Facebook & Co.
Congress Escalates Pressure on Tech Giants to Censor More, Threatening the First Amendment (20/2-21): In their zeal for control over online speech, House Democrats are getting closer and closer to the constitutional line, if they have not already crossed it.
"The power to control the flow of information and the boundaries of permissible speech is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime. It is a power as intoxicating as it is menacing."
What can one say?!? Disgusting, totally wrong, appalling, and dangerous; at least that. Facebook is finally banning vaccine misinformation (8/2-21)
On 17 Jan. '21, WikiLeaks dedusted this article from 2014 when Assange's book "When Google Met Wikileaks" came out, with a comment: "Understanding the roots of Big Tech censorship efforts — 'Google is not what it seems'"
Wow! Jimmy Dore nailed it!!! — Tech censorship: President Trump should pardon Julian Assange (16/1-21)
Trump’s been deleted from internet, and any one of us could be next (14/1-21): We’ve been shown the wall at the back of the teatre, and we’re being encouraged to cheer because the first person to run into it was Donald Trump.
Facebook Locks Out Ron Paul Following Column Criticizing Big Tech Censorship, Cites 'Error (11/1-21): “So what is to be done? Even pro-free speech alternative social media outlets are under attack from the Big Tech/government Leviathan. There are no easy solutions. But we must think back to the dissidents in the era of Soviet tyranny,” Paul wrote.“They had no Internet. They had no social media. They had no ability to communicate with thousands and millions of like-minded, freedom lovers. Yet they used incredible creativity in the face of incredible adversity to continue pushing their ideas. Because no army – not even Big Tech partnered with Big Government - can stop an idea whose time has come. And Liberty is that idea. We must move forward with creativity and confidence!”
The Democrat-Big Tech censorship alliance just ran a masterclass in media control for dictators around the world (9/1-21): Despite the mewling of the spineless American media, the real coup this week wasn’t committed by President Trump’s supporters, but by his opponents. They’re writing a manual on modern regime change, and it’s ready for export.
Freedom of expression is under attack (10/1-21): Big corporations now determine the acceptable speech in society and their power is absolute.
By banning Trump and his supporters, Google and Twitter are turning the US into a facsimile of the regimes we once condemned (9/1-21): Tech companies were once the primary tools of US “soft power” used to overthrow authoritarian regimes by exporting ‘digital democracy’. Now they employ the same tactics of suppression as those regimes to silence dissent at home.
Throughout 2020, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have been censoring, suppressing, and flagging any coronavirus-related information that goes against WHO recommendations as a matter of policy, just as Event 201 had recommended. Big tech COVID-19 surveillance data & censorship threaten privacy & free speech:
As both the guardian of data and gatekeeper of information, big tech can easily be tempted towards tyranny with its dominance over the flow of information through search, news, and social media.
A population cannot make informed decisions when all the information is controlled by a few companies in Silicon Valley or else it risks trading a republic for an un-elected technocracy.
What will become of the COVID-19 data once the pandemic is over and how long will big tech continue to censor those that go against its rules, even when they speak truth to power?
The future is being determined now.
14/12-20: The FTC is investigating data collection at YouTube, Facebook, and seven other companies: “The Federal Trade Commission announced that it is ordering nine social media and video streaming companies — including Amazon, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, Discord, Facebook, Reddit, Snap, Twitter, WhatsApp, and YouTube — to provide data on how they collect and use personal information provided by their users. The companies have 45 days to respond.”
Wow, what an interesting list of articles on Facebook on The Verge!
9/12-20: The FTC is suing Facebook to unwind its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, and a separate lawsuit is also being brought by 48 state attorneys general: “New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a massive antitrust lawsuit against Facebook, claiming the social media giant has harmed competition by buying up smaller companies like Instagram and WhatsApp to squash the threat they posed to its business. Forty-seven other state and regional attorneys general are joining the suit.”
9/12-20: The Federal Trade Commission Sues Facebook for Illegal Monopolization — The FTC challenges Facebook’s multi-year course of unlawful conduct: “The Federal Trade Commission today sued Facebook, alleging that the company is illegally maintaining its personal social networking monopoly through a years-long course of anticompetitive conduct. Following a lengthy investigation in cooperation with a coalition of attorneys general of 46 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam, the complaint alleges that Facebook has engaged in a systematic strategy—including its 2012 acquisition of up-and-coming rival Instagram, its 2014 acquisition of the mobile messaging app WhatsApp, and the imposition of anticompetitive conditions on software developers—to eliminate threats to its monopoly. This course of conduct harms competition, leaves consumers with few choices for personal social networking, and deprives advertisers of the benefits of competition.”
Facebook targets 'false news' amid growing pressure from advertisers (29/6-20)
YouTube's CEO suggested content that 'goes against' WHO guidance on the coronavirus will get banned (23 April 2020): In the interview for CNN, she says the online video giant is focused on "raising authoritative information," like videos from news sources, and removing information that is false and "medically unsubstantiated." She also discusses the "acceleration of our digital lives" brought on by the pandemic.
Twitter (11/5-20): Updating our approach to misleading information