Censorship: Majority of college students favor censorship of speech
One-third of college students favor the use of violence to stop speech they dislike. A majority favor censorship of opposing views.
Media: Canada’s “mass graves” story collapsed
Several years ago, the world erupted in anger over allegations that perhaps 1000s of indigeneous children had died in Canadian schools and were buried in unmarked graves. The story turned out not to be true.
The asymmetry of “Freedom of speech”
Academics have long maintained they have a “freedom of speech” to pursue whatever they want to pursue in terms of research; this freedom extends to political opinions. In my state, all public sector workers have protection on their off-the-job speech. Private sector workers have no such protections and may be fired or receive negative performance reviews for their off-work speech. Which means when it comes to speech, some have more freedom than others, and that means, for example, that viewpoints of academics and public sector workers could be more influential because others may not be able to counter their comments.
Censorship: Facebook and Twitter provided secret login portals for government to censor social media via proxy
The US Department of Homeland Security, in cooperation with Facebook and Twitter, activity sought to censor online speech, allegedly using secret back door login portals to make urgent censorship requests.
UK lawmaker proposes requiring social media companies to give a “truth score” to all users
UK lawmaker proposes requirement that social media companies evaluate and score the truthfulness of every statement made online, and issue a cumulative “truth” score for each individual. What could possibly go wrong?
UK government used propaganda based on fear to control the public
The UK government is accused of deliberately using scare tactics to force the population into compliance with its public health Orders and mandates (which they elite themselves ignore). Fear is one of the most powerful of propaganda motivators and has long been a tool of tyrants.
NY Times is concerned about “unfettered conversations” taking place online
According to the NY Times “Unfettered conversations” are taking place on a new cloud-based app. Is the NY Times suggesting all conversations should be monitored by the secret police or their proxies, the tech companies? This seems bizarre.
“Deplatforming” Parler
The controversy over hostile social media content advocating violence, hate, and lies on social media – and the deplatforming of individuals and entire services (e.g. Parler).
Was Parler deplatformed for “conservative” ideas or for users advocating violence?
“Liking” the wrong post could get you fired
Clicking “Like” on a social media post that contains controversial commentary may get you fired from your job. This has happened in the past and may happen to some police officers who liked a controversial post from a former police officer that participated in the insurrection and attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Revisiting an old topic: “How White Supremacists incited panic and fear using social media propaganda at the University of Missouri – Social Panic”
Back in 2016, fake social media posts from fake social media accounts were used to incite fear and hysteria, with attempts to start riots. I documented this in detail back in 2016.
Today we again have fake social media posts being used to incite violence, looting, arson and anarchy – none of which leads to productive solutions to bona fide injustices and societal problems. Social media is playing a central role in this non-productive destruction of our society – and is not providing a platform for problem resolution.