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How Silicon Valley, in a Show of Monopolistic Force, Destroyed Parler
SubStack ^ | 1/12/2021 | Glenn Greenwald

Posted on 01/13/2021 2:19:30 PM PST by NohSpinZone

Critics of Silicon Valley censorship for years heard the same refrain: tech platforms like Facebook, Google and Twitter are private corporations and can host or ban whoever they want. If you don’t like what they are doing, the solution is not to complain or to regulate them. Instead, go create your own social media platform that operates the way you think it should.

The founders of Parler heard that suggestion and tried. In August, 2018, they created a social media platform similar to Twitter but which promised far greater privacy protections, including a refusal to aggregate user data in order to monetize them to advertisers or algorithmically evaluate their interests in order to promote content or products to them. They also promised far greater free speech rights, rejecting the increasingly repressive content policing of Silicon Valley giants....[snip]

That is because the dominant strain of American liberalism is not economic socialism but political authoritarianism. Liberals now want to use the force of corporate power to silence those with different ideologies. They are eager for tech monopolies not just to ban accounts they dislike but to remove entire platforms from the internet. They want to imprison people they believe helped their party lose elections, such as Julian Assange, even if it means creating precedents to criminalize journalism.

(Excerpt) Read more at greenwald.substack.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: amazon; apple; bidenvoters; google; parler
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I probably disagree with Greenwald on just about every economic policy and theory but I can appreciate this liberal's full-throated defense of free speech and competition. I've come to appreciate his kind of liberalism more and more in light of the craziness going on right now.
1 posted on 01/13/2021 2:19:30 PM PST by NohSpinZone
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To: NohSpinZone

In the 19th century the Left was the foremost opponent of the big corporations stifling free market competition.

How far the Left has fallen.


2 posted on 01/13/2021 2:24:46 PM PST by FormerFRLurker (Keep calm and vote your conscience.)
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To: NohSpinZone

So, how is that action not a criminal act, restraint of trade, collusion whatever it technically is?


3 posted on 01/13/2021 2:25:13 PM PST by Phil DiBasquette
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To: Phil DiBasquette

I believe it is but it is to be battled in the courts. I don’t expect this Dimm administration and its lackeys to take any action, that’s for sure.


4 posted on 01/13/2021 2:27:40 PM PST by NohSpinZone (First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers)
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To: Phil DiBasquette
So, how is that action not a criminal act, restraint of trade, collusion whatever it technically is?

Easy. Most lawyers are evil, hateful people. Most lawyers are on the side of the Marxists. Judges are lawyers.

5 posted on 01/13/2021 2:30:07 PM PST by Jeff Chandler (We flattened the heck out of that curve, didn’t we?)
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To: NohSpinZone
I believe it is but it is to be battled in the courts.

The courts have chosen sides. Against you.

6 posted on 01/13/2021 2:30:56 PM PST by Jeff Chandler (We flattened the heck out of that curve, didn’t we?)
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To: Jeff Chandler

ABA are huge Dem donors.


7 posted on 01/13/2021 2:32:29 PM PST by RushIsMyTeddyBear
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To: Jeff Chandler

They have not ruled on the argument that Big Tech, as an oligopoly, are state actors and have to abide by First Amendment restrictions. So we’ll see.


8 posted on 01/13/2021 2:33:05 PM PST by NohSpinZone (First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers)
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To: NohSpinZone

Now that we have seen how quickly Big Tech can destroy a social media site which offends them, I am asking why they never did the same thing with child pornography.


9 posted on 01/13/2021 2:34:38 PM PST by Berosus (I wish I had as much faith in God as liberals have in government.)
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To: NohSpinZone
we’ll see.

But they won't. The Supreme Court won't touch anything that might help Trump.

10 posted on 01/13/2021 2:36:32 PM PST by Jeff Chandler (We flattened the heck out of that curve, didn’t we?)
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To: NohSpinZone

There’s a certain kind of person who I have to respect even when I disagree with them, because they are consistent in their views and true to their beliefs, even if I don’t share those beliefs. Rand Paul is one such person. Glenn Greenwald is another.


11 posted on 01/13/2021 2:36:52 PM PST by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: Berosus
I am asking why they never did the same thing with child pornography.

Because they're Democrats, and Democrats love child pornography.

12 posted on 01/13/2021 2:37:44 PM PST by Jeff Chandler (We flattened the heck out of that curve, didn’t we?)
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To: Jeff Chandler

It’s bleak, I know, but we can’t just quit. We have to fight like hell. There ARE liberals, true liberals, who are just as disgusted by this. The enemy of my enemy is my friend might have to be our mantra. Politics do make for strange bedfellows and all that.


13 posted on 01/13/2021 2:38:06 PM PST by NohSpinZone (First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers)
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To: NohSpinZone

Who said parler is destroyed? Parler will be back. it will be online and running. You don’t need apps. If you download a browser on your smart phone you can still access it. Personally I believe in using a real computer instead of one of these nasty little smart phones.


14 posted on 01/13/2021 2:40:53 PM PST by amnestynone (We are asked by people who do not tolerate us to tolerate the intolerable in the name of tolerance.)
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To: NohSpinZone

These tech companies yap about being “private’ corporations, but they seem to have received plenty in government subsidies to fund their “private” enterprises!


15 posted on 01/13/2021 2:42:18 PM PST by Sons of Union Vets (Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory!)
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To: NohSpinZone

“It’s bleak, I know, but we can’t just quit. We have to fight like hell”

Well said. Keep reminding these surrender monkey, limp-wrist Freepers to quit demoralizing the rest of us who hate leftards and fight..

If they want to bend over to Groper Joe, the next 4 years, so be it. They’re p*ssies anyway..


16 posted on 01/13/2021 2:44:12 PM PST by max americana (FIRED LEFTARD employees at our office every election since 2008 and enjoyed seeing them cry.)
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To: amnestynone

It’ll take some time. It’s not just Amazon’s servers that were taken away. Other vendors like Twilio (SMS authentication) bailed too and Parler does not have viable replacement right now. But the CEO sounds determined and I’ll do whatever the hell I can to support him. It needs to come back.


17 posted on 01/13/2021 2:47:17 PM PST by NohSpinZone (First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers)
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To: NohSpinZone

What big tech is really doing is creating demand for competition.

Unintended consequences.


18 posted on 01/13/2021 2:48:49 PM PST by joshua c (Jan 20th is Dump Day. Dump them all. Twitter, Facebook, Google, Amazon, cable tv etc)
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To: NohSpinZone

Is there no way for Parler to use a different server, in another country?


19 posted on 01/13/2021 2:49:19 PM PST by a real Sheila (Eff the Left)
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To: joshua c

“What big tech is really doing is creating demand for competition.”

I do ultimately see this being the silver lining in this dark cloud. I think enough of us will get sick of being treated like second-class citizens and get off these stupid ass platforms en masse. Their hold on us is not as strong as they believe it is.


20 posted on 01/13/2021 2:51:20 PM PST by NohSpinZone (First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers)
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