Posted on 08/06/2018 8:47:29 AM PDT by Enlightened1
Apple confirmed on Monday that it had removed five out of six podcasts, which includes Jones' infamous The Alex Jones Show.
Facebook has also removed four pages that belong to Jones.
Both companies said Jones violated hate speech policies on their respective platforms.
Apple and Facebook clamped down on content by Alex Jones Monday, with the former pulling five of his podcasts and the latter removing four pages controlled by him.
Apple confirmed on Monday that it had removed five out of six podcasts, which includes Jones' infamous "The Alex Jones Show" as well as a number of other InfoWars audio streams. The news was originally reported by BuzzFeed News.
Jones, a controversial conspiracy theorist who has claimed that the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax, has been hit with other content bans from the likes of Google's YouTube and Spotify.
Apple's move seems slightly more dramatic the company has taken down entire libraries of InfoWars podcasts, rather than a select few episodes.
"Apple does not tolerate hate speech, and we have clear guidelines that creators and developers must follow to ensure we provide a safe environment for all of our users," an Apple spokesperson said in a statement on Monday.
"Podcasts that violate these guidelines are removed from our directory making them no longer searchable or available for download or streaming. We believe in representing a wide range of views, so long as people are respectful to those with differing opinions."
Facebook ban
Later on Monday morning, Facebook announced it was removing four of Jones' pages for persistently uploading content in breach of the social network's content guidelines.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
The limited editorial that is allowed for a company to be considered a platform instead of a publisher is meant for them to remove illegal content (like child porn). It is not meant to allow them to take political positions on user content.
You either have first amendment protection as a speaker/publisher with an editorial process or you are a platform that isnt responsible for the speech on it. You cant have your cake and eat it too.
They should be forced to pick one.
Heres the deal, dummies who are like its a private company censoring certain views based on politics means that Facebook is a publisher not a platform and therefore they should have their liability waiver on illegal user posted content revoked.
That’s a good point that I hadn’t thought of. Yes, they cannot be both immune from liability for their content as a platform, and also allowed to censor content as a publisher.
I believe AT&T is a private business fulfilling the legal requirements of a public utility. Thus, this does not apply. Until social media is legally recognized as such, they are private.
All true but it isn’t a 1st Amendment issue
Drudge had this to say to Alex and others
Flashback: Matt Drudge Warns Not to Get Famous on YouTube, Googles Hell Pit
https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2018/08/06/flashback-matt-drudge-warns-not-to-get-famous-on-youtube-googles-hell-pit/
This needs to be loudly labeled “Censorship Nazi Style” (because of leftards public education whitewashing “Censorship COMMUNIST-style” gets too many blank looks).
Time to BOYCOTT these “NAZI-STYLE CESNSORS”
Thanks for the reply.
So, if I understand the situation correctly, it would take a congressional act to designate Facebook as a public utility in order to require Facebook to carry all Facebook posts regardless of the content.
Congress has passed numerous bills under public accommodations to prevent discrimination. Could the same reasoning be applied to accommodating free speech/political speech?
I don’t know, but it appears to me that public accommodation/free speech could be applied to the social media.
The courts could also move against social media under the numerous reasonable alternatives court rulings when looking at business. The test asks if there are reasonable alternatives or choices available to the public. I forgot the legal terminology for this court test.
Overall, it’s an interesting discussion.
If a plaintiff alleges violation of both state and Federal law in a Federal case, then the Federal district court judge construes both state and Federal law.
The Alex Jones people can go to Federal court and include among their claims that the banning was illegal under both Federal and state law (California, most importantly), and the Federal court will construe state law as part of its analysis.
Google and Twitter and Spotify too per www.naturalnews.com
New York Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/06/technology/infowars-alex-jones-apple-facebook-spotify.html
Google, Facebook and Twitter should be deemed utilities.
Then they should be broken up like Ma Bell was.
They can do it any time th y want.
For sure he last time you dont have right TO USE SOME
ONE ELSES PLATFORM. You have a right to GET YOUR OWN.
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