Tech platforms quit Alex Jones and InfoWars

[drpfenderson]

Relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/1357/

[Lexicat]

The fuck does the 1st amendment have to do with Alex Jones’ bullshit getting kicked off of privately owned media channels?

EDIT: Read the comment just above mine.

[GulliverFoyle]

@Lexicat

EDIT: Read the comment just above mine.

There’s an xkcd for every occasion.

[NovaeDeArx]

@Lexicat

The fuck does the 1st amendment have to do with Alex Jones’ bullshit getting kicked off of privately owned media channels?

Same old shit; there’s a shocking number of people on a normally-very-liberal, well-educated board that really wanted to get in very quickly (always within the first few comments, hmm) and muddy the waters here. Which is strange, because this is a phenomenon we see occur a lot when info sources close to Russian interests are getting de-platformed.

Sometimes it’s just people who don’t understand 1A versus private platforms who got wound up and just had to post everywhere, other times it’s bots. Hard to tell which without digging through people’s post history, and even then it can be difficult to be certain.

[mr_raccoon]

Add YouTube to that list of places he’s perma banned on

Polygon (Polygon)

At least all the memes on YouTube that mock him will continue to live on there

[gracchus]

@Kimmo

Come on, Google.

Breaking:

YouTube removes Alex Jones' page, following bans from Apple and Facebook

Apparently he broke YT’s terms of service by trying to circumvent a suspension by taking his poison to other channels, sort of like the losers here who get banned but keep coming back under different names thinking they’re fooling everyone.

[nodolra]

@GulliverFoyle

The violence of state censorship is a real threat not to be conflated with private companies closing social media accounts.

The idea that private platforms may exercise their own 1A rights by closing accounts whose speech they disagree with is a fine one, so long as those platforms aren’t so large and monopolistic that alternative venues for speech don’t exist.

If there are many different private platforms for speech and they all think you’re an asshole whose opinions are a waste of bandwidth and ban you, you’re probably a dangerous asshole and ought to be silenced. If there’s only one platform that matters, they get to silence any speech they disagree with, and that is when private censorship becomes a threat on par with state censorship.

I don’t think we’re quite there yet, but Google and Facebook are close. If speech that happens to piss off Google can get you erased from the Internet…

(The solution is to break up big platforms like Facebook and Google, not to require them to provide a platform for fuckwits like Alex Jones, of course.)

[GulliverFoyle]

There are a couple of issues to unpack there including anti-trust laws and information commons.

But with regard to the free speech issues, we’ve had a pretty robust discussion going for a while on the topic. I strongly encourage channeling those aspects of the discussion into the pertinent thread…

Freeze Peach (USA)

This is a thread to discuss the limits of free speech, both legal and moral, the consequences, both legal and social, and the best way to fight hate speech. I ask that everyone acknowledge that we all oppose hate speech, but we sometimes differ on what we see as the best way to fight it. There will also inevitably be some disagreement on what constitutes a threat under current laws in various countries, and what practically constitutes a material threat irrespective of laws. I ask that everyone…

[alahmnat]

This feels like the 21st century equivalent of nailing Al Capone for tax fraud. Sure, great, but really that’s the thing that finally did him in? Seriously?

I kind of get the sense that YouTube saw the tide turning and had to cast around for some new violation they could use as an excuse, since they’d already made it clear that they didn’t think his existing violations were sufficient to justify banning him outright.

[mr_raccoon]

John Fugelsang (JohnFugelsang)

[caze]

Don’t forget the Interdimensional Machine Elves!

[Mister44]

Jesus Christ dude. Ixnay on the interndimentionalyay achinemay elvesyay… You can’t actually SAY their name! You want to get us all disassembled in the middle of the night?

[Brainspore]

@Dioptase1

Larry Flynt : “If the First Amendment will protect a scumbag like me, it will protect all of you.”

Larry Flynt never tried to force anyone’s newsstands to sell his magazines.

[generic_name]

“This is about free speech! They’re trying to take away my right to yell FIRE! in a crowded theater!”

[smulder]

@Mister44

in league with both the Gay Martians™ and

I forgot that’s an actual thing he believes

NASA promises there aren't any child slaves on Mars

sfgate.com/weird/article/NASA-No-we-don-t-have-child-slave-colonies-on-11259620.php

[emo_pinata]

“Believes” is a very strong word here.

[Mister44]

The Conspiracy is much older!

[jandrese]

There was a hearing a couple of months ago where Alex Jones explained that he plays a character on a show and that he doesn’t personally believe what he says. He’s a professional troll.

IMHO, this is worse because it’s so manipulative. If he were a true believer then I could maybe hope that with some meds he could be cured somewhat, but if it’s all an act that ends with someone dying then that’s unforgivable.

[macunningham]

This issue here is not a First Amendment issue nor is it a TOS issue. The issue is that these companies were totally okay with profiting off this ass-wipe as long as it was good for business. None of them were required to give him a platform in the first place. For them to hide behind their TOS as the reason his ass was dropped is just as cowardly of an excuse as his supporters using 1A to hide what his message was all about. Google, Facebook, Spotify, Apple, et al. don’t owe us an explanation of why they let him go, they owe us an explanation of why they kept him on.

[mr_raccoon]

The Smoking Gun (tsgnews)

Wall Street to Alex Jones: