Category Archives: Transhuman News

Alexey Navalny, the opposition leader whom the Russian secret police nearly killed with military-grade poison last year, is worried about Twitters decision to shut down Donald Trumps account. Navalny is no Trump fan; he is far to the left of the outgoing U.S. president. The reason he is worried is that the way U.S. tech has ganged up on Trump and his most radical supporters can lead to his own deplatforming in Russia, where he has no access to state-controlled media and relies on mostly U.S.-based social networks YouTube, Facebook, Twitter to spread his message. Thats a valid concern.

Navalny laid out his logic in an English-language Twitter thread. In my opinion, the decision to ban Trump was based on emotions and personal political preferences, he wrote. Dont tell me he was banned for violating Twitter rules. I get death threats here every day for many years, and Twitter doesnt ban anyone (not that I ask for it).

He added: Of course, Twitter is a private company, but we have seen many examples in Russian and China of such private companies becoming the states best friends and enablers when it comes to censorship. And, This precedent will be exploited by the enemies of freedom of speech around the world. In Russia as well. Every time when they need to silence someone, they will say: This is just common practice, even Trump got blocked on Twitter.

CORRUPTION FIGHTER INVALIDATED

I cant say I was surprised to see American commentators jump in with condescending retorts telling Navalny that he doesnt get it, that he doesnt understand the importance of cracking down on insurrection or the right of private companies to police their platforms. The thing is, he nearly died defending Russians right to protest, and, as a corruption fighter, hes spent more than a decade delving into the shadowy relationships between private companies and the state. If he hasnt earned the right to be heard as an expert on such matters, I dont know who has.

The private company argument simply doesnt fly. Twitter and Facebook have tolerated Trump and his fans in all their glory calls for journalists to be murdered, racist bile, direct threats throughout the Trump presidency. Even if they said they didnt, the stuff was impossible to miss as a user of the social platforms. Apple, Google and Amazon allowed the censorship-free platform Parler, frequented by the far right, to grow using their services until two things happened: last weeks Capitol riot and the Georgia Senate elections that handed the Democrats full political control of the United States.

I dont know which of the two was the actual deciding factor in the tech giants Trump crackdown. But look at it from the point of view of someone fighting an authoritarian regime in Russia, Turkey, Belarus or elsewhere. What youll see is the U.S. president-elect declaring protesters who broke into a government building domestic terrorists and an immediate response from the tech companies, which fall all over themselves trying to prove they arent providing terrorists with a platform. Are they suddenly outraged because a Democratic administration, in control of the House and Senate, can quickly regulate them in all kinds of painful ways? Seen from Russia, or Turkey or China, where concerns about politically motivated regulatory moves by single-party governments are top of mind for every business owner, this picture is familiar.

GIVING COVER TO AUTHORITARIANS

One could argue that even if U.S.-based tech platforms have rushed to align themselves with the political winners in their country to avoid a costly confrontation, they wont do the same for Russian President Vladimir Putin or his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Its more complicated than that. On paper, authoritarian regimes terrorism and insurrection laws are similar to those of the U.S. Now, the regimes have cover to demand from the U.S. networks that they ban Russian, Turkish, Belarussian domestic terrorists on the same grounds as the ones used against Trump and Trumpists inciting aggressive, violent protest. And if the platforms refuse, they will be accused of double standards, declared tools of the U.S. government and themselves harassed and possibly banned.

That one-two combination wasnt possible before, because even authoritarians these days have to pay lip service to freedom of speech; what the platforms have done takes that concern out of the equation. Russian propagandists such as Margarita Simonyan, head of the RT channel, have long waited for such a golden opportunity to agitate for retaliation against U.S. platforms, ever since they started flagging content from Russian government-funded media.

Where would a Facebook, Twitter and YouTube ban leave people like Navalny? Theyd be confined to any startup platforms that emerge to pick up the slack, and to Telegram, the Dubai-based platform created by Russian libertarian Pavel Durov, which the Russian government tried to block but failed, as Telegram fought back by ingenious technical means. But even for Telegram, which isnt U.S.-based, running uncensored content is dangerous these days like Parler, it could be thrown out of app stores, for example (although Telegram has been working on a full-featured mobile browser-based version for just such an eventuality).

WHAT NEXT FOR FREE SPEECH?

The U.S. tech platforms, of course, werent set up to enable political opposition to authoritarian regimes. They are commercial enterprises that exist to make money by selling ads. Its probably a strategic mistake for any opposition figure in any country to put their eggs in this basket. But given the platforms oligopolistic nature, there hasnt been much choice.

In todays world, if a platform is to enable free speech, it needs to be technologically extraterritorial free from reliance on any providers sensitive to pressure from nation states. Both legally and financially, building such a platform is an enormous challenge.

But then, I remember a time when authoritarian rulers failed despite banning private copy machines, let alone content platforms. Political opposition to flawed, unfree regimes will survive under any conditions, with or without Silicon Valley help; but it has likely suffered a setback. That, and not the unsuccessful riot at the Capitol, is the lasting gift to Putin. He wont fail to cash this check.

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Commentary: Tech censorship is the real gift to Putin - Press Herald

Twitter shares are down sharply following President Trump's suspension last week. FBN's Charlie Gasparino with more.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk weighedin Mondayon Big Tech's recent move to censor President Trump in response to the Capitol riot by pro-Trump supporters last week.

"Alot of people are going to be super unhappy with West Coast high tech as the de facto arbiter of free speech," Musk repliedto a tweet of a satirical article entitled "Evil Fascist Dictator Censored and Voted Out Of Office."

Musk previously railed against Big Tech censorship in June after he called out Amazon for reportedlycensoringthe publication of abookabout thecoronavirus.

Musk said at the time that it was "time to break up Amazon", adding that "monoplies are wrong!"

TWITTER SHARES SINK AFTER TRUMP'S ACCOUNT DELETED

Musk's latest commentcomes just days after Musk slammed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for theviolence that ensuedat the U.S. Capitol.

"This is called the domino effect," Musk wrote alongside a meme that seemingly tied the origins of Zuckerberg's Facebook to the mob that proceeded to storm the Capitol building toprotest the results of the presidential election.

Thetweet camehours after Facebook'sannouncementthat it would indefinitely block Trump's account on the platform and on Instagram.

"We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote."Therefore, we are extending the block we have placed on hisFacebookand Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.

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Twitter immediately followed suit,announcingits own permanent banagainst Trump on Friday, citing "the risk of further incitement of violence" as the reason for the decision.

Twitterhas also taken action against other users on its platform after learning about plansfor future armed protests, which began proliferating on and off its website, including a proposed secondary attack on the U.S. Capitol and state capitol buildings on January 17, 2021, it said.

A Twitter spokesperson told FOX Business that someaccounts have already been suspended as of Monday in line with its policy on Coordinated Harmful Activity.

"Weve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm, and given the renewed potential for violence surrounding this type of behavior in the coming days, we will permanently suspend accounts that are solely dedicated to sharing QAnon content," the spokesperson said.

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In addition, alternativesocial mediaplatform Parler has been shut downby Amazon Web Servicesafter screenshots showed usersopenly discussing plans for violence at the rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol, including bringing weapons and imagining how they would wield them against their political opponents.

In response Parler, has filed a lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining orderagainst the company, alleging Amazon'sdecision is "apparently motivated by political animus," is in breach of contract and is a violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act.Parler did not immediately return FOX Business' requestfor comment.

A spokesperson for AWS told FOX Business there is "no merit" to Parler's claims.

AWSprovides technology and services to customers across the political spectrum, and we respectParlers right to determine for itself what content it will allow," the spokesperson added."However, it is clear that there is significant content onParlerthat encourages and incites violence against others, and thatParleris unable or unwilling to promptly identify and remove this content, which is a violation of our terms of service. We made our concerns known toParlerover a number of weeks and during that time we saw a significant increase in this type of dangerous content, not a decrease, which led to our suspension of their services Sunday evening.

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In response to Capitol rioting, Musk weighs in on Big Tech censorship - Fox Business

FOX Business Stuart Varney argues social media companies, like Twitter, are censoring President Trump with bans.

FOX BusinessStuart Varney, in his latest My Take, argues Twitter CEO Jack Dorseys permanent ban of President Trump is censorship, plain and simple.

Dorsey justifies this by saying the president incited violence, Varney said. Id like to be the judge of that. I can decide for myself. I want to see and hear what the president has to say.

IN RESPONSE TO CAPITOL RIOTING, MUSK WEIGHS IN ON BIG TECH CENSORSHIP

After receiving criticism for the ban of Trumps account, Dorseyon Wednesdayposted a series of tweets.

Hes trying to justify censorship, but he seems confused, Varney said. He says banning the president was the right decision and then he tweets that it sets a precedent I feel is dangerous: the power an individual or corporation has over a part of the global public conversation.'"

Varney went on to say the ban is a danger to an open democracy.

Do we really want a couple of billionaires who run near-monopoly businesses, dictating what we may see and hear? he asked.

BIG TECH NO LONGER MOTIVATED TO STAY OUT OF PARTISAN POLITICS: BEN DOMENECH

Varney said the power the world has given to tech leaders, like Dorsey and Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg, is an extraordinary and new phenomenon.

The recent events in Washington have brought into full view the dangers of monopoly power when applied to public speech, Varney said. It doesnt matter whether its the government or a private company thats telling us what we can see and hear. Big government or big corporation -- censorship of political opinion by a monopoly is wrong.

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Varney said Americans must never accept limits on free speech or allow themselves to be forced into an acceptable way of thinking.

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This is America, and we are not sheep! he said. We will always be divided if one side thinks their point of view is being suppressed by the corporate elite.

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Varney rips Twitter over Trump ban: Its censorship, plain and simple - Fox Business

COLUMBIA, Tenn. (WKRN) Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles is calling on Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and the states General Assembly to immediately sever ties with Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and the parent company of Google, Alphabet.

According to Mayor Ogles, the major tech companies are systematically silencing and censoring millions of law abiding, patriotic Americans including millions of God fearing Tennesseans.

In a letter to state government, Ogles said the companies are waging war on freedom of speech and have taken the extraordinary step of deleting/censoring the President of the United States.

Whether one agrees or disagrees, whether one likes or dislikes Donald Trump he [sic] IS the POTUS and will remain so until January 20th, 2021, said Mayor Ogles.

Ogles called out the companies saying they have in a discriminatory manner, targeted Conservatives and Supporters of Donald Trump.

He accused them of conspiring and colluding to the removal of Parler from the internet. Parler was removed last week from both Apple App Store and the Google Play Store for violations of both companies respective terms of service.

It is imperative that State Governments take immediate action and rebuke these companies and their actions. Tennesseans should not be forced to invest and support the very companies that are conspiring to silence them, Mayor Ogles wrote, Furthermore, the State of Tennessee should refrain from doing business with these companies by way of prohibition of advertising on Google, Facebook or Twitter and a prohibition of Amazon services until such time these companies admit their errors and remove said censorship and prohibitions from their respective platforms.

Ogles noted a similar effort underway by Florida Representative Randy Fine in that state.

Read the full letter below:

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Tennessee mayor wants state to sever ties with major tech over alleged censorship - wreg.com

Free speech is under attack.

And regardless of whether our position is with someone recently banned from social media platforms, the argument is not about that individual. It is about each of us, and not only whether we will be silenced as well but what will be kept from us.

Were not for inciting violence, and were not for spreading false information. As a reminder of the prime example, free speech has never given anyone the unpunishable ability to walk into a crowded theater and yell Fire!

Weve said it here before opinions are like noses, everybody has one, and the difference in the 21st century is everyone can have a megaphone under it to let the world hear their voice.

Yet freedom of speech remains beautiful. The Founders believed this right to be inherent and essential to mans pursuit of happiness; in fact, it was two years ahead of the Declaration of Independence in John Dickinsons Declarations of Resolves.

We hear paid professionals in television, radio and other media forms speaking about the nations political divide. And getting through it. The incoming administration is preaching about a time for healing.

The hard truth is the divide has existed for as long as weve had the political parties and isnt going away. And the healing talk is hypocritical to the most recent four years of strategy to remove an administration, never mind the eight birth certificate years prior to that.

Spare us. And give us debate on real issues. Thats what strengthens our democracy. Using critical thinking and reasoned argument, we can have dialogue that constructively advances any topic.

If the words we hear dont match ours, the remedy isnt censorship. Its more speech, more dialogue.

But lest the shouting. And not rallying people to violence and destruction of property, whether its the Capitol in Washington or the downtown businesses in North Carolinas major cities.

It needs to be something substantive and delivered respectfully. We need the discourse, and not just when there are elections or movements for social justice.

A couple of years ago, we shared the words of Elon Universitys president. Theyre worth a listen again today.

Dr. Connie Book writes, Learning to ride a bicycle is not intuitive. Nor is knowing how to conduct a civil dialogue. While a broadly educated student can become familiar with the ideas and theories driving differences in points of view, the practice of exchanging those ideas with each other is a set of skills that can and should be taught.

Her writing was not only to champion her schools contribution to that end, but all of higher education. Many among us could use a course.

Book shared optimism for students to be passionate, zealous and fierce about sharing ideas in hopes of making a difference in the world.

The people shouting have that goal, too. We may have opinion on their tactics in addition to the agenda they push, but rest assured they believe theyre trying to make a difference.

Passion isnt measured in volume or destruction. And a better situation wont come from censorship.

We have to be better than who we are today.

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Censorship isn't ever the answer - Laurinburg Exchange

In a time when some say free speech is being censored by big tech companies, Representative Becky Currie is hoping to prevent that in Mississippi, with HB 151 the Stop Social Media Censorship Act.

The bill would indicate that the Legislature is opposed to any online censorship unless the content is harmful to children or promotes human trafficking. Only in those instances would the Legislature be able to limit censorship.

The bill reads:

The purpose of this act is to: (a) Level the playing field between consumers and the major social media websites; (b) Encourage the free flow of political and religious ideas and robust debate; (c) Hold major social media websites to a higher standard for having substantially created a digital public square; (d) Deter bad-faith, unfair dealing, fraud, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and the marginalization or oppression of competing worldviews;

Also

(f) Deter the owner or operator of a social media website from engaging in false advertising; and (g) Deter the owner or operator of a social media website from maliciously interfering with local, regional, and national elections.

The bill was referred to the Judiciary A committee. Representatives Calvert and Smith are co-authors on the bill.

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Bill of the Day: An act to prevent social media censorship - Yall Politics

If other world leadersare calling out Twitter for removing President Trump from its platform, then it is clearly an issue, Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich said on Thursday.

"There is German Chancellor Angela Merkel coming out and saying that the banning of President Trump on social media is a serious problem. When you have a country that has a history of real fascism and book burning, warning the United States and Big Tech companies that this could lead to worse consequences for the country, you should probably pay attention," Pavlich told "America's Newsroom."

ANGELA MERKEL RIPS TWITTER'S 'PROBLEMATIC' TRUMP BAN

Pavlich referred to a spokesman forChancellor Angela Merkelwho said Monday that the German leader regards Trump'seviction from Twitterby the company to be "problematic."

Twitter permanently suspended Trump from the social media platform on Friday, citing a "risk of further incitement of violence" after supporters of the outgoing presidentstormed the U.S. Capitolto protest Congress certification of the Electoral College vote.

Asked about Twitter's decision, Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said social media companies "bear great responsibility for political communication not being poisoned by hatred, by lies and by incitement to violence."

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Pavlich highlighted that "leading Russian dissident against Vladimir Putin" and the American Civil Liberties Union criticized Big Tech companies for banning Trump.

"You also, of course, have the leading Russian dissident against Vladimir Putin coming out and saying he is very concerned. You have a number of leftists activists coming out as well. The ACLU coming out and saying that, look, power structures change in America and if they can ban one side of the political aisle from discussing issues in these forums online, they can do it to the other side," Pavlich said.

"When Big Tech becomes bigger than the government and overtakes these principles of the First Amendment, for example, there are serious questions about what can be done about it," she added.

Fox News'Bradford Betzcontributed to this report.

Originally posted here:
Pavlich: The left should pay attention to how world leaders are reacting to Big Tech censorship - Fox News

It's been a very tough week in the United States of America. Aspasm of mob violence has been followed by an unprecedented crackdown on our basic civil liberties. This is the darkest time many Americans can remember.

But even in the midst of this disaster, there have been flashes of comedy and we're grateful for every one of them. We got one Tuesday in the form of astatement from a group called the global Public Policy team at Twitter.

Now, you may have thought Twitter was just a social media company run by some bearded, ethereal pothead in downtown San Francisco, but not anymore. While you were sleeping, Twitter got bigger than you ever imagined it could. Twitter is now an independent nation-state with its own National Security Council, an inner agency constellation of foreign policy experts whose job it is to manage the world's affairs.

So Twitter's global Public Policy team is really the company's own NSC. They weighed in Tuesday, as security councilsdo, on the upcoming elections in Uganda. Here's what they said about those elections:

Now, marinate in that for a bit. Twitter is reminding the Ugandan people that censorship is immoral.

"Sorry, Ugandans, you're not allowed to silence other people's Twitter accounts, especially in the run-up to an election. You just can't do that. Now, we recognize you don't have a Bill of Rights or a centuries-old tradition of self-government out there in Uganda, so you might not have known this, as we do here. But to restate: Censoring voters' social media accounts is hugely harmful. Online censorship violates'basic human rights.' In fact, it's an attack on democracy itself. Got that, Ugandans?Now we understand you're a primitive, developing nation, so we'll give you a pass this time, but don't forget it. Censorship bad! #OpenInternet"

We actually had to check and make sure Twitter'sstatement was real, which it is. Twitter actually sent that, which only proves that the tech monopolies are even worse than we thought.

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Not only are they cruelly authoritarian and totally dishonest as well as limitlessly ambitious, but they are also -- and we didn't know this -- childishly stupid. They have no idea how they appear to others. They can't see themselves. They lack even a glimmer of the ironic self-awareness that is a prerequisite for wisdom. They are idiots. They don't even get their own jokes.

On the other hand, none of this is really very funny. It's terrifying. We don't need to convince you of that. You have seen the crackdown and the censorship all week long and you sense all of it is going to get worse. And you're right about that, it is going to get worse.

This article is adapted from Tucker Carlson's opening commentary on the Jan. 12, 2021 edition of "Tucker Carlson Tonight."

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Tucker Carlson: Twitter brazenly deplatforms conservatives, then reminds Uganda that censorship is bad - Fox News

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Two days after the 2020 election, a defiant Kathy Griffin retweeted the notorious picture of her holding a prop that looked like the bloody head of a decapitated Donald Trump. Earlier last year, Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, tweeted out a call to his followers to destroy Israel. Both tweets passed the censorship rules of Twitters 20-something judges in San Francisco.

In contrast, Mr. Trump has been banned for life from Twitter and barred indefinitely from Facebook. Twitter said in a statement it excluded Mr. Trump due to the risk of further incitement of violence.

The president had called for thousands of his followers to assemble at a massive Washington, D.C., rally protesting the results of the election. Splinter groups broke off from the massed protesters. Some stormed into the halls of Congress, Social media platforms canceled Mr. Trump after he urged his followers, albeit peacefully and patriotically, to go protest at the U.S. Capitol, where the mayhem followed.

After the assault and after Democrats won the presidency, kept the House, took the Senate and threatened to pack the U.S. Supreme Court furor broke out against Mr. Trump. The outrage included the banning of Mr. Trump and some of his supporters from social media.

Thousands of scared social media users then retreated to the more conservative site Parler. But in near-unison, Google, Apple and Amazon removed Parler from their platforms.

Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri had his upcoming book a call to clamp down on Big Tech monopolies abruptly canceled by publisher Simon & Schuster. Mr. Hawleys crime was apparently his quixotic persistence in questioning the authenticity of the 2020 election.

What are the new standards that now get a book or a social media account canceled?

After all, the Vicki Osterweil book In Defense of Looting, a justification for theft and property destruction, came out last summer amid the Antifa and Black Lives Matter unrest. The author was even featured on National Public Radio in a largely sympathetic interview.

Is Madonna banned from social media? Shortly after the 2017 inauguration, she voiced a desire to blow up the White House with the Trump family in it.

Is AK-47-toting rapper Raz Simone banned from social media? He took over a swath of downtown Seattle last June and declared it an autonomous zone. For weeks, his armed guards reigned supreme without worry of police. There were at least four shootings and two deaths in or around Raz Simones kingdom. He was neither prosecuted nor deplatformed from social media. The lyrics of his song Shoot at Everyone are full of allusions to violence, racial slurs and stereotypes. The song is posted on YouTube, and Raz Simone still enjoys a large social media presence.

So, why did Big Tech, the media, the publishing industry, a host of corporations and a growing number of campuses double down on censoring some free speech? Why now blacklist, censor and cancel thousands of people?

True, Mr. Trump gave them an opening when some rogue supporters vandalized the Capitol. But the real reason is that the left has long been eager to curtail the speech of those it opposes. Last week simply offered members of the left the sort of perfect crisis that they determined should never go to waste.

With an unpopular Trump on the way out, and with control over the levers of government, members of the left abruptly settled all their old scores. Their aim was not just to humiliate opponents but to curtail opponents ability to organize against them.

Democrats applauded the censorship. And why not? In a few weeks they will likely seek to end the Senate filibuster. In revolutionary fashion, they may try to admit new states, pack the Supreme Court and end the Electoral College moves designed to emasculate their conservative opposition.

Over a century ago, the oil, railroad, telegraph and power industries created huge monopolies. They set up vertically integrated cartels. And they used their enormous profits to lavish gifts on politicians, control information and destroy competition.

Some people likened these huge trusts to octopuses whose tentacles strangled freedom. In reaction, angry workers and farmers, muckraking journalists and novelists, and crusading populist and progressive politicians passed antitrust laws.

And so they broke up the monopolies.

Today, however, progressive politicians, Wall Street, the media, academia, Hollywood and professional sports are all on the side of the mega-rich tech cartels. Partnering with Big Tech is both politically useful and financially lucrative.

So the values of the 19th-century rail and oil monopolies are back. But now they are married to the 20th-century leftist totalitarianism of George Orwells 1984. And they are further powered by the 21st-century instant reach of the Internet.

This time around there will be no progressive trustbusters or muckrakers. They are in league with, or bought off by, the new electronic octopus.

And its tentacles are strangling the thoughts and speech of an increasingly unfree America.

Victor Davis Hanson, a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, is the author, most recently, of The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern. You can reach him by e-mailing authorvictorhanson.com.

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Democrats applaud social media that blacklists, censors and cancels thousands of Americans - Washington Times