Free Republic

Half a century ago, George Orwell, writing on literary censorship, wrote that “unpopular ideas can be silenced, and inconvenient facts kept dark, without the need for any official ban.” That dynamic now broadly extends to an opaque network of government agencies and self-proclaimed anti-misinformation groups that have repressed online speech. There’s no official ban on discussing the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines or criticizing American involvement in the Ukraine-Russia war, but editors and journalists have realized that writing on such topics can come at a cost. News publishers have been demonetized and shadow-banned for reporting dissenting views and the bureaucratic means...

On Tuesday, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) released its annual “Studio Responsibility Index” which tracks how much LGBTQ content various movie studios are pumping out each year. Of all the studios, in 2022, Disney topped them all. That’s right. Disney. “Walt Disney Studios included LGBTQ characters in all five of its Disney theatrical releases. While the LGBTQ representation in some films was groundbreaking in kids and family spaces, such as Lightyear and Strange World, other films’ inclusion was more minor, such as Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and other Marvel properties,” GLAAD writes in its...

Will a pro-Israel legal advocacy group manage to defeat one of the world's biggest tech giants? We sat down with Nitzana Darshan Leitner, the chairwoman of Shurat Hadin, a pro-Israel legal advocacy group that will soon face Google in the United States Supreme Court on allegations the tech company aided and abetted terrorism. "This is the end of a very long journey, which we started in 2015 when we started filing lawsuits against social media giants, Facebook, Twitter, and Google, for aiding and abetting terrorism," Darshan Leitner recounts and explains: "The argument was that social media provides social services to...

Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff (CA) on Sunday threatened social media companies after Elon Musk allowed conservatives back on Twitter.Adam Schiff is not happy that Democrats can no longer control the narrative on Twitter.Schiff on Sunday told social media companies that Congress will take away their Section 230 immunity if they don’t ‘moderate’ content (code word for banning conservatives).“We’ve got a big problem right now with social media companies and their failure to moderate content and the explosion of hate on Twitter, the banning of journalists on Twitter. We can’t tell them what to say or not say, but we gave...

On Monday, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear a case this term on social media company liability over user posts. Gonzales v. Google will determine whether social media companies can be held liable for content published on their platforms. Section 230 of 1996’s Communications Decency Act gives the companies immunity from posts made by others. What’s at issue, in this case, is when the companies use algorithms to promote posts generated by others. Are they still immune from liability for the post?The case was brought by relatives of a murder victim, US citizen Nohemi Gonzalez, who was gunned down...

Textbook publishers are surrendering to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ demands that math instructional materials get in line with state standards, allowing more books to be added to the approved list, according to the Florida Department of Education. “Publishers are aligning their instructional materials to state standards and removing woke content allowing the department of education to add 19 more books to the state adoption list over the past 17 days,” the Florida Department of Education announced on its website. The Florida Department of Education announced on April 15 that it had rejected 41% of math textbooks proposed by publishers for...

Twitter will be going through some changes in the coming weeks as it transitions from a thought police enforcement zone to an actual social media platform. One big change will be the removal of employees who don't understand the difference between disagreement and hate speech. But don't worry! We see you and we hear you, former Twitter employees! Here are some new jobs that fit your expansive skillset: 1) White House Press Secretary: Wow! What a prestigious position! Too bad there can be only one. You'll have to fight it out with your several hundred colleagues for this one. 2)...

...Benjamin Netanyahu said today before the vote on the bill to remove content from the network: "I want to tell you how absurd and dangerous this thing is." Netanyahu added from his seat as he knocked on the table: "Are you talking about democracy? This is a terrible danger."

As YouTube continues to censor, these alternatives are rising up to empower viewers and creators. Use them. Tell friends and family about them. Tell creators to use them.

Lisa Haba, a partner of Haba Law Firm based in Florida, told The Epoch Times that Twitter refused to take down sexual exploitation videos of her client even after her client showed Twitter the proof that he’s a minor, and that Twitter “certainly was profiting off the exploitation of [her client].”The Haba Law Firm, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation Law Center, and the Matiasic Firm jointly filed a federal lawsuit against Twitter on Jan. 20, 2021.Haba told the story of her client during an interview with Jan Jekielek, host of Epoch Times’ American Thought Leaders program.John Doe, Haba’s client,...

Keeping its focus on what really matters, the Trump White House is currently circulating drafts of an executive order that would address "anti-conservative bias" in social media. The exact contents of the executive order are unclear, but it is definitely not going to be good. One unnamed official who Politico spoke to offered the conservative rationale for the move: "If the internet is going to be presented as this egalitarian platform and most of Twitter is liberal cesspools of venom, then at least the president wants some fairness in the system." Of course, there is no anti-conservative bias in social...

<p>Washington (AFP) -- Facebook said Thursday it would soon open up nominations for a new 40-member oversight panel to make tough decisions on content moderation, saying it would be independent of governments and management of the social networking giant.</p> <p>A report on the process was released following more than six months of consultations in 88 countries on how to deal with the delicate topics of allowing and removing controversial comments and images.</p>

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She will continue to serve as chairman and CEO of Discovery-backed cable network OWN. In the war for talent, Apple has just scored a major victory. The tech giant and eventual streamer has inked a multiple-year content partnership with Oprah Winfrey. Under the pact, terms of which were not immediately available, Winfrey and Apple will create original content that will be released as part of the latter's lineup of content. Sources say the pact includes everything from film, TV, applications, books and other content that could easily be distributed on Apple's all-encompassing platform. (The deal does not include podcasts, as...

On March 1, The European Commission -- the unelected executive branch of the European Union -- told social media companies to remove illegal online terrorist content within an hour, or risk facing EU-wide legislation on the topic. The ultimatum was part of a new set of recommendations that will apply to all forms of "illegal content" online, "from terrorist content, incitement to hatred and violence, child sexual abuse material, counterfeit products and copyright infringement." The European Commission said, "Considering that terrorist content is most harmful in the first hours of its appearance online, all companies should remove such content within...

FR was not blocked by Best Buy this morning. This afternoon it is. Geek Squad says they've seen this before. Something was posted between this morning and afternood that triggered the corporate algorithm. . . . . . . Best Buy This site is blocked due to CONTENT filtering [freerepublic.com] Sorry, freerepublic.com has been blocked by your network administrator. This site was categorized in: Forums/Message boards, Newsmedia, Politics, Research/Reference Block Thype: aup Bundle ID: 645031 Domain tagging Host: Blockopendns.com Origin ID:98691003 Query: url=7187070837081867777468156807816856721E ablock&server=mia19&prefs=&tagging=&nref Server: mia19

SAN FRANCISCO, March 21 (Reuters) - Twitter Inc said on Tuesday it had stepped up efforts to rid its social network of posts from users advocating political or religious violence, and was increasingly using software to find them rather than relying on reports from users or governments. U.S. and European governments have been pressuring social media companies including Twitter, Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google to fight harder against online radicalization, particularly by Islamist groups that advocate violent activity. -legal requests from around the world directing it to remove content posted by verified journalists and news outlets.

September 29, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — The French minister for Families, Childhood and Women’s Rights is celebrating the Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion with a plan to gag a number of websites that “mislead” women into thinking they give complete and honest information on abortion. Laurence Rossignol unveiled plans to criminalize those sites that aim to dissuade women from obtaining a “voluntary interruption of pregnancy,” a procedure that is 100 percent state-funded in France during the first 12 weeks of gestation. Offenders will incur prison sentences of up to two years and fines up to 30,000...

Perhaps this one of the most important discussion threads ever regarding Legacy Media manipulation. We sincerely hope you will take the time to digest the content, think about the ramifications to what is here, and then share the information with others. This is not a matter of opinion, the CNN stories are documented, attributed and cited. They are factual. Everything is verifiable within the embedded links and citations. Believe it or not, just creating this discussion thread is risky. We are unable to expand. Before getting to the CNN Amber Lyon expose’ (which is incredible and troubling) let’s first back...

I watched a movie last night on Netflix called "The Disappearance of Alice Creed" that started out as a decent movie. After I had gotten interested the movie and around the 30 minute mark, the 2 main male characters suddenly embrace and start kissing. At first I was revolted and then the revulsion changed to anger. There was nothing in the Netflix description to indicate that this was about gays. I personally believe homosexual activity is wrong and sinful. I remember the first time I ever heard of someone being homosexual and i knew right then and there in my...