[Freedom] Alex Jones Kicked From Online Services
In news that I'm sure is getting the conspiracy theorists whacking away at their grease encrusted keyboards, Alex Jones has been booted from Facebook, YouTube, iTunes and Spotify for breaking their terms and conditions. Jones is known for his outlandish conspiracy theories, infantile manner and gammon-looking face but the big Tech companies have decided they aren't going to host his bullshit anymore, and they've waved bye-bye to the overgrown manchild.
Much like the disgusting racist Tommy Robinson, I've seen plenty of people coming to Jones' defence, claiming this to be an attack on free-speech. They'd like you to believe everything is an attack on free-speech, but there's just one things these conspiracy nuts and truthers forget... they're private platforms. Free-speech also isn't about being able to say what you want without consequence either, so if you call my muslim friend something horrible and abhorrent, I have as much right to call you a bigotted cunt.
Facebook have stated they are shutting down many of his pages because of his use of dehumanising language and advocating for violence. This is the same man who claimed to be bullied by a high school shooting survivor. The same man who tells his gullible masses that Big Pharma is poisoning them, turning the frogs gay and so on, so go and buy his SUPER MALE VITALITY THAT'LL FILL YOU WITH THE TESTOSTERONE YOU SO DESPERATELY NEED! ARGH!
I for one am glad that the tech giants are finally stepping in and doing something to remove this vile man and his content from their platforms. Is it censorship? Of course it's censorship, these are private platforms. You don't have the innate right to make money off YouTube videos. That's a bloody privilege, one that the entitled middle-aged arseholes of the world take for granted these days. Arseholes like him don't need any help and certainly don't need a platform, they are conmen and will do and say anything to manipulate people into buying their crap. He still has his freedom of speech, he can host his own content and scream into the digital void. But please, can we stop normalising these tossers. The harm these people do to the truth, freedom and knowledge of the rest of us is unforgivable. and breath.
What do you think about this situation? Got an alternative perspective? Let me know your thoughts and feelings down in the comments, and I'm looking forward to reading your views. Make sure to upvote and follow me if you enjoyed this, and as always be good to each other!
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Alex Jones Banned From YouTube... (https://www.vox.com/2018/8/6/17655658/alex-jones-facebook-youtube-conspiracy-theories)
Most of these social media sites are becoming so irrelevant to me that I don't care who's on them or off them. I still watch GooTube, simply because there are still some good videos being produced on it and I can get it to work across all my devices.
I can't stand Alex Jones. I have tried to watch his show a few times, when he's had an interesting guest on, but after a few minutes of his ranting I just have to turn the sound down - you're kind of forced to watch it, including those ridiculous promotions for weight-loss pills (!) etc, as you never know exactly when the guest will come on. Even when he's not talking racist nonsense I can't listen to him.
I've had some fairly stressful things going on at home recently, and that video brightened my day!
I know what you mean, I've been on Facebook and Twitter since the early days, and there is a definite decline happening with the big players. But like you, I still watch a fair amount of the old YouTube. In fact, I realised the other day YouTube is probably my main media source now.
I can't stand him either, and it isn't even because of his views or anything like that, but because he is just so obviously a conman pushing snake oil. I tried watching some of his stuff a few years ago now, but even if there was an interesting topic, you can't make anything out because it's just him shouting and screaming. If he has a guest, they can barely get a word in edgeways. I see this same erratic style in some of the more right wing Steemian's too.
I'm so glad! It cheered me up this morning too, I hope everything's ok at your end x
Thanks John! Things have been a bit crazy in my life recently, but lots of good things happening too.
Yes, it's beyond me why that man is so popular.
I don't think it's suppressing free speech. I was reading the comments on McAfee's twitter (he thinks it's censorship but of course he would take that stance) and I liked this guy's comment
https://twitter.com/TradingScott/status/1026649322266353664
Sorry my comments aren't very meaningful or deep lately, just very busy!
I think that reply sums my feelings up perfectly.
He made his bed, now he has to lie in it.
There's really no need to apologise, I've been exactly the same lately!
So recently my friend, a musician, had his account's "promote/ads" banned. Twitter support won't say why specificially they said he had an offensive tweet, but they won't tell him which one. They said if he removes it he can be reinstated. Mind you, he spent the $99 for the stupid beta promote mode which is beta anyway. I can't see any vulgar or offensive tweet he's made and they won't tell him. So finally after back and forth, they told him not to contact them anymore about it! They won't say what the offensive tweet is. This is really upsetting.
So I'm starting to change my mind about this debate. These companies are not operating professionally. It's like someone at Twitter just decided they didn't like my friend's tweets for some undisclosed reason and decided to take away his ability to promote. It's hard to promote as a musician but I assure you my friend's content is super mild compared to a lot what is out there. It feels like discrimination to be honest, which sounds paranoid, but it just feels that way.
Which got me thinking these big companies are getting out of hand. Of course I can't stand Alex Jones and I do think he broke the terms of use. But it seems Twitter at least is just deciding to run roughshod on anyone they just for some reason (because they aren't specific).
So I'm pretty pissed lately about "social media" and while I've never liked it that much I tell you this experience really sucks when a "little fish" like my friend is on the receiving end of this kind of banning. I'm looking forward to more decentralized options that's for sure.
Also in other news - I've had a lot of personal things this week and I missed @calluna 's contest which I'm really beating myself up about because you guys mean a lot to me, and especially she was inspired by an article I had written. Please let her know how much I regret my circumstances. Basically I had 2 tests of different kinds this week and it was very stressful. Hugs to you both.
That really is terrible, they won't even tell him what the offending tweet is?
I think in their eyes they are operating professionally, because we aren't the customer but the commodity. It's the companies who pump millions into these platforms who are the cherished customer. Not that I think that's right or how things should be.
I think my perspective is pretty much the same, but it's not that I agree with these platforms (YouTube, Twitter or Facebook). They are private platforms, owned by private entities and that just means they can do what they want. Personally, I'd like to see some regulations put in place by governments to ensure the fair treatment of their users. In terms of your friend who paid Twitter, I dunno, like if he'd gone to a brick-and-mortar marketing agency, paid them and they acted the same way as Twitter, he'd be covered by consumer rights. I think Twitter and Facebook in particular won't be around forever, they're already showing declines in their userbases.
I think part of the problem is that these companies are constantly playing catch up, chasing their tail. There'll be the newest outrage of the week, they knee-jerk react by culling everything and anything that might be remotely unfriendly towards shareholders or advertisers.
I was just catching up on my YouTube, and saw a video from H3H3 about the Alex Jones thing. Basically, in one of their podcasts recently, they were talking about Jones and showed some of the clips, but part way through the stream they received a community guideline strike from YouTube, completely halting the stream, just because they played some clips from a channel that's recently been banned.
I think that's why I'm feeling so frustrated with Steem and Steemit in part... now is the time to pull the carpet out from under the feet of these ridiculously large tech companies, and yet I see so little effort on their part. HF20 still hasn't arrived, the interface is bare, the hot/trending/promote tabs are pointless and there just isn't enough of a user base (despite 1 million accounts) to build a regular audience, in my opinion anyway.
I've been looking at Narrative a bit more, and I won't be trying to own any of the Niches, but I do think it has an awful lot of potential. From what I can tell, owners get 10%, moderators 30% and creators get 60%. At first glance that doesn't seem like a great deal, however on Steemit we only get 75% anyway. If the owner and moderator do their jobs, promote and look after their niches, you have the potential to create a really engaging platform.
I've also been looking at Medium, which although isn't blockchain or decentralised, you can earn on your work. Also, they are very strictly against fake news and the like, so there's no anti-vaxxers, truthers or general nutjobs about. By selecting the topics you're interested in when you sign up, you can then view only the content you're interested in. I just feel Steemit has so far to go still, and the competition are really upping their game.
I'll let her know for you :) gotta say, you really mean a lot to us too! I hope the tests went ok for you, I know how that can be. Sorry I've bombarded you with walls of text again
You may be right that the SM platforms can censor Alex Jones. It goes against the ethos of free speech but in principle it is their right under the law. It could possibly be that in the terms and services agreement between these private enterprises and their customers it ensures equal treatment of customers on the platform (something quite possible); however, given how slippery corporations are, buried in the contractual legalese there probably is a loophole allowing this.
I for one think this action harms the image of these platforms (which I welcome), pushes Alex Jones to become more radically conspiracy theoristical, and goes against the spirit of Western culture. If legal, then it is legal and not an attack on free speech (a principal regarding state censorship). But government is so corporatist nowadays that these SM platforms are to a not insignificant extent actual wings of the state. In that light, it seemingly is effectively an attack on free speech. Just legally speaking, it is not and the law is king.
In the case of Tommy Robinson, that is a real and outright attack on free speech. I have to disagree. It is a politically motivated miscarriage of justice which silenced and imprisoned Robinson and intimidates others from speaking non-politically supported opinions. That is an attack on free speech.
I shouldn't call them "customers", they're users. The customers are those who by the personal data of the users or buy advertising.
Legally, they absolutely can allow or deny anyone they want and if I felt for a second that Jones was being attacked for his beliefs or views, I too would see this as an attack on free speech. I've listened to his crisis actor rants, and I've also heard his personal attacks on several of the survivors of various school shootings who expressed their right to free speech by speaking up. He is not an advocate for free speech in my opinion, but an out and out confidence man. He has a very clear agenda.
The SM platforms do not treat all their users equally, that much I know. They tend to treat those who earn them the most money with an awful lot more favour than the smaller users, which is why their purges of InfoWars from their platforms is such big news and noteworthy.
On one hand, it might have helped the SM platform's cases if they'd explicitly highlighted the content that had breached the ToS, but drawing a line in the sand like that can also be a bad thing. Does it hurt their image? Yeah, certainly in the eyes of some people, but it's also boosted it in the eyes of others. It's barely been 24 hours so far, but GOOG stock prices are unaffected, but I guess it would take longer to be able to properly gauge that.
Another angle I'm coming at this from is that for most platforms, let's use YouTube as the example here, you are essentially working for YouTube by accepting the community guidelines and ToS and posting content to their platform. If your content is not brand or family friendly, they aren't going to want you anymore.
If Jones was concerned with spreading truth and awareness on topics, he could still do that, but because his wallet is going to be hurting after this purge, that's what he's going to be most upset about.
As for whether SM is another wing of the state, extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof, y'know? I'm not denying that, however at the same time it's certainly not the face of government who are controlling SM (especially after watching the Zuckerberg hearing) and if that really is the case, just don't use social media.
I have views that maybe wouldn't be that popular, so I don't post them online. Someone wants to speak with me in private about anything, I'm down for that. We all have the right to free speech, but we don't have the right to protection from consequences as a result of our speech.
I completely disagree with you with regards to Mr Robinson. He isn't free now, just out on bail as the rushed and unfair nature of the last trial was well, wrong. There's a separate conversation to be had surrounding the laws about not reporting on cases to prevent jurys from being swayed or tampered with, but Robinson is no way an advocate of free speech or justice. A convicted fraudster, founder of the EDL which he abandoned because it got out of his control. He's not a journalist as many have called him either.
Tommy Robinson said in his "reporting" nothing that was not already reported by the media; he read from a guardian article.
Alex Jones supposedly violated the companies' Hate Speech policies. Un-personing him online may be within their legal right but legal sanction does not make it right or smart.
It is easier and probably better to let the market decide whether they want to listen toand support Alex Jones. On online social media platforms the market is the users, not the utility operator/rent seeker.
Been doing a bit more reading on this topic, and I ended up going through the ToS on infowars.com:
So you think Linkedon, Facebook, Google, etc. should take editorial responsibility for their users' activity? They'll be like news organizations. That's an insane task when you have hundreds upon thousands of millions of users to thought police. Maybe doable. That's also big brothering the users b/c it takes responsibility for their online activity away from them. So then if the companies make a mistake, the legal responsibility will be on them now. So from a business model perspective this is again stupid.
No speech should be blackholed imo, if you don't like it don't watch it. People should talk and have discourse its a way to peacefully hash out ideas.
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@steemflagrewards
Reason: Phishing
hi @johngreenfield do apologise for spam which came out from my account last week. my account has been hacked and thatnks to witnesses i have it now back. i hope none of your friends clicked the link my account produced when it was in hand of hackers. i advise all users to be carefull and understand well what the passwords are for and what is the most safe way to use steemit, just so you won't feel victim of hackers, as it happened to me. it may as well happen to any one, hackers doen't care if your account is worthy a lot as they can get to their goal using your account as a tool. don't be naive as i was. stay safe.
good article advising of this type of scam https://steemit.com/steemit/@arcange/phishing-reported-post-copied-without-your-permission
good article how to recover your account once your account has been hacked, as i did :
https://steemit.com/mapsters/@simplymike/got-hacked-here-s-how-to-get-your-account-and-reputation-score-back
guide to passwords on steemit https://steemit.com/steemit-guides/@pfunk/a-user-s-guide-to-the-different-steem-keys-or-passwords
wallet which allowes you to store your passwords securely - hasn't tried this yet but this has been recommended to me by @blocktrades
https://steemit.com/steem/@xeroc/paperwallet-easily-secure-your-account-with-steem-paperwallet-generator
if you see any phishing comment,s just comment 'phishing' and tag @ steamcleaners for your own and others safety. they will do the rest.
if your account has been hacked, go to discord 'account recovery channel' for help, or message @guiltyparties or @blocktrades directly. these guys have helped me to recover my account nad were very helpful. i think that they did great job and therefore i will be voting on them as they are one of witnesses. i know that they would do the same for others.
thanks to all involved again (also people i missed here), i will thank you all again in my post i will do soon. x
Hi @mykitchenlab, I'm so glad you've managed to get your account back, and recovered your reputation score! No need to apologise, it could happen to the best of us but you've handled the situation really well.
Just out of interest, who was it who helped you recover your account?
Thanks for letting me know, and good luck steeming!
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