Censorship in the news

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GOOGLE, OTHER TECH PLATFORMS CENSOR CONSERVATIVES​


It's no secret that progressives tend to hate big business.

"Fascism should rightly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power," according to Benito Mussolini.

But what the good people of the United States may not know is how far this collusion goes: Corporations with billions of dollars obviously lobby governments — both state and federal — for favors regarding laws, regulations and kickbacks.

A popular form of these favors are subsidies, which are essentially government-sanctioned monetary grants given to a person, business or group "in support of an enterprise regarded as being in the public interest." But the main thing to know about subsidies is that they are our tax dollars.

This means that at best, the government is trying to help invigorate the economy by injecting capital into businesses and causes it deems worthy. At worst, this means government is picking winners and losers without adequate input from the public, and often government makes the wrong choices — especially when the "winners" are corporations with plenty of money to lobby the government for said subsidies. This is what many folks refer to as "corporate welfare," "crony capitalism" or just "crapitalism."

The surprising thing is how many left-leaning multi-billion dollar companies are out there that receive your tax dollars in subsidies every year, in addition to their own profits.

Google is the top tech company that receives government subsidies, picking up more than $630 million from states like Oregon, North Carolina and a few others.

What does a multi-billion dollar company that controls the majority of the world’s Internet need with more than $630 million in government subsidies, you ask?

Well, you know, for things like property taxes and training reimbursements.

What, do you all think that money just grows on trees?! Also, don’t even think about googling "Google government subsidies" because THEY WILL KNOW ABOUT IT.


https://mic.com/articles/85101/10-corporations-receiving-massive-public-subsidies-from-taxpayers#.bOv2ocX7s
 
Google just the world's biggest purveyor of information; it is also the world's biggest censor.

The company maintains at least nine different blacklists that impact our lives, generally without input or authority from any outside advisory group, industry association or government agency.

Google is not the only company suppressing content on the internet.

Reddit has frequently been accused of banning postings on specific topics, and a recent report suggests that Facebook has been deleting conservative news stories from its newsfeed, a practice that might have a significant effect on public opinion – even on voting. Google, though, is currently the biggest bully on the block.

When Google's employees or algorithms decide to block our access to information about a news item, political candidate or business, opinions and votes can shift, reputations can be ruined and businesses can crash and burn.

Because online censorship is entirely unregulated at the moment, victims have little or no recourse when they have been harmed.

Eventually, authorities will almost certainly have to step in, just as they did when credit bureaus were regulated in 1970. The alternative would be to allow a large corporation to wield an especially destructive kind of power that should be exercised with great restraint and should belong only to the public: the power to shame or exclude.

If Google were just another mom-and-pop shop with a sign saying "we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone," that would be one thing. But as the golden gateway to all knowledge, Google has rapidly become an essential in people's lives – nearly as essential as air or water.

We don't let public utilities make arbitrary and secretive decisions about denying people services; we shouldn't let Google do so either.


https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2016-06-22/google-is-the-worlds-biggest-censor-and-its-power-must-be-regulated
 
For years, Google has called for "the free flow of information" on the internet.

How does that square with its YouTube subsidiary's apparent bias against conservative content?

Answer: It doesn't.

YouTube promises that it is "a community where everyone's voice can be heard."

But that promise doesn't apply if the voice espouses conservative viewpoints.

https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/google-should-practice-what-it-preaches-on-net-neutrality/
 
Social media platforms censor conservatives. Now their revenue is declining

The major social platforms are showing a significant slowdown in users.

Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat all reported slowing or declining users on the platforms for the most recent quarter.

The three biggest public social media companies have reported earnings for the latest quarter, and all three reported slowing or declining users on their respective platforms.

Snap reported a drop in daily active users on a quarter-over-quarter basis for the second quarter. Facebook reported a drop in monthly users on a quarter-over-quarter basis.





https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/08/social-media-active-users-around-the-world.html
 
DEMOCRATS planning government censorship of the Internet; Could JPP be deplatformed?

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A leaked memo circulating among Senate DEMOCRATScontains a host of authoritarian proposals for regulating digital platforms. To save American trust in "our institutions, democracy, free press, and markets," it suggests, we need unprecedented and undemocratic government intervention into online press and markets, including "comprehensive data protection legislation."

Titled "Potential Policy Proposals for Regulation of Social Media and Technology Firms," the draft policy paper—penned by Sen. Mark Warner, suggests forcing social media platforms to authenticate and disclose the geographic origin of all user accounts or posts, forcing social media and tech platforms to authenticate user identities, making it a rule that tech platforms must turn over internal data to "independent public interest researchers" that could be used to "inform actions by regulators or Congress."



https://reason.com/blog/2018/07/31/democrats-tech-policy-plans-leaked
 
Facebook censorship led to a decline in revenue, apparently

Pawar Law Group announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of shareholders who purchased shares of Facebook, Inc. FB+0.75% from April 26, 2018 through July 25, 2018, inclusive (the "Class Period"). The lawsuit seeks to recover damages for Facebook investors under the federal securities laws.

To join the Facebook class action, go to http://pawarlawgroup.com/cases/facebook-inc-2/ or call Vik Pawar, Esq. toll-free at 888-589-9804 or email vik@pawarlawgroup.com for information on the class action.


https://www.marketwatch.com/amp/story/guid/51a0532f-a54d-4854-accd-7cf02c351c8d
 
Remember, they already shut down Trump's twitter account once

Yesterday Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey signaled a coming change to his company’s speech policies.

Twitter employees are unhappy that Twitter has yet to join Facebook, Spotify, Apple and YouTube in banning right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

Twitter is planning to accelerate a crackdown on “hate speech” and is looking to evaluate whether to punish users for “off-platform behavior,” according to a company-wide email sent on Wednesday.

Employees want the company to ban right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and President Donald Trump.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, responding to a critical tweet from a Twitter engineer, said Wednesday he is “not happy” with Twitter’s current policies, which he said need to “evolve.”

Twitter vice president Del Harvey also sent a company-wide email Wednesday pledging to accelerate Twitter’s efforts to crack down on “dehumanizing hate speech,” in the wake of internal “conversations.”

“There is no honor in resisting ‘outside pressure’, just to pat ourselves on the back for being ‘impartial,'” Twitter engineer Marina Zhao said.

Twitter is already under scrutiny for censoring and suppressing conservatives on its platform.

In July, twitter suppressed four Republican congressmen on the site due to an algorithm change meant to punish “bad-faith actors.” All four are members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. Twitter later said the suppression wasn’t intentional and that the congressmen’s accounts were penalized for "having the wrong followers".


http://dailycaller.com/2018/08/08/twitter-jack-dorsey-hate-speech-policy/
 
Liberals love censorship of people they don't like; so do Communists

Should Google change its famous motto “Don’t be evil” to something like “Don’t be evil when it’s convenient, but it’s okay to be evil when it means new markets and more profit?”

The question is pertinent, because The Intercept has reported that Google plans to launch a censored version of its search engine in China, pending the approval of Communist regulators.

China has one of the world’s worst records on internet freedom.

The Chinese government has a large army of censors to scrub the internet to their liking in real time.

Under President Xi Jinping, the Communist government has further tightened its control over its people’s right to free expression.

Chinese censors cast a very wide net of control. Whether it’s The Wall Street Journal site or the image of Winnie the Pooh, whether it’s a serious topic or something funny — anything the government doesn’t like, or any phrase or images even remotely associated to anything the government doesn’t like, is either banned, blocked or simply disappears.

http://thefederalist.com/2018/08/06/google-refuses-assist-u-s-military-bends-chinas-communist-censors/
 
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