Posted on 07/03/2023 4:19:07 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
I added a NOTE about Musk’s nonsense justification.
If the lessons of COVID-19 have taught us anything, it should be that each step the totalitarian dictatorships take -under the guise of protecting new democratic norms- must be viewed through the prism of future targeting.
We should pay attention, lest we find ourselves on the alternate side of populist uprisings under state targeting.
I sent the prior warning message around the collaboration between private industry and western government surrounding financial restrictions placed on Russia. When VISA, Mastercard and other payment mechanisms willingly and willfully supported the intentions of the Western Government coalition, few people thought about the Rubicon this new merge and partnership was establishing. {SEE HERE} In essence, private industry determining the lifestyle of Russian citizens in an effort to target their political leadership. Few people were paying attention, fewer still think long term.
With France now pledging to shut down internet communication in an effort to control organizing through social media, there is a bigger picture that must be considered.
[SOURCE – Translated from French]
Let me take you back to 2010 and 2011 when the U.S. State Department, Hillary Clinton, Samantha Power, Susan Rice, CIA Director Leon Panetta and French President Nicholas Sarkozy wanted to support the Islamist Spring uprisings in Tunis, Libya, Egypt and Yemen.
What happened then is very much related to what we are seeing right now in Europe, specifically France; only this time we are seeing the inverse of the government interests regarding social media on display.
The bad dictators were targeted for removal following the now famous Barack Obama Cairo, Egypt speech. President Barack Obama triggered the removal of the Zookeepers and released the big cats to become apex predators; the downstream consequences eventually showed up with ISIS burning people in cages.
When the leaders of Tunis, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Sudan and a multitude of other unapproved dictatorships, reacted to the collective effort of the CIA and U.S. state Dept by shutting down cell phone communication, the CIA and DoS responded by enlisting Twitter and Facebook as the messaging platforms for the rebels in each country.
Twitter became the main conduit through which the people on the ground could organize against their regimes. This was the initial merge of the U.S. government using social media to effect political change. [Side Note: this is the atom splitting moment which eventually led to the government’s ability to control, filter and ultimately censor U.S. social media content.]
Twitter, and to a lesser extent Facebook, served the interests of western government by helping the people on the ground to organize protests, violent uprisings, against the dictators in the Arab Spring. As we eventually saw in Libya and Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood (Egypt, AQIM) and al-Qaeda (Libya, AQAP) were supported by the State Dept/CIA during that effort.
The key takeaway is: the uprisings were supported by the western governments, and the social media platforms served the interests of the western government leadership.
Now fast forward to today…
We have the inverse issue for the interests of western government, specifically France and broad parts of the EU as well as the United States.
General uprisings, riots and assorted mayhem created by mostly Islamic immigrants and the subsequent cultural clash, are against the interests of France and the EU. The ability of the cultural insurgents to organize on social media is now against the interests of western government. How are they reacting? They are shutting down the utility of the platforms and shutting down the internet.
The initial takeaway from this might be perceived as good. The rioters are creating social unrest, looting, arson and crisis; they must be stopped and controlled. It seems like the government action will be a good thing.
However, as with the example of private corporations joining in alignment with WEF government to target Russia, what do you think will happen when a populist revolt of yellow vests, or anti-vaxxers, or freedom rebels take to the streets? Precedents are being set.
You might cheer France using control over communication to target the violent brown people now; but what happens when those same EU entities decide to target the communication of a different type of uprising. This is me, sending warning flares to those who might not care about this ‘beta-test’.
Oh, and don’t forget the Senate Intelligence Committee recent effort with the “Restrict Act“, total internet and domestic social media control pushed under the auspices of controlling TikTok data collection.
♦ Let me also point out that it does not seem in the least bit coincidental these French uprisings happen at the same time that Elon Musk and Twitter start limiting the ability of users to engage with the social media platform.
Musk claims that changing and restricting user access is all part of some necessary plan to stop scrapers from scouring the data of Twitter users and creating an AI system for censorship and control.
That’s nonsense.
Scraping and Spider Crawling happen on just about every site and platform where public comments take place. Reddit and YouTube comment systems are one example. Truth Social is another example.
Google AI has been scraping content from the entire internet for years. It is silly to say that a new censorship system using AI to scrape user information is a valid reason to shut down user engagement with the platform.
NOTE: Have you ever encountered a “Captcha Challenge”? ie. check all images with mountains, trains, cars, crosswalks, etc. If Musk was concerned about bot or AI scraping, he could insert a captcha challenge every 500 post reads (or pick number). What he’s doing has nothing to do with trying to stop AI scraping or defending free speech; it’s the opposite.
When it comes to censorship, Elon Musk would have you believe he is not in control. Again, nonsense. As if there is some higher power over him telling Twitter they must remove or censor content. Please stop and think about it… it’s silly.
All censorship starts with the actuated decision of the platform to allow or remove the content. Despite Musk claiming there is some entity, some omnipotent system that can force him to censor Twitter content, there is not.
Scrape away, create the AI censorship parameters (which already exist via Google) and even then, if Elon Musk does not want to censor content he doesn’t censor content. These are his decisions.
Keep this next part in mind. Twitter and various social media platforms, but specifically Twitter, are at much heavier levels of user engagement outside the United States. It makes sense because in oppressive regimes where information from state-controlled media is tightly restricted, social media plays a larger role in the transmission and absorption of unfiltered information.
The level of user engagement, likes, retweets etc. is much higher for Twitter users outside the United States. Those users are also far less likely to pay for the service.
When Elon Musk is limiting the ability of non-paid users to engage in his platform (view information), he is essentially assisting dictators in oppressive nations by limiting access to information and the sharing of it.
Twitter’s current rules on user engagement restrict non-USA users at a much more significant level. As a result, Twitter’s rules are limiting information on a global scale. Elon Musk is well aware of this; he is not stupid. The decisions by Twitter, restrict information and help the oppressors.
On Friday June 16th Elon Musk met with French President Emmanuel Macron. [France Erupts] On Thursday June 29th Musk limits Twitter access.
When your world of enterprise is financially enmeshed with government to pay for it, you end up doing what those government offices tell you to do.
Is the timing of the Twitter decision related to geopolitical events like France? You decide. However, for me personally, and knowing the true operations of Twitter as a public opinion control platform (see Twitter files), I am fairly confident there is a connection of interest.
Is Elon Musk running a Twitter version of the RESTRICT ACT … again, where user data must be protected. 👀
Politicians are the problem not the internet
Paris probably looks like the Nazi takeover in 1940.....
I think he is most concerned about the world outside of France remaining aware of just how bad the situation is.
It took 340 years longer than they expected, but the Muslims have finally taken over Paris!
Never let a crises go to waste. The leftist way.
I could post govt censorship plans all day long.
since the twitter files outed the secret censorship, govts have simply organized openly to achieve the same:
22 June: news.com.au: AFP: Australia gives Twitter 28 days to clean up ‘toxicity and hate’
Australia gives Twitter 28 days to clean up ‘toxicity and hate’
Australia’s internet safety watchdog on Thursday threatened to fine Twitter for failing to tackle online abuse, saying Elon Musk’s takeover had coincided with a spike in “toxicity and hate”.
E-safety commissioner Julie Inman Grant — a former Twitter employee — said the platform was now responsible for one-in-three complaints about online hate speech reported in Australia.
Inman Grant said Twitter had 28 days to show it was serious about tackling the problem or face fines of Aus$700,000 (US$475,000) for every day it missed the deadline...
https://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/australia-gives-twitter-28-days-to-clean-up-toxicity-and-hate/news-story/ef3ca87efdff22070c3ce4c416a04876
28 June: Substack: Stephen Reason: TRUTH AS LIES, AND LIES AS TRUTH: The ‘Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2023’
New ACMA draft legislation proposed to counter “misinformation and disinformation,” will enable only Government-approved misinformation and disinformation.
New Federal draft legislation is afoot, that, if passed, will stomp upon the free expression of information online. What Australians can currently access and communicate, and the enabling platforms, will be suppressed, and erased. The heel of the governmental jackboot will be aimed at the throat, our throats — to preemptively crush the larynx of Truth. The blackened-sole of the rubber-tread hovers above, but we can still pivot, and evade the downward thrust.
We must inform other Australians, and collectively oppose this new legislation. They must not be permitted to throttle and silence our freedom of speech...
To combat ‘misinformation and disinformation,’ the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) will be given extraordinary new powers1 to compel Big Tech companies to quash anything that conflicts with the Official Narrative: basically, the truth...
https://stephenreason.substack.com/p/truth-as-lies-and-lies-as-truth-the
lengthy “fact-checking” BBC, trying to impose their will on Tik Tok! extraordinary stuff:
30 June: BBC: The climate change-denying TikTok post that won’t go away
By Marco Silva & Maryam Ahmed, BBC Verify
Earlier this year, TikTok vowed to clamp down on climate change denial. But a BBC investigation tracked one video that has been viewed millions of times - and found the company is struggling to stop false climate information from spreading across the platform...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-66023797
Only one solution; deport all the muslims; problem solved. They will never assimilate into the beautiful French Culture.
We need to create ground rules in the digital world which guarantee:
-—Freedom of speech
-—Privacy
Today you have no such thing.
Government and the corporations basically molded the rules in the early 90s and even built the system to provide what consumers want, but which in the background allows for data collection, searches, censorship, etc.
You have BS like HIPAA today which is no more than privacy protections between family members, co-workers, and friends, but allows for required medical reporting without patient consent to the CDC/NIH/SS/DHS, warrantless information sharing with law enforcement or the IC, etc.
There need to be some serious changes but the people are sheep and as long as it doesn’t “inconvenience” them they will be OK with it.
Or anywhere else, for that matter.
Shut down the interwebs? Sure, that’s not gonna PO anybody. While you’re at it Muckron go ahead and shut down the post office, cut off the phones, maybe shut down the telegraph, lock up the pony express, maybe even outlaw pencils and paper. And, OH , yeah, cut off radio and the teevee. That ought to settle down them trouble makers, yup. And get a really big hanky to wave when you’re kissing your own axx goodbye,\.
If Marie Le Pen were Prez of France, this would not be happening.
Agree
True
Shutting down the internet will be a harbinger
Yes the agitators use it but so do the good guys / Captain Obvious
That’s why I post Scriptures; to spread it as far as wide as possible before it’s completely forbidden / blocked.
Like much of China. Probably Iran too.
North Korea for certain.
I am reminded of a great Stephen Wright joke:
“I have a switch in my apartment......it doesn’t do anything......Every once in a while when I’m bored, I turn it on and off...on...off...on....off....on...off......One day I got a call......it was from a woman in Germany.......she said ‘Cut it out’......”
SO Macron shuts the media down during rioting, while our media cranks the volume up during similar events. Do you see what they’re doing to us?
Remember how they do this here in France
A similar approach will be followed here
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