Phase Three of the Internet Censorship War, James Rawles …
Back in October of 2017, I wrote this article: Internet Censorship is Now Rampant It is High Time to Bookmark Your Alternatives. That was back in what I now refer to as Phase One of the Internet censorship war. I didnt know it then, but that was back when the censorship campaign was still fairly mild and relatively subtle. Then, in early August of 2018, Alex Jones was systematically banned by more than 10 social media services and sites. Eventually, even Twitter jumped on the Ban Alex Band Wagon. When the Alex Jones mass banning was reported in the mainstream press, they made it sound like it was an independent decision made by Apple, and that the various social media then merely followed suit. But I suspect there was a meeting of many of those corporate leaders that took place in advance. (That meeting was probably in cyberspace, but it might have looked a lot like this one.)
In my estimation, the blacklisting of Alex Jones was just a just trial balloon. Once they saw that Jones was banned without too much of a fuss, it was the turning point. Thus began Phase Two: Overt Censorship. As Phase Two got underway, at least 10 other outspoken conservatives were similarly given strikes, or blacklisted, or outright banned. They included: Kris Paronto, Laura Loomer, Jesse Kelly, Candace Owens, actor James Woods, Gavin McInnes, Libertarian comedian Owen Benjamin, and street artist Sabo. Even left-wing feminist Meghan Murphy was banned, ostensibly for the quasi-conservative crime of misgendering. Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, the same has been done to Paul Joseph Watson, Carl Benjamin (aka Sargon of Akkad), Milo Yiannopoulos, Tommy Robinson (aka Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon), and several others. These censorship campaigns became so overt that a partial list of Twitter bans was documented at the ultra-leftist Wikipedia. Despite repeated attempts, the cabals couldnt make that wiki page go away.
Most recently, we read: Facebook Now Automatically Blocks ZeroHedge.com articles. But then, just two days later:Facebook Reverses Zero Hedge Ban, Says It Made A Mistake. Hmmm A mistake? I think that Facebook just got called out for censoring a little too hard, and a little too fast. Also in March of 2019, the left is again attempting to blacklist Tucker Carlson. (This smear campaign began in late 2018.) And following the recent massacre at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand. The Dissenter web page commenting plug-in has been banned in New Zealand. And just in the past few days: Twitter Bans User For Laughing At Rachel Maddows Tears Of Despair Over Mueller Report.
Ill venture to make a prediction: As we get closer to November of 2020, the Internets censorious overlords will become less apologetic. Feeling secure in their near-monopolistic ivory towers, they will redouble their campaign to silence dissenters. They will attempt to blacklist not just fringe journalists, but move up the chain to attack more mainstream reporters who hold conservative views. Tucker Carlson was just one of their first targets.
It has also been reported that Internet payments giant PayPal has become an overt censor. Take a few minutes to read this:PayPals corporate censorship. Also in the past year, JPMorgan Chasebank began closing accounts of gun makers and sellers, as well as a few outspoken conservatives. A similar anti-gun strategy is reportedly in operation at CitiBank. And at least a half dozen banks have cut any ties to the National Rife Association (NRA). And even the nominally neutral Patreon has taken sides and cancelled the account of Sargon of Akkad for something he said at a third party site.
And of course weve already documented the insidious censorship that now infests YouTube.
Outright censorship of the Internetparticularly in the social media sphere, in Wikipedia, and on YouTubehas become the new normal. That is an irrefutable fact. I believe that this is all part of a calculated, coordinated, and comprehensive plan by tech moguls, in coordination with mass media executives. The tech platforms are using Artificial Intelligence and carefully crafted algorithms for censorship. It is now clear that their intent is to systematically discredit, de-monetize, de-rank, disrupt, de-platform, demonize, and delete content from anyone with views that dont match their own.
Who are their targets? Here is just a sampling:
I fully expect the Internet censorship campaign to go into high gear in the run-up to the 2020 U.S. Presidential election. That will likely be the beginning of Phase Three, or what should be called: By Whatever Means Necessary Censorship. I predict that in this phase, the leftist cabals will use every conceivable arrow in their quivers, to include (but not limited to):
All in all, these tactics will make life a living hell for their political opponents.
And what if the Democrats eventually gain control of the White House and both the U.S. House and Senate? At that point we may witness Phase Four, or Scorched Earth Censorship. Thankfully, we are not there, yet. But I can foresee that this could include:
Beware, folks! Mainstream social media is now doing their best to twist reality. So please seek alternatives like FreeZoxeeFriends, Dissenter, and Full30.com.
Do not expect support for righteous people to come from the Republican Party. It has been co-opted by the RINOs. And there are now just a handful of conservatives left in the Democrat Party. Pray for good government.
I can foresee that bloggers video bloggers (vloggers) will be at particular risk. We are small, vulnerable targets. I say vulnerable because we dont have deep pockets. Nor do we have attorneys on annual retainers, like the big media. Even independent blog siteswith independent domain names, some proprietary posting tools, and dedicated offshore serversare at risk of censorship. My fellow bloggers have already suffered numerous DDOS attacks, manipulated Google ranking algorithms, and shadow banning. It is safe to assume that as the censorship war continues to escalate, a cut-off of funding via PayPal and/or Amazon Associates account may be next. Pray hard.
Oh, and get a VPN service. JWR
Note: Permission to re-post this article is granted, but only if it is re-posted in full, with all links intact.
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Phase Three of the Internet Censorship War, James Rawles ...
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