The purge is happening. The world’s largest tech companies have banned an upstart social media service from their App Stores.
Google, owned by Alphabet, went first, saying Parler is allowing its users to incite violence and is not policing the conversations people are having on the new alternative to Twitter.
Apple, the world’s largest tech company, gave Parler 24 hours to clean up its act. It has now suspended Parler from its App Store entirely and the app is dysfunctional for those who already have it.
Twitter has been blocking and banning conservative voices on its messaging platform, with a massive purge that began last week with the blocking of the president. The site’s staff and computer algorithm appear to be making their way through thousands of accounts, which are being curtailed, hidden, blocked, shadow-banned and outright banned due to what Twitter thinks is unhelpful speech.
Parler is majority owned by Dan Bongino, who also publishes the Bongino Report, an alternative to the formerly conservative Drudge Report. There are a lot of angry voices on Parler, many who have been banned from Twitter, and some are inciting violence against politicians and journalists. Parler was created as an alternative to Twitter due to policing of free speech.
The social media account purging is underway on other platforms and with some big names: Steve Bannon, formerly of Breitbart, was banned from YouTube, which has also blocked Rudy Giuliani’s videos. Facebook has blocked the @WalkAway page that encourages Democrats to leave the Democratic Party. It had a half million followers.
Mozilla wrote on its company blog that “de-platforming” was not enough. Companies like Mozilla need to do more to shut down misinformation and disinformation, and elevate “factual voices.”
In the business world, the Cancel Culture is all the rage. Randall Lane, editor of Forbes magazine, advised businesses that they should not hire press secretaries who had served in the Trump Administration. To do so would make their companies untrustworthy, and a target of journalists.
“As American democracy rebounds, we need to return to a standard of truth when it comes to how the government communicates with the governed,” Lane wrote. “The easiest way to do that, from where I sit, is to create repercussions for those who don’t follow the civic norms.”
In other Cancel Culture news, the Lincoln Project, a Democrat organization that worked to unseat the president, announced it is building a blacklist of Trump Administration employees to ensure they cannot find employment.
“At @ProjectLincoln we are constructing a database of Trump officials & staff that will detail their roles in the Trump administration & track where they are now. No personal info, only professional. But they will be held accountable & not allowed to pretend they were not involved,” wrote Stuart Stevens of the Lincoln Project.
Time to go paper. Will support anyone wanting to start a real newspaper.
How will you pay your vendors when Well Fargo close your business account. How will people pay for your papers subscription when VISA/Mastercard/AMEX and PayPal cancel your merchants account? See where all this is going?
We have to understand that we have all, voluntarily, used the Internet, do online banking, use email, browse the web for news and information, use social media and, for all practical purposes, let the computer and the internet take control of our lives.
It’s taken a while but now we should be seeing that we have, voluntarily, walked in to a prison cell and allowed the big corporations to slam the door shut behind us.
Can we ditch our Apple products, can we cancel our Amazon accounts, can we stop watching youtube (google), can we stop saying ‘just google it’, can we start putting our money under the mattress, can we get away from big tech?
Yes it can be done, maybe not convenient for many of us but maybe it’s time to disconnect from the majority of all of this technology and get back to the way things used to be.
Not easy by any means but maybe that’s what ‘they’ mean by the ‘Great Reset’ that’s, supposedly, on the way.
I doubt most under 35 would ever be able to do this. But to me, it sounds like heaven.
So true.It needs to be our “Great Reset.”
I closed my Facebook account and my Instagram account after the election. It has been easier than I thought it would be. Today, I closed Amazon and Twitter. The Alaska GOP needs to do the same. I have an Iphone that needs updated so I guess I will go back to Samsung. I also downloaded the DuckDuckGo app to use instead of Google. Little things in the big scheme of things. But I could not continue to use these platforms when they want to censor what I read.
“Google, owned by Alphabet, went first, saying Parler is allowing its users to incite violence and is not policing the conversations people are having on the new alternative to Twitter”.
“There are a lot of angry voices on Parler, many who have been banned from Twitter, and some are inciting violence against politicians and journalists”.
So you agree with Google. Any proof? I heard that Trump supposedly incited violence but I listened to him and didn’t hear anything. Accusations without direct, in context quotes are smears. But hey, you throw it against the wall and see what sticks.
Now that a majority of people have a digital presence and finger print, I guess the powerful tech giants can create a profile of you. That profile could potentially be used against you, a means to control — silence you, and ultimately a powerful tool to manipulate you. I’m sure this applies to any business too.
WHEN … do they decide to silence Must Read AK?
AND … who will stop the tech giants?
Wow, the censoring is happening a lot faster than I saw coming. Fortunately, other platforms are coming.
Censuring and Censoring!
As disturbing as this report is, thank you for sharing the information.
As I sit here having a sandwich with my daughter, the general population out living there lives, are happy – as am I most of the time.
If the purge is happening, it should be widespread and with equality of accountability.
IT Corporations are now serving as the editor, police, judge, and the executioner of livlihood.
But the beautiful thing about America, is we still have a jury of our peers.
This is like some science fiction movie people vs. the machine.
Suzanne: isn’t this right up your experience category? I have faith that you can surpass the good faith and put the truth out there. I feel that you allow all truthful statements to be published.
Oh, no she does not.
Wow, censoring and censuring imposed a lot faster than I expected. Didn’t even get President-efraud Biden in office before Big Tech shut down our President’s Twitter account and is busy shutting down everyone associated with him. Cancel Culture in full swing.
Wow, Suzanne, even my comments are being purged from your site. How disappointing that MRA is censoring too.
No. I just was busy and there are 231 comments to approve in the past hour. Take a deep breath. – sd
This MRAK comment section seems to round out many stories. Lots of good data, ideas, info, and suggestions from the readers, and a weather gauge of our temperament on issues.
ADN lost a lot of readership when they closed their comments. Nobody can stomach propaganda, unless it gives them opportunity for rebuttal.
The pace of the purge is quickening. 1 A on the chopping block 2A soon to follow!!
They can do what they want. We just need to boycott them.
What’s left a 2 meter radio set? These tech oligarchs own every inroad to the digital highway. It started with Alex Jones, and no one cared:
.
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
The Cultural Revolution is under way.
Wrongthink will get you fired, blacklisted, ruined.
All in the name of “compassion” and “fairness”
This is the sort of thing that starts shooting wars.
Be very careful about what you say and who you say it to. Your friends, neighbors, and family are waiting to turn you in.
Please also note that Parler is reporting that Amazon Web Services will be taking Parler off line within the next 24-48 hours. Meaning that the apps won’t work nor will their website work. Parler reports that it may take them two or three weeks to get things back on line.
Where did my First Amendment Rights go? Big tech can just steal them overnight? Where is the push back from our gonverment Representatives.
The House and the Senate HAD A CHANCE to REPEAL the 230 protection provisions and FAILED TO DO SO!
Where are WE as citizens of the USA to go to get our Right To Free Speech back? Waiting Lisa, Dan and Don.
Have you even read the Constitution? It says “CONGRESS shall make no law……abridging the freedom of speech…,”not “BIG TECH shall make no law……” Hmm, I’m certain Lisa, Dan, and Don are waiting for you to request a copy of a pocket-size Constitution.
Absolutely correct. DC will make no laws requiring you take the COVID vaccine either, but civvy street will do it for them, unwittingly.
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“No shirt, shoes or shot, no service”
Read the amendment. It only protects you from the government. Private sector is different.
You have no first amendment rights under the social apps that are controlled by big corporations or individuals. You signed away any ‘rights’ to free speech with these apps when you accepted the ‘agreement’ that you have to ‘agree to’ in order to use these platforms.
As much as I enjoy MRA, even here we have no ‘rights’ to free speech on MRA. It’s governed by Suzanne, bless her heart, and she is the ultimate decision maker as to what gets posted and what does not.
MRA uses WordPress and that’s a huge corporation that has nixed sites from the web before for ‘violating WordPress’s terms’.
I’m guessing Suzanne understands that fine line but MRA could just as easily be made to disappear like Parler with the decision of some moron at WordPress.
Soon you won’t even have any first amendment rights. The Gestapo will censor all Rights like they do in China. You go missing sometime if you don’t comply, they’ll kill your dog and eat him, threaten your family and your children. Soon you won’t have any rights at all so get used to it.
Where’s our free speech
I wish Tom Clancy could be here to see this. This is a book he would have written.
There’s one very prolific Hollywood screenwriter researching and writing on this as we speak! As for Clancy, his former researcher Dr. Steve Pieczenik has been dead wrong on everything Trump lately.
Ayn Rand & George Orwell already wrote the books…..
Big Tech and Big Intel have merged and they now essentially tell Big Government (the swamp) what to do and how it goes. There’s your deep state. Spooks from DC and Geeks from Cupertino have, in effect, created a Shadow government. It’s not tin foil hat stuff, because it’s right out in the open.
If Dan Bongino can get his case to the US Supreme Court before Biden packs the court, he will end up owning a big chunk of Apple. This the exact situation for which anti-trust laws were written.
“As American democracy rebounds, we need to return to a standard of truth when it comes to how the government communicates with the governed,” Lane wrote. “The easiest way to do that, from where I sit, is to create repercussions for those who don’t follow the civic norms”
This whole statement is quite disturbing and telling. These people actually believe going down a censored, socialist road is rebounding to American democracy. (Note: We are actually a representative republic) And are these biased individuals claiming they will be the ones to bring us the truth. We are also referred to as the governed, not the people, that are to let our government know what we want. Our government now tells us what they want. Last but not least, a threat, if you do not fall in line.
Democracy is finished. When players don’t follow the rule of law, and the masses no longer feel there are fair elections, there is no recourse but patriotism.
So, through the convenience of using a smart phone the tyrants believe they can control the narrative. As mentioned in previous comments above other options are available. If the aforementioned options get compromised also there are still older technologies out there. Ham Radio, Printed Newspapers, Fax Machines, even Smoke Signals?
Morse Code too.
Meet in person, leave your trackers (smart phones) at home.
The fools believe that they can control “Skynet”.
These social media companies have finally put their core beliefs on full display. They allow despots, terrorists, dictators, antisemites, and people involved in and wishing for wholesale genocide to post on their sites without blocking their posts, there are now sitting members of Congress who have incited violence on these sites and their posts are celebrated. They bought the Harris/Biden Presidency and they will get what they paid for by hook or by crook.
Big tech and the media have become fascists with your money and the power it bought.
CB radio is the easiest way to have a conversation with multiple people in a community all at once.
Far to many don’t care, they think that this facsist style attack on free speech won’t effect them. Well it not true, the soul of the republic is under attack by a few billionaires which we created. They believe that they know better than you, their money gave them power which corrupted them. The only action we can do, is to boycott them. Hurt their money machine.
The war has begun, it’s just a bit different.
Yeah this time there is no Mason-Dixon line. No North versus South. It’s us versus them. Communist Pelosi and the venom that she spews needs to be locked up. She said over the weekend that people at the capital had a moment of whiteness. Biden called all of us Nazis. Who’s trying to incite violence now? So much for the guy who said he’s going to represent all of us.
Many people out there have asked how they can help. While you can’t vote national until mid-terms, you can do something today to help change all this. As a small business owner who sells primarily online, I ask that everyone consider their next online purchase as a way to help. Don’t buy from Amazon, they take up to 40% overhead on every purchase, don’t buy from Facebook, don’t click on Google Ads. These big tech conglomerates offer small business owners like me exposure, but the price we pay is huge and often not worth it. Instead, go straight to the business that sells the item you’re interested in. See if they can get you the product for a reasonable price – because this is the only way you can ensure your dollars are NOT going to the wrong places. Truly, what is the cost of convenience?
State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its holdings in Twitter, Inc. (NYSE:TWTR) by 10.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 148,743 shares of the social networking company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,645 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Twitter were worth $8,053,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Shares of Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) were sliding today after investors reacted poorly to the company’s decision Friday evening to permanently ban President Donald Trump from its platform. The decision comes after the president incited riots last Wednesday inside the Capitol building, and after the company suspended the account for 24 hours following the attack. Twitter explained the move in a blog post, saying that Trump had continued to violate the platform’s rules, including inciting violence, even after the suspension.
Shares of Twitter on Monday dropped 12 percent, after the company banned President Donald Trump and a slew of other conservatives.
Shares dropped after the market opened on Monday, reaching a low of $45.17. Twitter shares closed at $51.48 on Jan. 8.
Apparently Twitter just cost Alaska around a million dollars … Google “NYSE Twitter” and see for yourselves.
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