Free Republic

Journalist Tim Pool claimed a video he produced about alleged whistleblower Eric Ciaramella was blocked by YouTube.Pool posted a screenshot of the notification YouTube gave him revealing that his video titled “Democrats formalize impeachment, but whistleblower identity exposes this as a political hit job” was forced to remain listed as private, meaning no users can access the video.The video, which was posted on Oct. 31, gathered 281,779 views before being blocked by the platform. YouTube, whose parent company is Google, confirmed the decision to block the video with a manual review that confirmed the algorithm's decision.Pool claimed YouTube was...

The H1B visa scheme that the Unites States introduced in 1990 to allow companies to bring in highly skilled foreign workers who were otherwise unavailable in the domestic labor market, has become a very controversial political topic.Originally, companies could bring in up to 65,000 workers from abroad – most of them computer and engineering talent, but in 2013, this limit was raised to 300,000.The stated goal was to allow the US to attract the best and the brightest – but the way the program has since been implemented has drawn criticism on multiple grounds. Companies hiring in this way were...

It’s often said by conservative voices that Trump hatred is not about Trump, it’s about you! (Meaning Trump supporters.) That’s partially true. Trump haters certainly do hate his supporters, too. But it goes much deeper than that. Trump haters despise an America that sits atop the world economically, militarily and morally — particularly morally. They scoff at the idea of a bright shining city on a hill. And that means that this battle right now, today, is far bigger than Donald Trump, although he is an avatar for it. This battle is about whether America remains America — or the...

Twitter has suspended or forced users to delete tweets naming the alleged whistleblower despite stating it is not company policy to do so. Several Twitter users said their accounts were suspended for tweeting out the name. One said Twitter later messaged him saying the suspension was “an error.” A Twitter spokeswoman told Breitbart: “Per the private information policy, any Tweets that include personally identifiable information about any individual, including the alleged whistleblower, would be in violation of the Twitter Rules.” The spokeswoman said posting the name of the person isn’t against the rules. Screenshots from a number of users confirm...

I was banned for 24 hours of posting, for posting Ciaramella's name in a meme in Facebook today. Real censorship has arrived, folks!

The University of Virginia canceled the 21-gun salute portion of its annual Veterans Day ceremony – citing gun violence. James Ryan, the university’s president, posted a statement on Facebook explaining that there were concerns about firing weapons on school property in light of recent school shootings. He said there were two specific reasons. "First, to minimize disruptions to classes, given that this event is located at the juncture of four primary academic buildings and is held at a time that classes are in session; and second, recognizing concerns related to firing weapons on the Grounds in light of gun violence...

The day has finally arrived when our online media monopolies are blatantly censoring the news that Americans can see. Chrissy Clark writes at The Federalist: Facebook and YouTube are removing all content from their platforms that mentions the anti-Trump whistleblower's name, whom news outlets including RealClearInvestigations have publicly identified as CIA analyst Eric Ciaramella. No law bans media outlets or any person but the intelligence community inspector general from making the whistleblower's name public. A Facebook spokesperson said the platform will remove "any and all mention of the potential whistleblower's name.

Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) on Thursday rolled out a proposal for a “millionaires surtax,” amid a growing interest from Democrats in increasing taxes on the wealthy. “This is a bill designed to address two major problems of public policy: the lack of revenue, and inequality,” Beyer said on a call with reporters. “It’s a laser-focused solution that requires those who benefited the most from the economy to contribute in a way they simply haven’t been asked to before.” The lawmakers’ bill, which is being co-sponsored by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), would create a 10-percentage...

Elizabeth Warren may be surging in the polls, but you wouldn’t know it by the size of the crowd that heard her speak on Friday. The senator from Massachusetts spoke at a sparsely attended environmental forum in Orangeburg, South Carolina, on Friday. The auditorium where the event was held appeared as if it could hold hundreds of spectators, but there were no more than a few dozen who could be seen watching the event. **SNIP** Most of the Democratic candidates in the race skipped the event. When asked if it was wrong for the Democratic Party not to stage an...

Facebook is removing any mention of the potential whistleblower’s name and is cracking down against Facebook publishers that mention any allegation of the potential whistleblower’s name, claiming they are violating Facebook’s Community Standards and Policies. For example, on Wednesday evening, Facebook removed Breitbart posts reporting on the fact other respected news outlets have reported the identity of the alleged whistleblower is Eric Ciaramella. Any Facebook user who attempts to click on that article on Facebook is now given a message that says, “this content isn’t available at the moment.”

The number of fake political news stories on Facebook has surged as the 2020 presidential race heats up, according to Avaaz, a global advocacy group that tracks misinformation. The group, which released its findings on the issue Wednesday, looked at the 100 most-viral fake political stories on Facebook in 2019. In total, those 100 stories were posted more than 2.3 million times and grossed an estimated 158.9 million views. For comparison, just under 140 million Americans voted in the 2016 presidential election. According to Avaaz's report, fake news stories that went against Democrats and liberals made up 62 percent of...

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey recently announced that the social media platform will no longer run political advertisements of any kind. Twitter is a private company and is free to adopt whatever policies it wants, but this decision is not the win for civil discourse and our “democratic infrastructure” that Dorsey claims it is. Defending his decision, Dorsey drew a Manichean dichotomy between meritoriously “earned” media and misleading paid content. That dichotomy is shallow and misleading. While he is right that, absent paid political advertising, “a political message earns reach when people decide to follow an account or retweet,” Dorsey does...

WARNING: This content is extremely graphic and disturbing. A video shared to Facebook has not only raised eyebrows, but is causing people to question the social media organization’s bias. Azeret Nichols posted a video of a drag queen performing in what appears to be a bar, singing along to Kesha’s “Cannibal,” while sporting a fake pregnant belly. After a moment, the drag queen takes a knife and begins cutting into the belly, and then reaches inside to dip his hands into fake blood, which he scoops into a glass and drinks. He then proceeds to pull a fake baby out...

It’s a little difficult to tea-leaf the precise motivations of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in creating agreements with news outlets that will ultimately inject millions of dollars into those failing businesses. Social media, specifically Facebook, has eviscerated advertising revenues in traditional media outlets, particularly newspapers. Craig’s List had already drained the classified advertising revenue from newspapers and Facebook led the way in sucking gobs of display advertising away from the papers — not to mention their own marketplace taking share away from Craig’s list. In response, newspapers have been dinosauric in their business model response, but quick to vilify Facebook...

Mark Zuckerberg’s social network in Washington is shrinking. Bipartisan hostility against Facebook has been building for months, fueled by a series of privacy scandals, the site’s role in Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign and accusations that Facebook crushes competitors. Now, with the 2020 elections approaching, Democrats especially are homing in on the conduct of the social media giant and its refusal to fact-check political ads and remove false ones. “When you’re the No. 1 monopoly, people are going to come after you,” says John Feehery, a veteran Republican communications strategist. The challenge for Democrats, as he sees it:...

Those laser pointer lights could hack into your smart home voice assistant. University researchers say they were able to hack Alexa, Google Home, Siri and Facebook Portal by shining lasers at them. The light can trick microphones and make the devices react as if they are receiving audio. The study found light commands can be sent from 360 feet away, from one building to another. The light can also penetrate glass, affecting a device that is left near a window. In one case, a garage door was opened using a laser light. Researchers also say they can use light commands...

A birth coach has been ‘ostracised’ by her professional organisation after transgender activists branded as offensive a Facebook post in which she said that only women can have babies. Lynsey McCarthy-Calvert, 45, was forced to stand down as spokesperson for Doula UK and has since resigned altogether from the national organisation for birth coaches. Her exit comes after transgender rights activists triggered an investigation in which Doula UK concluded her message breached its equality and diversity guidelines. They did not expel the mother- of-four, who has been a doula – who provide continuous support during pregnancy – for six years,...

Ahhh yes, the tolerant left. I can provide you with tens of thousands of some of the most hateful things ever said by the left all over facebook. From the most abrasive vulgarity to outright calling for murder and violence it is not only tolerated but almost never censored... This changes the instant you offer a truth against a leftist worldview. Banned by facebook for 24 hours. Its nothing really and I know many here are probably banned like this too and some even for longer times. My crime? Stating the following words: "Transgenderism is a disorder where the affected...

In response to a guy who didn't recognize the threat posed by Islam, I posted: "I like my head where it is. What's with shouting "allah akbar" before muzzies slowly slice off infidel's heads?" This did not meet FB's Community Standards and went nowhere. The screws tighten.

Top Republicans are privately worried about a new threat to President Trump’s campaign: the possibility of Facebook pulling a Twitter and banning political ads. Why it matters: Facebook says it won't, but future regulatory pressure could change that. If Facebook were to ban — or even limit — ads, it could upend Trump’s fundraising and re-election plan, GOP officials tell Axios. Trump relies heavily — much more so than Democrats — on targeted Facebook ads to shape views and raise money. Red flag: Kara Swisher, of Recode, the super plugged-in tech writer, predicted on CNBC's "Squawk Box" that Mark Zuckerberg...