printable version PDF version

Facebook is now a Blatant Censorship Medium
by Jake Johnson via drake - CommonDreams Saturday, Oct 13 2018, 2:11am
international / prose / post

In the early days of CIA supported and formulated Facebook it was dis-affectionately know as "tracebook" as its designs were such that a user/subscriber helped authorities by listing all his/her 'friends' -- it sure took the footwork out of police investigations. However, today it has gone to the next (anticipated) stage by embracing deep state attitudes to dissenting information which exposes the lies of dominant media narratives fed to the public by the elite owned mass media -- remember the huge sell of the ILLEGAL Iraq invasion, which alternative media outlets investigated and exposed? Well, that process has now been deemed an enemy of deep state/elite interests and so it was a simple matter to enlist the services of Facebook and Google to immediately either ban or background certain sites or material. After all 'we' can't have people telling the truth in a world of myths, division and lies!

Add censorship to a future one-sided information highway

The following article adequately addresses the new censorship and what is to be expected in the future, a big brother state where one controlling body determines what information the public should consume. The internet was the last free information platform, and once lost we could all kiss goodbye to the last vestiges of freedom that remain, and that, in particular, is the freedom to assess, think clearly and independently based on available FACTS, as opposed to mass media formulated FICTIONS, misinformation, omissions and distortions:

After Facebook announced on Thursday that it shut down and removed hundreds of pages and accounts that it vaguely accused of spreading "spam" and engaging in "inauthentic behavior," some of the individuals and organizations caught up in the social media behemoth's dragnet disputed accusations that they were violating the platform's rules and raised alarm that Facebook is using its enormous power to silence independent political perspectives that run counter to the corporate media's dominant narratives.

While it is reasonable to assume that some of the more than 800 total pages and accounts shut down by Facebook were engaged in overtly fraudulent behavior—such as the use of fake accounts and bots to generate ad revenue—numerous independent media outlets that cover a wide array of issues say they were swept up in the massive purge despite never using such tactics.

"Facebook has removed the pages of several police accountability/watchdog/critic groups, including Cop Block, the Free Thought Project, and Police the Police," Washington Post journalist Radley Balko noted in a tweet following Facebook's announcement. "They've also apparently severely restricted activity for the Photography Is Not a Crime page."

Activist, comedian, and political commentator Lee Camp argued that Facebook's purge is clear evidence that the "purging of anti-establishment thought is upon us" and described the account shutdowns as "full-frontal suppression of dissent."

Activist, comedian, and political commentator Lee Camp argued that Facebook's purge is clear evidence that the "purging of anti-establishment thought is upon us" and described the account shutdowns as "full-frontal suppression of dissent."

Speaking to journalist Alex Rubinstein after they found out Facebook shut down their pages—some of which had hundreds of thousands of followers—the founders of Police the Police, the Free Thought Project, and other now-shuttered pages denied Facebook's hazy charge of "fraudulent" activity and accused the company of attempting to suppress dissenting voices that refuse to toe the corporate line.

"Our approach generally is to cover stories and angles that corporate media underreport or misreport and to amplify activist and anti-war voices and stories. All of our content is professionally fact-checked and edited," said Nicholas Bernabe, founder of The Anti-Media, a self-described "anti-establishment" website whose Facebook page was shut down along with hundreds of others on Thursday. "I can only speculate that these suspensions were a coordinated effort to stifle our message ahead of the coming elections."

While some of the pages Facebook removed on Thursday were affiliated with right-wing sites that were spreading patently false stories, censorship opponents have long warned of the "slippery slope" of empowering corporate giants to suppress certain kinds of content, given that the suppression almost always expands far beyond the original target.

"Those who demanded Facebook and other Silicon Valley giants censor political content—something they didn't actually want to do—are finding that content that they themselves support and like end up being repressed," noted The Intercept's Glenn Greenwald in response to Facebook's announcement. "That's what has happened to every censorship advocate in history."

Though Facebook has yet to release a full list of the pages and accounts it removed, several individuals affected by the purge have taken to other social media platforms to denounce the social media giant for squashing pages that took years to develop.

https://tinyurl.com/ybnen4wg