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| Conservatives wary of Big Tech censorship have new reason to worry post-election. |
| 2020-11-15 |
| [Just the News] Censorship has expanded beyond Twitter and Facebook to other digital platforms since Election Day. Conservatives wary of Big Tech censorship got new reasons to worry thanks to the Nov. 3 presidential election. And it isn't just the usual social media suspects to blame. Examples at link. Dan Bongino isn't surprised by recent events. The conservative podcaster and former Secret Service agent says he first noticed Big Tech's bullying tactics against right-of-center voices three years ago. Twitter invited him to try a beta ad program at the time, only to later tell him he was no longer eligible to participate. "They never gave us a reason," Bongino recalls. "There was no avenue to protest this. That's when it really hit me. We had a problem." Later, he felt similar pressure from YouTube, where he posts episodes of "The Dan Bongino Show," a fixture near the top of podcast download charts. "We were doing six-figure views on a podcast within months of launching [on YouTube]," he says. "The income on the channel was so low. They were demonetizing all the videos." Demonetization prevents content providers from earning money from ads placed within YouTube videos. Conservative comedian Nick Di Paolo similarly fights YouTube over demonetization issues on his growing video podcast. That, plus what Bongino calls "ridiculous" fact checks from Twitter and Facebook convinced him to invest in alternative platforms. He's now part-owner in both Parler and Rumble, social media platforms vowing to maintain free speech principles for both the left and the right. Derek Hunter, a senior columnist for Townhall.com and host of the "Derek Hunter Podcast," sees Big Tech's attack on conservative thought ramping up post-election. "Anything questioning the official media-Democrat line on Twitter is labeled as problematic," Hunter says, adding it's an extension of the media's intentions to silence dissent in general. "I have never seen this label attached to anything sent by a liberal, ever." Hunter cites CNN's Jake Tapper Twitter warning that Trump supporters may find their future prospects limited due to their political views. "Shut up or you will be labeled a nut," Hunter says, adding the issue will only intensify under a Biden administration. Syndicated talk show host Dennis Prager laughs at press reports referring to "so-called censorship" in the digital space. "Not only do they censor, but they deny they censor," Prager says of journalists on the Left. The tech censorship speaks to a broader issue for Prager, one that has him worried about the state of the nation. "This is the first time in American history that free speech is threatened seriously," he says. "It's not being done by the government. It is being done by private enterprise, and that's very scary. They have a complete control over nearly all information in the Western world." |
| Posted by:Gleper Angemble8998 |
| #2 This is by far the scariest of all the developments seen in the recent festivities. If we lose our tradition of free speech, then America is finished. We might as well throw in the towel and join a Chinese Co-Prosperity Sphere. This creeping totalitarianism must be overcome - peacefully if possible but if necessary with whatever forceful measures may be required. |
| Posted by: Omineque Sholuck6906 2020-11-15 20:30 |
| #1 The (Conservative) Treehouse is Deplatformed |
| Posted by: Marilyn Hapsburg2880 2020-11-15 18:32 |