Posted on 08/11/2018 8:24:55 PM PDT by Mariner
Some of the nation’s largest technology and social media companies have tried to stop Alex Jones and his conspiracy theories. But in a digital world, their attempts seem to have barely slowed him down.
After YouTube, Facebook and others this week removed content by Jones and his website, the InfoWars leader, talk show host and Austin resident fired back, accusing the companies of censorship and urging his audience to fight back against what he called an “unprecedented attack.”
Meanwhile, Jones’ website and other online platforms have remained popular destinations.
InfoWars continues to see more than 1 million page visits per day and has trended upward this month, according to Amazon’s Alexa website traffic report, which also said InfoWars averages more than 25 million page views per month.
Consumers still can access InfoWars through the same tech companies that just banned it. Google still offers the Infowars app for Android users, and Apple customers can download it through the App Store.
As of Friday, the show’s phone app remained near the top of the charts in both the Apple App and Google Play stores. Infowars Official, an app that lets viewers stream Jones’ shows and read news of the day, was ranked fourth among trending apps in the Google Play store Friday. In the news category on Apple’s App Store, Infowars earned the fourth slot under the top free apps, behind Twitter and News Break, a local and breaking news service, revealing a sudden boost of user downloads.
(Excerpt) Read more at mystatesman.com ...
Exactly how BIG does FR have to get before google or GoDaddy or whoever decides they won't host our "Neo-Nazi" web forum, as they, and hundreds of other registrars, do to actual racist websites all the time.
They are calling Alex Jones a Neo-Nazi right now. Even saw a tweet by Howard Dean calling Jones a Nazi.
That's a non-sequitur, it's still an alternative to Google.
It has 1% of the market.
Bing comprises exactly 33% (one-third) of all Internet searches.
There are alternatives to FB.
www.mewe.com
So what’s your answer? They have to host anything at all for free on the platform that they built and paid for?
Free Republic would be protected under the First Amendment. Facebook, which promotes itself as a free and open social space to all people, would not.
For free? No. Do blacks get free service from businesses because of civil rights laws?
So they were banned just like that? There had to be a valid reason or argument as to why Stormfront was banned.
What law do you have in mind that stops registrars from kicking you off the internet?
They can make their case in the courts, can they not? There's no Judge Dredd here controlling the Internet.
Are you like an Ayn Rand cultist or something?
Why yes, I am. If more people read Rand this country wouldn't have a fraction of the problems it's having today.
Your blind faith in a subcription service seems to fly against common sense consequences, such as a severe loss of revenue, increased advertising costs, and a loss of reach towards normal people.
How so? Breitbart has more page views than Huffington Post, NY Times, Washington Post. Obviously people are flocking there for a reason. If they went subscription-based, their page-view change would maybe decline slightly. But they would still be a powerhouse.
As I said - Look at the Sirius XM Patriot channel. It is one of Sirius XM's top channels.
Also, look what happened when the libs tried to boycott Rush. He GAINED advertisers and the ones who sold out to Brock LOST business. Breitbart would probably get more advertisers, which in turn they can lower or even eliminate their subscription cost.
You can judge that based on a few days, where he’s in the news. The purpose of the ban is to prevent people who aren’t looking for him from finding him, and keeping him off as many platforms as they did will likely over time have that effect. The most compelling argument I’ve seen is that they are actually protected from liability for content as a platform instead of a publisher. If they are now in the editorial content business, treat them as a publisher.
Based on what law? You have not cited any and seem to be assuming that registrars are not allowed to refuse service to anyone unless they have some legally approved reason.
Why yes, I am.
That explains the religious faith in subscription services! But it doesn't seem that even the heroes in Atlas Shrugged would have agreed with you. You're just thinking in terms of, "only the government can do wrong," and not "an organized conspiracy of communists and leftists who run all our technical infrastructure can do wrong." Common sense indicates the latter exists and is a serious threat to a free and open market.
FB and FR both have terms of service. FB’s are less restrictive than Jim’s but explicit when you sign up for an account.
On both services anyone can sign up and post until the owner decides that they can’t. For any reason.
There is no difference in a legal sense.
Free Republic is an explicitly conservative, right-wing website.
Facebook is not.
That is the difference the courts will look at. And in any case, we can write in the law, "we exempt political/social forums and refer to only social media websites like Facebook." Easy Peazy.
Sorry, I was sloppy. I was talking about people who feel that posting on FB or Twitter, both free services, is a right.
Ever hear of the Civil Rights Act?
You have not cited any and seem to be assuming that registrars are not allowed to refuse service to anyone unless they have some legally approved reason.
Please see first response. Equal accommodation under the law.
That explains the religious faith in subscription services!
Not a religious faith, it's a free market faith. If advertisers are banning me (or being bullied by leftists), then go subscription-based or seek new advertisers then. It's not that hard to understand.
But it doesn't seem that even the heroes in Atlas Shrugged would have agreed with you.
Actually Hank Rearden and the gang would agree with me.
You're just thinking in terms of, "only the government can do wrong," and not "an organized conspiracy of communists and leftists who run all our technical infrastructure can do wrong."
Yet Alex Jones still has a website up and has gotten more eyeballs. Those communists and leftists really told him!
Common sense indicates the latter exists and is a serious threat to a free and open market.
But who has purged Jones though? He still has a website up. His videos are archived. Who exactly gave him the Stalin treatment.
They aren't free services either. They get money from advertisement by getting more people to use their service. Their service, in turn, is offered to everyone freely. That they then arbitrarily shut people off from service, claiming fraudulently that they have violated their TOS, should be illegal, especially in consideration of the massive importance of keeping the internet free for discourse of any kind.
Civil rights laws apply to registrars? They don't seem to be behaving like it does. They are behaving like if you can call someone a Nazi, which they do to all of us, not just to the actual Nazis, you can deplatform this person from off the internet.
Yet Alex Jones still has a website up and has gotten more eyeballs.
For now, but now Jones will need to invest even more in advertising--with his access to facebook an social media denied--in order to keep the momentum going, and then people can still refuse to host his ads.
And you're assuming that removal of his apps, or his registrar refusing service, is an impossibility, even though other websites have been removed using the same justifications that are now being leveled fraudulently against Jones.
bookmark
Alex Jones is a bit of a wacko bird. To sensor him is not good and dangerous. If they can sensor him they can sensor anyone, even though they tell the truth.
Gobells must be jealous of Face Book, Yahoo, Google, Main Stream Media etc. From his place in hell he must think, “damn it is so easy now.”
OK, I stand corrected. But, I still suspect that Google dominates when it comes to paid searches.
1 Billion views on Youtube usually gets Youtubers $2 million dollars
I don’t like that Alex is being targeted but he’s is way too neurotic for me. I’ll never get over his... “F*ck Trump! F*ck his family!” after the Syria strike.
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