There’s no doubt there’s a war on conservatives.
It’s been years in the making, too.
Especially on the Internet.
As the Internet and the tech companies move farther and farther left the result is a clear and obvious animus to their political rivals.
Today, the left’s hatred for the right was fully crystalized when Alex Jones had four of his properties banned from Facebook and all of his podcasts pulled off Apple’s Itunes and Spotify (a popular music and audio streaming service) along with videos deleted from YouTube.
While Alex Jones is often inflammatory and prone to believe some outrageous theories, he is quite conservative/libertarian in his beliefs.
Jones was one of the first conservatives to use the power of Facebook and YouTube to denounce the political misdeeds of the left and he had amassed a large following of “truthers.”
His outright removal from these websites, while protected by U.S. law, is being received as a major affront to the conservative movement.
Not that everyone who’s upset with Jones would agree with him on anything…
But his removal from some of the largest Internet properties has major ramifications for the future of free thought.
The tech companies say they’ve pulled him from their pages for promoting hate speech and agitating violence towards minorities…
Facebook had faced criticism for allowing Jones remain on the site, despite his pushing of conspiracy theories — including that the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting, in which 20 school children were killed, was staged. He has also said that the survivors of a shooting earlier this year at a high school in Parkland, Fla., were “crisis actors.”
The company’s move on Monday to boot Infowars from its platform earned it praise from high-profile celebrities and politicians, such as Chelsea Handler and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.)
“[Facebook, Apple, and YouTube] are private companies that shouldn’t knowingly spread lies and hate. They took a good first step today by removing Infowars,” Murphy tweeted.
Reaction to the move was not unanimous, however, and on the left and the right, there was some criticism of Facebook for censoring anyone using their platforms.
Some might argue that Jones has ample opportunity to peddle his ideas elsewhere. But, when the 3 of the largest tech companies that largely control search, discovery, and distribution on the internet today collectively decided what constitutes “better speech” and then ban someone who doesn’t match their mold, it brings into question if a greater narrative is being established.
Some argue this is “without question the single biggest exercise of monopoly control by companies” against free speech that they can recall.
“Competitors decided today what billions of people should be able to find on the internet based on whether or not their California Oligarchs like what that person is saying.”
But others say censorship like this is appropriate given the fact the company is private and can control what content is distributed on its platform.
