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Facebook suspends Alex Jones for 30 days

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IMO Jones was specifically chosen as the first target for this because he says things that are impossible to defend.

But the people behind this have a bigger agenda. They are going to end up going after more mainstream
figures on the Right. Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy is already indicating where this is all headed.

http://dailycaller.com/2018/08/06/dem-senator-********-tip-iceberg/

Once you light this fuse, there is no telling where the censorship is going to stop. If it does.

Radio people used to be very strident defenders of the First Amendment. I remember when I was a kid
my mom sent a letter to a local station complaining about the lyrics in some song. The PD sent her a very
impassioned four-page letter defending the station's First Amendment rights, and suggesting that she just
turn her dial to another station. Things sure have changed.

I think frankly what happened here is that Trump used Twitter very successfully in his campaign
and people on the Left are blaming these social media companies for getting him elected. After two
years of constant ear-beatings at Silicon Valley cocktail parties their execs finally decided to act.

(by the way, Louis Farrakhan, still up on all of these social media sites)
 
I trust that people who want to hear Alex Jones, or anybody else for that matter, know how to find him without the middleman, as it were. There is a reason he calls his programming "Info Wars".
 
It was brought out on John Grayson's Overnight America (KMOX 1120) last night, that this will ultimately be decided in the courts, as to whether Youtube is just a common carrier or that they can exercise editorial control over content. Also, this may spur the creation of yet ANOTHER venue where this type of material is allowed.
 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-45107687

http://time.com/5361874/twitter-jack-dorsey-alex-jones-sean-hannity/

Twitter has announced that they will keep the broadcasts of GCN and Alex jones for now

Facing mounting scrutiny for allowing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to remain on the platform, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey gave an exclusive radio interview to Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday, explaining how such decisions are made.

Dorsey said that when considering whether to remove extremist accounts from the site, he relies on reports from users who are experiencing or witnessing harassment and then considers the “context of everything that’s happening around it.”

“There might be violent extremist groups that try to get onto our service, and we take that into consideration. We also look, in those particular cases, at off-platform behavior as well,” he said.

Jones — whose content was removed this week from Facebook, YouTube, Spotify and Apple for violating hate speech guidelines — has fueled false conspiracy theories about the deadly 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting. The conspiracy theories have resulted in harassment and death threats to victims’ family members, some of whom have been forced into hiding and are now suing Jones for defamation. But Twitter has decided not to suspend Jones or his website ********.

“We know that’s hard for many but the reason is simple: he hasn’t violated our rules. We’ll enforce if he does. And we’ll continue to promote a healthy conversational environment by ensuring tweets aren’t artificially amplified,” Dorsey said in a series of tweets on Tuesday. “Truth is we’ve been terrible at explaining our decisions in the past. We’re fixing that. We’re going to hold Jones to the same standard we hold to every account, not taking one-off actions to make us feel good in the short term, and adding fuel to new conspiracy theories.”
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I say if President Trump was not using Twitter then Jones would have been removed from that Platform by now.
 
https://www.polygon.com/2018/3/7/17087668/steemit-dtube-bitchute-youtube-purge

Well there are other places where removed Youtube talent can go to if they were banned,

STeemIt’s CEO Ned Scott doesn’t believe in censorship; a stance that has won him and his platform fans in recent months.

The appeal of video platform, DTube, which runs on the Steem blockchain database, is almost directly tied to what many creators allege has been happening on YouTube for more than a year: the “YouTube Purge,” an alleged condemnation of right-wing political channels, pro-gun advocates and conspiracy theorists, that’s led to claims of censorship on Google’s video platform.


As YouTube attempts to crack down on content it deems hateful, bullying or promoting dangerous conspiracy theories, people are looking for alternatives. DTube is a decentralized video platform with little to no moderation that uses cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to pay its users. BitChute is similar, but whereas DTube takes much of its design inspiration from YouTube, BitChute looks like an older version of LiveLeaks. The creators of BitChute describe themselves as a “small team making a stand against Internet censorship because we believe it is the right thing to do.”

BitChute and DTube don’t rely on advertising revenue. Instead users can send peer-to-peer payments.

It’s a tantalizing prospect for YouTube users who feels like they’ve been pushed off the platform, even if the company feels otherwise. The question is whether an alternative platform can actually compete with YouTube and take some of YouTube’s biggest creators.

BITCHUTE AND DTUBE APPEAL TO A VERY SPECIFIC AUDIENCE
The front page of BitChute greets visitors with videos on very specific topics: Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, censorship and conspiracy theories like “PizzaGate.” Conspiracy videos capitalize on recent tragedies, alleging that survivors of the Parkland high school shooting are crisis actors. DTube isn’t much different.
It’s the type of content that, if they were on YouTube, advertisers wouldn’t want their ads placed on. YouTube has filters for some of its biggest advertisers to help ensure their ads don’t appear on videos they don’t feel comfortable with. Those filters include “Tragedy and Conflict;” “Sensitive Social Issues;” “Sexually Suggestive Content;” “Sensational & Shocking;” and “Profanity & Rough Language,” according to CNN. YouTube isn’t taking these videos down. Type “PizzaGate” into YouTube’s search bar and you’ll find more than 205,000 results, but the chances of these videos being monetized are much slimmer.

SteemIt CEO Ned Scott told Polygon that because YouTube is so reliant on advertisers, the company has to worry about those concerns when thinking of how best to run its platform. SteemIt takes a different approach; one that DTube, which runs on Steem, seems to echo.

“If someone reports a video for infringing on copyright, it’s our legal responsibility to take the video down and investigate, which we’ll do,” Scott said. “But we aren’t policing content.”

Thanks to their laissez faire moderation, DTube and BitChute are becoming home to controversial and disturbing topics. And some of DTube and BitChute’s biggest proponents are notable voices speaking out against the purge on YouTube.

“BUT WE AREN’T POLICING CONTENT”
Dave Cullen is an Irish YouTuber better known as Computing Forever. He gained prominence on YouTube for his ultra-nationalistic, xenophobic views, speaking out about immigration in Ireland. In a recent video, “The Storm is Coming #YouTubePurge,” he explored the idea of finding a new home at YouTube alternatives. Most of these creators are still on YouTube to some extent, but there are ongoing conversations about what comes next. It’s really down to us,” Cullen said. “I hope you’ll support the people who have been affected in the way that they have. It’s just inevitable, whatever happens. I would encourage you to follow everyone you can, myself included, on the alternative platforms and please make that extended effort.

“Because before too long, that’s going to be home. I have a feeling.”

It’s important to acknowledge who some of the biggest proponents are for platforms like BitChute and DTube are. They have the support of prominent alt-right voices, like Cullen; Stefan Molyneux, who is best known for his stance on eugenics and white supremacy; Mike Cernovich, one of the founding leaders of the alt-right; Jack Posobiec, a DeploraBall inauguration party organizer and a pro-Trump figure who headed multiple misinformation campaigns; Ethan Ralph, best known for helping to spearhead the hateful GamerGate movement; and conspiracy theorist Paul Joseph Watson.

“SOCIAL PLATFORMS ARE A NATURAL PLACE TO TEST SOME OF THESE THEORIES”
Companies like Gab, which has been described as the go-to social platform for the alt-right, have publicly shown their support for BitChute. BitChute itself plays into the concept of YouTube censoring content.

The heart of the issue is still how people perceive YouTube and how it polices content; whereas many users see YouTube as a public forum, the fact remains that YouTube is a private company.

YOUTUBE CAN DO WHATEVER IT WANTS
First Amendment activists are quick to cry foul when platforms like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook moderate content in any way, but that’s the company’s prerogative. YouTube isn’t a government body; it’s a business that can moderate its content as it sees fit.

There’s a legal principle that’s often used when discussing this matter: promissory estoppel. Promissory estoppel essentially refers to an informal promise that a company has made, which its users feel beholden to. When Robert Kynlc, YouTube’s head of business, told YouTuber Casey Neistat that the companies four core beliefs are freedom of speech, freedom of information, freedom of opportunity and freedom to belong, people took that to mean any type of speech was allowed.

Woodrow Hartzog, a professor of law and computer science at Northeastern University, told Wired that the issue with the principle is that it’s too broad.

“Social platforms are a natural place to test some of these theories, because of the power that they have and the importance of free speech in our democracy,” Hartzog said.

“WHAT YOUTUBE DOES RESTRICT, AND APPLY COMMUNITY GUIDELINE STRIKES FOR, IS HATEFUL CONTENT”
YouTube is one of the world’s biggest social platforms, and it’s trying to crack down on dangerous content. That’s why conspiracy videos are being removed and why, the company says, moderators may have been a little too aggressive with flagging content and handing out strikes. Still, the company isn’t trying to shut down channels en masse, nor is it trying to restrict content.

PragerU, a right-wing “university” that was designed to exploit YouTube and Google’s algorithm, recently noticed that its videos were restricted. The channel, which has racked up close to a billion views, accused YouTube of censorship. YouTube told The Guardian those accusations were meritless, adding that the videos “weren’t excluded from Restricted Mode [a mode that only showcases certain content] because of politics or ideology.”
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I would think that the purpose of Youtube is to make money. If the offensive material is pulling in views (which can be monetized) then it would be counterproductive to ban it. I think Youtube is just bowing down to the snowflakes at the risk of losing revenue.
I once heard candidate Trump in an interview on the Alex Jones Show, and they were talking like old friends.
 
kf4rca said:
I would think that the purpose of Youtube is to make money. If the offensive material is pulling in views (which can be monetized) then it would be counterproductive to ban it.
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That approach can go both ways. If someone gets killed, you don't want your business to be sued or blamed for the death. That's not good for business either. You see how nervous people get when their personal data gets stolen. So it's more than simple political correctness here, and some of these people are doing very irresponsible things using someone else's platform. Someone has to be the adult in the room.

Lots of people talking about the first amendment without actually reading what it says. It only says "Congress shall make no law." This isn't Congress making laws, but private businesses using their terms of service. Sure none of the social media sites want to get into restricting speech, but some of this has gone beyond what these sites were meant for.
 

Thats Right Alex Jones IT Director put out a Terms of Service for itself and Jones Himself has violated his own rules. And Yes a Competing Youtube Pundit has just dug up GCN's rules on their own sites.
 
Alex is not well known. He would like to be. He is on about 90 stations mostly small market. The local talkers here talk about him like he's big time. But he is only on 2 hrs a week on the number 3 talk station.
 
TheBigA said:
That approach can go both ways. If someone gets killed, you don't want your business to be sued or blamed for the death. That's not good for business either. You see how nervous people get when their personal data gets stolen. So it's more than simple political correctness here, and some of these people are doing very irresponsible things using someone else's platform. Someone has to be the adult in the room.


There is another talker who got himself in BIG trouble. Hal Turner espoused the murder of Federal judges on his SW outlet (WBCQ 7490). He ended up spending 33 months in the clink. His SW outlet was not prosecuted for carrying his message. The station broadcasts a disclaimer and even promotes that "you can use your (paid for) air time to say whatever you want." Including four-letter words.
Now, it probably didn't help that Hal was a former (disgruntled) FBI agent. He quit the FBI after being transferred to the entrapment division which operates a kiddie porn website.
Of course, we are not surprised at that, now that it has been revealed that the FBI is corrupt from the top (James Comey) down.
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kf4rca said:
Now, it probably didn't help that Hal was a former (disgruntled) FBI agent. He quit the FBI after being transferred to the entrapment division which operates a kiddie porn website.
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Fake news. He never was an agent. It came up during his trial. Do we really want people using the airwaves to threaten people?
 
Nevertheless, he spent time in the clink and his station was not prosecuted. Fortunately, no judges were harmed by nutjobs. I believe the judges are concealed & carry anyway.
 
kf4rca said:
Nevertheless, he spent time in the clink and his station was not prosecuted. Fortunately, no judges were harmed by nutjobs. I believe the judges are concealed & carry anyway.
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He doesn't own the station, however, the owner had run pirate stations. So he's not qualified to own an broadcast station.

I don't know the rules for owning a short wave station.

BTW G. Gordon Liddy was a convicted felon and he hosted a radio show for many years. And very clearly identified himself as a convicted felon. The mistake people like Alex Jones make is they flaunt their activities. He spent many years under the radar and was left alone. They he became famous and people started to realize he was a problem. Lots of people break the speed limit. But when you do it in front of a parked police car, you're more likely to get pulled over.
 
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I remember G. Gordon Liddy. He was on in this market. I remember he said "go for the head."
Alex Jones is enjoying the spotlight. Ideally he would like to be up there like Rush Limbaugh. (Alex occasionally ruffles a newspaper like Rush does.)
It takes the same thing to own an SW station as it takes to own an AM or FM station and that's CA$H.
 
https://www.businessinsider.com/vim...*******-conspiracy-theorist-alex-jones-2018-8

Vimeo ( YouTube's internet TV competitor) has boycotted Alex Jones.

. Vimeo has removed Alex Jones' ******** from its platform for violating the company's Terms of Service standards, a Vimeo spokesperson told Business Insider on Sunday.

The videos, posted on Thursday and Friday "violated our Terms of Service prohibitions on discriminatory and hateful content," the spokesperson said, adding that Vimeo had notified the account owner and issued a refund, as "we do not want to profit from content of this nature in any way."

******** became a hot-button topic internally at Vimeo last week, Business Insider has learned, with several employees at the company upset that the account was allowed to remain on the platform. Employees took to messaging platform Slack to discuss their dissatisfaction with the company's handling of the issue, sources said.

Vimeo's decision comes on the heels of Facebook, YouTube and Apple recently removing videos by ******** and its founder Alex Jones. In the videos, he denounced Muslim immigrants to Europe and the creators of a transgender cartoon. Twitter, on the other hand, has yet to remove Jones or ******** from its platform. .
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Yes as expected companies like Apple, Facebook, YouTube and Vimeo has now boycotted Jones but how do the Owners like GCN respond to the boycotts. At some point GCN themselves will have to face the same backlash that YouTube is facing over the Alex Jones broadcasts.
 
RadioPatrol said:
Yes as expected companies like Apple, Facebook, YouTube and Vimeo has now boycotted Jones but how do the Owners like GCN respond to the boycotts. At some point GCN themselves will have to face the same backlash that YouTube is facing over the Alex Jones broadcasts.
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Apparently the Jones show isn't ad supported, so there is no ad boycott.

RadioInk has an article today from a broadcast lawyer on the subject:

https://radioink.com/2018/08/13/the-dividing-line-of-irresponsible-content/
 
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