritas in question being true or having any basis in fact.


curi at 4:23 PM on February 8, 2021 | #19892 | reply | quote

UEG lightly shills some crypto

#19544 In UEG's latest vid he lightly shills some crypto thing, like a video watching platform where both sides get paid crypto; mb out of thin air? https://youtu.be/byZ1dpD1BnA?t=1162


Max at 6:40 PM on February 9, 2021 | #19916 | reply | quote

Anonymous at 6:31 PM on February 11, 2021 | #19949 | reply | quote

https://jonathanturley.org/2021/02/25/st-josephs-university-professor-suspended-for-criticism-of-reparations-on-social-media/

Universities are okay with professors who support a lefty who stalked and murdered a right wing protester, but not with professors who criticise reparations.


oh my god it's turpentine at 4:42 AM on February 25, 2021 | #20032 | reply | quote

https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Damore-Google-COMPLAINT.pdf

> On August 26, 2016, Curtis Yarvin, a well-known conservative blogger who has reportedly advised Steve Bannon, Peter Thiel, and other members of the Trump administration, visited the Google office to have lunch with an employee. *This triggered a silent alarm, alerting security personnel to escort him off the premises.*

My italics.


curi at 10:57 AM on February 27, 2021 | #20060 | reply | quote

Tim Pool: Ebay Just NUKED Dr. Seuss Books As OFFENSIVE, RSBN Gets Nuked By Youtube As Censorship Escalates

RSBN got a 2 week youtube ban over raw footage of a Trump speech.

Things are getting really really bad.


curi at 3:28 PM on March 4, 2021 | #20094 | reply | quote

#20094 the underlying trends and causes are older but some of the events are happening and escalating fast


curi at 3:40 PM on March 4, 2021 | #20095 | reply | quote

RightSide Broadcasting Network wrote on Twitter (2021-03-04):

> RSBN has been suspended from YouTube for two weeks because of the Trump #CPAC2021 speech, which violated their guidelines on election misinformation.

> The video was approaching 4 million views. They have also removed it from their platform.


Anonymous at 5:42 PM on March 4, 2021 | #20098 | reply | quote

#20098 Oops, I missed that the RSBN ban had already been covered here in #20094. Here's an article on the ban from Andy Ngo's *The Post Millenial*: https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-youtube-suspends-rsbn-for-broadcasting-trumps-cpac-2021-speech-censors-trumps-speech


Anonymous at 5:44 PM on March 4, 2021 | #20099 | reply | quote

https://forums.appleinsider.com/discussion/220558

Apple continuing to block Parler from App Store

> As it came back online, Parler changed its community guidelines to new policies written by Chief Policy Officer Amy Peikoff. But an App Store review found that the updated policies and moderation practices were insufficient to comply with Apple's rules, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

> "After having reviewed the new information, we do not believe these changes are sufficient to comply with App Store Review guidelines. There is no place for hateful, racist, discriminatory content on the App Store," Apple wrote to Parler on Feb. 25.

> Apple included several screenshots in its rejection to Parler, including several that showed user profiles with swastikas and white nationalist imagery, as well as user names or posts that were misogynistic, homophobic or racist.


Anonymous at 5:43 PM on March 10, 2021 | #20140 | reply | quote

A prominent Objectivist (Peikoff's ex-wife) writing the moderation policies meant curb free speech to appease Apple?


curi at 5:57 PM on March 10, 2021 | #20141 | reply | quote

> A prominent Objectivist (Peikoff's ex-wife) writing the moderation policies meant curb free speech to appease Apple?

Yeah I noticed that too.

I just quickly skimmed their community guidelines, which seem to be reflected in these two docs:

https://legal.parler.com/documents/guidelines.pdf

https://legal.parler.com/documents/Elaboration-on-Guidelines.pdf

Big takeaways from first doc are:

1) no crime/illegal stuff

2) no spam

and the more detailed version in the elaboration is (summarizing and excluding some smaller points):

1) no defamation

2) no sexualization of minors

3) nudity/porn fine if marked sensitive

4) violence/blood/gore/graphic content okay if marked sensitive, unless "gratuitous" and only posted to threaten somebody

5) no fraud, IP theft, impersonation, or doxxing

6) no serious threats of violence, encouragement to violence, threats to dox, bribes or criminal solicitation

7) no terrorist groups

8) no serial spamming

these actually seem reasonable to me


Anonymous at 6:19 PM on March 10, 2021 | #20142 | reply | quote

#20142 ah, no wonder Apple wasn't appeased...


curi at 6:21 PM on March 10, 2021 | #20143 | reply | quote

Twitter won't let people post links to bitchute:

https://twitter.com/Bitchute/status/1369823699843510273


oh my god it's turpentine at 1:33 AM on March 11, 2021 | #20147 | reply | quote

https://www.foxnews.com/media/amazon-harry-became-sally

"Amazon accused of ‘absurd and unacceptable’ censorship after book questioning transgender movement vanishes"


Anonymous at 12:09 PM on March 12, 2021 | #20158 | reply | quote

https://twitter.com/gummibear737/status/1369062414172438529?s=20

Twitter suspended some libertarian's twitter account


Anonymous at 4:43 PM on March 14, 2021 | #20168 | reply | quote

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/03/disqus-de-platforming-frontpage-frontpage-editors/

Disqus is deplatforming FrontPageMag on the basis of false claims made by the evil group of professional liars known as the Southern Poverty Law Center.


Anonymous at 5:51 PM on March 16, 2021 | #20205 | reply | quote

https://www.dailywire.com/news/loudoun-teachers-target-parents-critical-race-theory-hacking

Excerpt:

> A group of current and former teachers and others in Loudoun County, Virginia, compiled a lengthy list of parents suspected of disagreeing with school system actions, including its teaching of controversial racial concepts — with a stated purpose in part to “infiltrate,” use “hackers” to silence parents’ communications, and “expose these people publicly.”

> Members of a 624-member private Facebook group called “Anti-Racist Parents of Loudoun County” named parents and plotted fundraising and other offline work. Some used pseudonyms, but The Daily Wire has identified them as a who’s who of the affluent jurisdiction outside D.C., including school staff and elected officials.

> The sheriff’s criminal investigations division is reviewing the matter — but the group’s activities might be no surprise to top law enforcement because the county’s prosecutor, narrowly elected with the help of $845,000 in cash from George Soros, appears to be a member of the Facebook group.


Anonymous at 11:04 AM on March 17, 2021 | #20206 | reply | quote

On Feb 3, 2021, @kniborg wrote on Twitter (https://archive.is/2FliF):

> Google "recall newsom", and you won't get a link to the petition site until the second page. In Bing, it's the first result.

> Anyone else with a similar result?

I checked today in an incognito window. On Google, the petition site is now the 4th result (depending on how you count the 3 news articles lined up in the top row): Google

On Bing, the petition site is still the top result: Bing


Anonymous at 7:42 PM on March 21, 2021 | #20236 | reply | quote

https://www.dailywire.com/news/steven-crowders-youtube-account-locked-demonetized-crowder-hints-action-weve-got-something-for-them

> YouTube has demonetized and locked conservative commentator Steven Crowder’s account for allegedly violating the platform’s community guidelines.

> YouTube blocked Crowder from uploading new content to his channel for one week and pulled one of his videos that the platform said violated its rules against spreading misinformation about the 2020 election. YouTube also booted Crowder from its YouTube Partner Program, which allows creators to run ads on videos and turn a profit, indefinitely.


Anonymous at 4:12 PM on April 1, 2021 | #20316 | reply | quote

Anonymous at 2:53 PM on April 15, 2021 | #20387 | reply | quote

https://www.reddit.com/r/Periods/comments/m9wwak/has_anyone_missed_a_period_after_the_covid_vaccine/grr2js2/?context=3

> That sub deletes anything slightly negative toward the vaccine so a lot of comments are probably removed as well..

also

> This is great! Someone should screen shot all of the posts because a thread I was following on another site got taken down.

topic is covid vax giving women side-effects related to menstruation. tons of ppl are posting about this, but it's getting deleted in lots of vax-related places so it's hard for women to find out their issues aren't isolated problems.

> Wow thank you, I had no idea. I feel furious that there isn’t official info about this, or any sort of evidence that clinical trials have assessed the impact on menstruation and reproductive health.

ppl say doctors are telling women it's just "stress".

> THANK YOU! I have had such a hard time tracking down any information about what I’m experiencing (missed period, currently on day 50 of this cycle. first moderna dose was 3/12, period should have started within a day before or after that date.).

>

> Thanks for taking the time to put this together and make it easier to find similar stories.

and someone else

> I’m relieved to see this. I thought I was imagining it. I’m pretty regular and I spotted for a day the weekend I received my second dose.

and lots of comments saying they personally are having the issue


curi at 12:57 PM on April 16, 2021 | #20391 | reply | quote

It looks like both Google and Wufuu deplatformed a form that allowed people to sign up to volunteer with the Maricopa County AZ election audit.

https://twitter.com/jacklombardi/status/1382944319506677760?s=21 :

> Google deplatformed the Maricopa county audit volunteer observer application.

> The audit application was then switched to using wufoo, who also deplatformed them.

I haven't verified this story, but there is a "Maricopa Arizona Audit" Twitter account that tweeted on April 15 about switching from Google Forms to Wufoo, and the Wufoo ink no longer works. https://twitter.com/arizonaaudit/status/1382817895583928322?s=21 :

> Because #Google chose to censor our form recruiting Volunteer Observers from all parties, we are now using this link: https://arizonaaudit.wufoo.com/forms/arizona-audit-volunteer-observer-application/ @MaricopaGOP @MaricopaDems @AZGOP @azdemparty @Arizona_LP @AZGreenParty


Anonymous at 8:28 PM on April 18, 2021 | #20404 | reply | quote

Anonymous at 4:21 PM on April 23, 2021 | #20431 | reply | quote

Facebook is penalising the Babylon Bee for a post making fun of rioters by giving ridiculous advice about how to prepare for a riot:

https://mobile.twitter.com/The_Kyle_Mann/status/1385698963483873282


oh my god it's turpentine at 5:10 AM on April 24, 2021 | #20433 | reply | quote

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/03/disqus-de-platforming-frontpage-frontpage-editors/

Disqus deplatformed Frontpage Mag. The article mentions several other deplatformings FPM has faced.


curi at 11:37 AM on May 5, 2021 | #20505 | reply | quote

Disney is doing fashionable lefty racism:

https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1390828488949518337


oh my god it's turpentine at 12:04 AM on May 9, 2021 | #20538 | reply | quote

A video about cheese pizza on twitter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmwcbMfZ6MU


oh my god it's turpentine at 1:13 PM on May 11, 2021 | #20553 | reply | quote

> Disney is doing fashionable lefty racism:

> https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1390828488949518337

https://christopherrufo.com/disney-backs-down/ :

> Yesterday, The Walt Disney Company responded to my reporting about its divisive “diversity and inclusion” program with a statement defending the company’s commitment to “inclusivity.” The statement was riddled with errors and evasions, as I noted on social media.

> Today, multiple sources have told me that Disney has completely removed its diversity and inclusion program from the company’s website—effectively scrubbing it out of existence. My reporting had generated tens of millions of media impressions and a significant backlash from the public.


Anonymous at 6:31 PM on May 12, 2021 | #20558 | reply | quote

Zaid Jilani, An Asian Uber Driver Was Attacked By A Mob. Then YouTube Took Down the Video Of His Beating., *Inquire* (2021-05-16)

The first HN comment on the article says:

> The title doesn't specify the perpetrator is white and doesn't mention white supremacy. It can only mean one thing, the elephant in the room, black-on-asian violence. If someone saw the video, can you please confirm my hunch?

His hunch was confirmed.


Anonymous at 8:38 AM on May 26, 2021 | #20579 | reply | quote

curi at 10:06 AM on August 21, 2022 | #20746 | reply | quote

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