Long before INFOWARS’ Alex Jones was censored by Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Spotify, etc., and Apple removed his app, because he had violated the company’s rules against “objectionable content,” America, like many other nations has been silencing voices that challenge establishment agendas.
In the United States, which promotes the free speech myth while stifling real free speech (as evidenced by the recent overt censorship trends by the tech giants), just five mega-corporations monopolize over 90 percent of the broadcast media. They control the message and champion their own messengers.
For example, recent, fast-evolving events across the vast social and digital media landscapes are setting off new censorship alarms. They clearly signal that the keepers of the technologies that dominate social media that the world now uses and depends on, will decide for you what is credible content and what isn’t.
Look no further than Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg’s and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s recent testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
It could not be clearer: These tech giants will aggressively, relentlessly smoke out the “bad actors” and “block them,” and you too, of course, from sharing any “undesired” content.
As Sandberg put it: “When we find content that violates our policies, we will take it down… This is an arms race, and that means we need to be ever more vigilant.”
What policies? Who makes these decisions? What about Freedom of Speech, the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution?
And the Intelligence Committee Senators – without an ounce of intelligence or respect for the Constitution – did not question or challenge the dictates of the Silicon Valley Lords.
Indeed, it is well outside the parameters of First Amendment rights to arbitrarily, subjectively, and without any accountability anoint “Her Majesty, Queen Sandberg” to define for all of us peasants of Slavelandia what Facebook constitutes as “good speech” and what is “bad speech.”
Sandberg also declared that Facebook’s “fact checkers” decide what is legitimate content and what isn’t. And when content is “marked as false,” Facebook will, “…dramatically decrease the distribution on our site. We warn you if you’re about to share it, we warn you if you have shared it, and importantly, we show related articles next to that, so people can see alternative facts.”
This spectacle was one of many recent examples clearly showing that these monopolistic tech giants are working hand-in-glove with government to restrict free speech, and censor anti-establishment voices.
Sandberg also told the committee that Facebook is a willing ally of U.S. spy agencies: “As part of official investigations, government officials sometimes request data about people who use Facebook. We have an easily accessible online portal and processes in place to handle these government requests.”
Yet there is no discernible outrage over a few, arrogant billionaire geeks telling us what to say, how to say it, what we should see and what we should believe.
And this isn’t an American issue, it is global.
The European Union, for example, is developing legislation that will force tech companies to censor “extremist” content. The law will require companies such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter to swiftly remove any content they consider inappropriate from their platforms.
Earlier this year, the European Commission gave those companies three months to demonstrate that they were removing “extremist” content more rapidly, or face legislation forcing them to do so.
And despite claims in the United States that they are censoring just “extremists” and “conspiracy theorists,” last September, the World Socialist Web Site ( WSWS.org ) crafted an open letter to Google accusing the tech giant of censoring left-wing, anti-war and socialist web sites, stating “Stop the censorship of the Internet! Stop the political blacklisting of the World Socialist Web Site!”
The WSWS presented evidence showing, “Google is manipulating its internet searches,” in order to, “block news that your company does not want reported and to suppress opinions with which you do not agree.”
Google is indeed intensifying its censorship of left-wing and anti-war websites. Traffic on thirteen left-wing sites have declined 50 percent. TJ
TRENDPOST
We forecast that censorship of media will escalate throughout the “free” world. In many countries, especially in the Divided States of America, people tune into their favored sources that support their narrow agendas and fixed belief systems, ignoring alternative or multiple sources of information.
A key tenet of trend forecasting is to seek all sides of issues and events with an open mind, rather than adhere to a fixed belief system. Thus, “It’s not what you want to hear, it’s what you need to know.”
TREND FORECAST
Get ready for this 2020 OnTrendpreneur® David vs Goliath opportunity.
While Google, Facebook and Twitter will dominate market share for the foreseeable future, market gaps are widening. They’re ready to be filled by nimble, trustworthy First Amendment-driven OnTrendpreneurs having 2020 foresight.
Trends are born, they grow, mature, reach old age and die. In the new world internet order, moving at the speed of light, the tech giants are ready to lose market share to savvy on-trend competitors. They’ll be challenged by new data-secure platforms providing visions of the future with data, analyses and information to help enrich the mind, rather than to control it.
Beyond the issues of lost trust and accountability, the Internet is ready for a populist revolution, just as there is a global backlash raging against established political parties, multi nationals and globalist interests. New web sites of the people, for the people and by the people will gain healthy market share.