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Twitter bans Alex Jones and Infowars for abusive behaviour

bbc.com

81–90 of 131 posts

Re: Twitter bans Alex Jones and Infowars for abusive behaviour

#81
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

maybe you haven’t noticed, but people have been going after hosting companies and payment processors lately to shut down people they find politically disagreeable. we are increasingly less and less free to host our own speech.

Then run your own hosting company and accept money via Bitcoin. You can't just force third party companies to do whatever you want.

hate speech and racism absolutely are political, they are only outside of the overton window. i despise racists as much as anyone but i don’t trust anyone with the authority to police permissible opinions, and i think anybody who does is naive and short-sighted. if you construct these frameworks for suppression, they will be used against you by your enemies the second they have the opportunity.

Re: Twitter bans Alex Jones and Infowars for abusive behaviour

#82
post #5

Anyone know what videos or tweets were 'abusive'? Twitter didn't say which ones they were. Twitter needs to be more transparent about this stuff. Especially when banning one of the most influential conspiracy theorist in the world. Not to mention a vague and/or arbitrary banning policy is always a bad idea.

The Periscope video was the last straw. Jones was angry and ranting, because that journalist had claimed that his campaigning/efforts lead to Jones' ban on social networks.

> Important to note that tech platforms did not enforce their own rules and take action against Alex Jones / InfoWars on their own accord.

> It took media outlets to point out for weeks that InfoWars was skirting the rules on these tech platforms for them to enforce own standards.

Previous offenses include: "dehumanizing trans people". That looks very bad on paper, so you search for the video, and you see him discussing an over-the-top drag queen reading a book for children in a public library. To me, with the long nails and the thick make-up and the wig, the drag queen really looks demonic/ridiculous/freaky and he remarks on that. You should have the right to call that abnormal and refuse to want to see that normalized.

Look at what happened with Pewdiepie when a media company goes on a crusade with an agenda, it is very similar.

The bottom line for this decision is not harassment or abuse, it is the political preference of Twitter's employees. Maybe it is not a good idea to have a left-leaning workforce police online debate, even if it is their platform. For all the talk about diversity, SF companies sure could do with some more political diversity.

They should have banned Alex Jones from public discourse when he had this crazy conspiracy theory that high-ranking politicians and businessmen workship Moloch and child sacrifice. They should have banned Alex Jones when had the crazy conspiracy theory that chemicals and pesticides in the water change the sex of frogs. They should have banned Alex Jones for saying that Lady Gaga turns satanism into a performance and flirts with illuminati symbology. They should have banned Alex Jones for stating that weather manipulation is still a thing after the Environmental Modification Convention.

Re: Twitter bans Alex Jones and Infowars for abusive behaviour

#83
I'm not a fan of Alex Jones. I think Alex Jones was at his worst during Sandy Hook when he accused the victims families of being crisis actors. I think if social media platforms had banned him then, I would have understood the decision and applauded them.

What I can't understand is the decision of major social media platforms to ban him now. His content now isn't any more out of the ordinary or abusive than at any other point in his broadcasting history. So it just seems strange that facebook, twitter, youtube, apple and spotify all come together and ban him at the same time. And it seems even stranger that none of these companies can give even a vague hint at the specific content he was banned for. I'm not saying they have to broadcast the actual content but something along the lines of "harmful, defamatory and malicious speech directed against Sandy Hook victims" could work.

Silicon valley is starting to look more and more like a tech oligopoly. It seems like these huge corporations are having discussions behind closed doors and making decisions that have a major impact on the public discourse.

Re: Twitter bans Alex Jones and Infowars for abusive behaviour

#84
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Gordon Ramsey deserves better than to be grouped with Mr. Jones. I haven't heard much from Milo Yiannopoulos since he was banned from Twitter and other platforms. I suspect Alex Jones has a similar future.

After watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1X11aLACso I would have to disagree; they both made money by verbally abusing others.

No, one gained notoriety by making incredible food. Incidentally, he was also an abusive asshole boss, but that was not how he made his fame. Eventually Gordon was so famous for his skills that people would volunteer to be abused by him on TV just to stand near his light.

The other is just a liar, blowhard, asshole. Alex Jones has never done anything else of note besides the aforementioned.

Re: Twitter bans Alex Jones and Infowars for abusive behaviour

#85
post #83

I'm not a fan of Alex Jones. I think Alex Jones was at his worst during Sandy Hook when he accused the victims families of being crisis actors. I think if social media platforms had banned him then, I would have understood the decision and applauded them. What I can't understand is the decision of major social media platforms to ban him now. His content now isn't any more out of the ordinary or abusive than at any ot…

This may have something to do with: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-news-conspiracy-... I think the Russia investigation has unearthed links between conspiracy theorists and efforts to divide and undermine US politics and these companies were warned behind the scenes to stop being complicit (or perhaps they had a inter-company meeting, Bilderberg-style). Also there was a concerted effort by media companies to have Jones banned. They kept him in the news cycle for weeks. Finally, the left united to have him banned, made him an issue and visible to employees of these companies.

Re: Twitter bans Alex Jones and Infowars for abusive behaviour

#86

First off, there is compelling evidence that the Q movement is actually controlled by senior intel close to Trump Secondly, Q just posted that this is retaliation for action against @jack, amongst other claims regarding infowars Can anyone close to TWTR confirm?

Qanon is a Russian psyop and a bunch of unwitting agents.

Re: Twitter bans Alex Jones and Infowars for abusive behaviour

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alex Jones is free to express his speech on his own website as much as he pleases. "Free Speech" is not about forcing a company to host content they don't like. That would be against Twitter's freedoms. Alex Jones will still be heard by his audience.

That's like saying: Alex Jones is free to grow his own food on his land as much as he pleases. This supermarket has a policy not to sell food to people who violate our terms of service regarding hate speech.

Exactly. You may not like that but that's the way it is.

Re: Twitter bans Alex Jones and Infowars for abusive behaviour

#88
post #30
post #16

The video that got him banned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne_wFdA-1oU

Lol, and the video was all about how the left censors people! Seriously, I never gave Alex Jones much credence before this, but this getting him banned makes him much more credible in my mind.

>this getting him banned makes him much more credible in my mind

Not to just be mean, but taken without further elaboration, this looks like petty contrarianism. It reminds me of the disturbing, poisonous following that so-called "banned" TED talks get from conspiracy-minded people based on nothing but the fact that it was banned. I'd like it if you'd elaborate more on what made you say it.

Re: Twitter bans Alex Jones and Infowars for abusive behaviour

#89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, didn't he call sandy hooks a false flag attack or something?

That's not abusive behavior though. It's just a conspiracy theory.

Since the "abuse" in abusive behavior online is not defined as physical abuse, but rather mental, e.g. harrassment, I don't see how there could be any room for doubt that this horrific, insane lie is abusive to the many people affected.

Re: Twitter bans Alex Jones and Infowars for abusive behaviour

#90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alex Jones is free to express his speech on his own website as much as he pleases. "Free Speech" is not about forcing a company to host content they don't like. That would be against Twitter's freedoms. Alex Jones will still be heard by his audience.

That's like saying: Alex Jones is free to grow his own food on his land as much as he pleases. This supermarket has a policy not to sell food to people who violate our terms of service regarding hate speech.

If you go into a supermarket and constantly harass people, you will not only get banned, but probably arrested as well.
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