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Alex Jones shut down on the internet

#1
Magical Realist Offline
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/06/techn...otify.html

"Top technology companies erased most of the posts and videos on their services from Alex Jones, the internet’s notorious conspiracy theorist, thrusting themselves into a fraught debate over their role in regulating what can be said online.

Apple, Google, Facebook and Spotify severely restricted the reach of Mr. Jones and Infowars, his right-wing site that has been a leading peddler of false information online. Mr. Jones and Infowars have used social media for years to spread dark and bizarre theories, such as that the Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax and that Democrats run a global child-sex ring. Apple made its move on Sunday and the others followed on Monday.

The actions, one of the tech companies’ most aggressive efforts against misinformation, highlighted a difficult dilemma for their businesses. They have long desired to combat misinformation online, but they have also been reluctant to be arbiters of truth.

But since a rise of misinformation online around elections, such as the 2016 presidential vote, the tech companies have faced increasing calls from lawmakers and the news media to address their role in that spread of false information and a related increase in partisan divisions. The tech companies have recently stepped up enforcement — but that has led to accusations of political bias, largely from conservatives.

The moves over the last two days helped fuel that debate. “Whether you like @RealAlexJones and Infowars or not, he is undeniably the victim today of collusion by the big tech giants,” Nigel Farage, a British conservative politician, said on Twitter. Mr. Farage helped lead the successful campaign for the country to leave the European Union and has been interviewed by Mr. Jones. “What price free speech?”

Apple on Sunday removed five of the six Infowars podcasts on its popular Podcasts app. Commenting on the move, a spokeswoman said, “Apple does not tolerate hate speech.”

Facebook, Spotify and Google’s YouTube site, which removed some Infowars content last week, followed with stronger measures on Monday. Facebook removed four pages belonging to Mr. Jones, including one with nearly 1.7 million followers as of last month, for violating its policies by “glorifying violence” and “using dehumanizing language to describe people who are transgender, Muslims and immigrants.” Facebook said the violations did not relate to “false news.”

YouTube terminated Mr. Jones’s channel, which had more than 2.4 million subscribers and billions of views on its videos, for repeatedly violating its policies, including its prohibition on hate speech. Spotify cited its own prohibition on hate speech as the reason for removing a podcast by Mr. Jones.

Mr. Jones and Infowars are leaders in using the internet to spread right-wing conspiracy theories, an effort that was aided after Donald J. Trump appeared on Mr. Jones’s show during the 2016 presidential campaign and praised Mr. Jones’s reputation as “amazing.” Mr. Jones has repeatedly claimed that the government staged the Oklahoma City bombing, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and numerous other mass shootings and tragedies.


Mr. Jones is facing defamation lawsuits filed by the parents of victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting for claiming that the shooting was an elaborate hoax. Most of Mr. Jones’s conspiracies push a theme that a global cabal of political and corporate leaders run the world’s institutions to brainwash citizens and take away their rights. Mr. Jones partly finances his operation by selling expensive nutritional supplements and vitamins between Infowars segments.

“To many, Jones is a bad joke,” said the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups. “But the sad reality is that he has millions of followers who listen to his radio show, watch his ‘documentaries’ and read his websites, and some of them, like Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, resort to deadly violence.”

Mr. Jones and Infowars did not respond to requests for comment.

In a message posted on Twitter on Monday, Mr. Jones said: “The censorship of Infowars just vindicates everything we’ve been saying. Now, who will stand against Tyranny and who will stand for free speech? We’re all Alex Jones now.” He railed against the tech companies on his live show on Monday, which was streamed on the Infowars website, saying their moves were part of a leftist agenda in advance of the midterm elections. “I told you this was coming,” he said to viewers.

The big tech firms that control, via their websites and apps, how much of the world’s media content is distributed have faced criticism in recent weeks for enabling Mr. Jones and Infowars.

Some tech companies, including Facebook and Google, had appeared reluctant to remove Mr. Jones’s pages entirely and were instead taking action against specific videos or podcasts. YouTube, for instance, recently deleted four of Mr. Jones’s videos.

A Google spokesman said on Monday that YouTube terminated Mr. Jones’s channel outright because he continued to flout policies he had already been penalized for violating.


Mr. Jones had amassed millions of followers, but limiting his influence does not solve the problem of false news. Hundreds of smaller publishers promote similar conspiracy theories, and millions of followers help spread those theories by reposting them. A new conspiracy theory called Qanon, for instance, has been gaining traction outside of Mr. Jones’s sphere. And Infowars followers can also still repost videos and articles from the site onto YouTube and Facebook.

But the moves are a significant hit to Mr. Jones’s ability to reach wide audiences, and particularly new followers. YouTube was a particularly important distribution channel, in part because YouTube’s recommendation engine frequently surfaced past Infowars videos to users who had shown interest in conservative topics. Terminating his YouTube channel erases all of its past videos and restricts it from posting new ones.

Mr. Jones and Infowars still have other ways to reach listeners and readers. They have increasingly been directing viewers to visit the Infowars website, which would limit their reliance on the tech companies, presumably foreseeing the bans. Twitter has not restricted the accounts of Mr. Jones or Infowars. A Twitter spokesman said the accounts were not in violation of Twitter’s rules.

Other tech companies’ approach has been uneven; they have left up Infowars content on some of their services despite removing it from others.

Infowars introduced a new smartphone app last month that is finding users on Apple’s App store and Google’s Play Store. From July 12 through Monday, the Infowars app was, on average, the 23rd most popular news app on the Google Play store and the 33rd most popular news app on Apple’s App Store, according to App Annie, an app analytics firm. On Monday, the Infowars app ranked ahead of apps like BuzzFeed and The Wall Street Journal on Google, and ahead of apps like MSNBC and Bloomberg on Apple.

Apple decided to allow the Infowars app on its store after reviewing it, according to a person close to the company who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Google Play Store has different policies than YouTube, a Google spokesman said.

Matt Rivitz, a freelance copywriter who helps run a Twitter account, Sleeping Giants, that pressures companies to distance themselves from far-right groups, said Monday that the tech companies’ nearly simultaneous moves against Mr. Jones proved they were acting in response to public pressure, not new data showing he broke rules.

“The timing is very puzzling because he’s been saying this stuff for years and they haven’t done anything,” Mr. Rivitz said.

Conservatives warned that more sites would be cut off soon.

“To all other conservative news outlets — you are next,” Paul Joseph Watson, a right-wing commentator and Infowars contributor, said on Twitter on Monday. “The great censorship purge has truly begun.”
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#2
C C Offline
Hasta la vista, baby.

InfoWars (stylized as INFOWARS) is a far-right American conspiracy theorist and fake news website and media platform owned by Alex Jones's Free Speech Systems LLC. It was founded in 1999.

Talk shows and other content are created primarily in studios at an undisclosed location in an industrial area outside Austin, Texas. The InfoWars website receives approximately 10 million monthly visits, making it more visited than some mainstream news websites such as The Economist and Newsweek.

The site has regularly published fake stories which have been linked to harassment of victims. In February 2018, Alex Jones, the publisher, director and owner of InfoWars, was accused of discrimination and sexually harassing employees. InfoWars, and in particular Jones, advocate numerous conspiracy theories particularly around purported domestic false flag operations by the U.S. Government (which they allege include the 9/11 attacks and Sandy Hook shootings). InfoWars has issued retractions various times as a result of legal challenges.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InfoWars

~
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#3
Syne Offline
Chilling. Tech becoming the nanny state the leftists wish they could make the government.
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#4
Magical Realist Offline
You have a right to free speech. But nobody is obligated to supply you with a giant megaphone.
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#5
Yazata Offline
I've never paid any attention to Alex Jones, but I just found and bookmarked his website. If the New Totalitarians are so afraid of it, then it has to be at the very least interesting and perhaps valuable.

(Aug 7, 2018 09:11 PM)Syne Wrote: Chilling. Tech becoming the nanny state the leftists wish they could make the government.

Exactly.

Back in the 1990's, the internet was supposed to be this revolutionary free-speech mechanism, something impossible to censor, something that gave everyone a voice.

But now 20 years later, everything seems to be channeled through "social media".

What scares me is the extent to which Google controls search.

There are definitely attempts being made out there to control the public's access to information.

The internet in the United States is starting to move in the same direction it's taken in the People's Republic of China.
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#6
Syne Offline
Actually, content platforms are legally free from liability, such as copyright infringement and criminal threats/enabling, because they do not editorialize/control the content.
The closer they get to curtailing content based on bias, rather than based on law, the more they flirt with being held liable for everything on their platform. Once they determine content, they become a distributor instead of just a platform.

No one forces anyone to view Infowars content. So it's only a megaphone for people who seek it out. I don't, and I never see Alex Jones stuff.
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#7
Secular Sanity Offline
(Aug 7, 2018 09:34 PM)Syne Wrote: Actually, content platforms are legally free from liability, such as copyright infringement and criminal threats/enabling, because they do not editorialize/control the content.

With the exception of the new Sesta/Fosta law, of course, but it’s their platform. They’re the ones with the resources, opportunities, and access. They can do what they want.

Does Alex Jones play golf?

Uh-oh! Zuckerberg likes golf but Sundar Pichai likes football.  Jones is from Texas, though.  That might work.  Hey, Tim Cook likes to hike. That’s right up my alley.  Well, if all else fails, I mean…he could offer to watch 'em shower.  Big Grin
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#8
Syne Offline
Yep, they can do what they want...all the way to being held liable for content as a publisher, and open to lawsuits.

Personally, I couldn't care less about Alex Jones, and regardless of the noble intent, Sesta/Fosta seems a move in the wrong direction.
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#9
stryder Offline
(Aug 7, 2018 09:34 PM)Yazata Wrote: I've never paid any attention to Alex Jones, but I just found and bookmarked his website. If the New Totalitarians are so afraid of it, then it has to be at the very least interesting and perhaps valuable.

(Aug 7, 2018 09:11 PM)Syne Wrote: Chilling. Tech becoming the nanny state the leftists wish they could make the government.

Exactly.

Back in the 1990's, the internet was supposed to be this revolutionary free-speech mechanism, something impossible to censor, something that gave everyone a voice.

But now 20 years later, everything seems to be channeled through "social media".

What scares me is the extent to which Google controls search.

There are definitely attempts being made out there to control the public's access to information.

The internet in the United States is starting to move in the same direction it's taken in the People's Republic of China.

During the 1990's when I was first introduced to the internet, the circles I ran in had the very real concerns about large corporations and what they would eventually attempt to do to the internet.
Back then there was a lot of Internet Explorer or Nescape "sucks" icons that webmaster's were using to show their dis-appreciation for the limitation of available browsers and how corporations at the time could literally decide what people saw. Compuserve and AOL literally had intranets that people didn't even know how to leave the "safety" of (they were the first Nannydoms and incidentally monopolisers of international-network connectivity.)

The internet then was a wash with people's freedom after having watched things like the Berlin wall collapse and the rationalisation was that tomorrow would be freedom in limitless abound.

The problem of course was Commercialisation of the internet, which the first "Dot Boom, Dot Bang" occurred. (That was the initial phase were companies rolled out to embrace the internet, with large stock takings that cause increase in prices before crashing to the point where the companies failed)

That initial "Dot Bomb" caused companies to rethink their strategies and this is where the infantile Facebook and Google stepped in and up, without looking back since. This was/is the rise of the Zaibatsu that freeloving "anarchists" (In name only, not destructive potential) has constantly been warning about.

The internets evolution as remarkable in some ways has also been a blighted by corruption where key influencers have perverted to suit their narratives. The internet should really have been split asunder like the proverbial baby, where the wild west freedom could have been maintain on the original branch and the other branch would be been the corporate/government drone that only they seem to appreciate. (The virtualnation of Nannydom) Alas the problem is the internet has been transpired to be the "One hat that suits them all", it's no longer looking as dapper.
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