Apple Removes Alex Jones & Infowars from iTunes
--Apple removes all Alex Jones and Infowars podcasts from iTunes, as Spotify and Facebook continue to remove more of his content, and we discuss whether this is censorship, as well as the stunning double standard when it comes to business regulation from the American right wing
Do you think this is a free speech issue?
My video is at DLive
The guy is a loon, but what ever happened to letting his loony ideas compete in the marketplace of ideas (where they will lose)?
It's funny. Even the paranoid have enemies!
Definitely 100% a violation of free speech. I mean you couldn't get more obvious than this one. Whether you agree or disagree with his views, he has the right to say them. Take away his right, and you take away all of our rights. Sure, they are private companies, etc. but in the end Google (as one example) has more power over our daily lives than most govt agencies. I mean imagine living without Google - no search, no Android, no Maps, no YouTube, etc. It's hard to imagine. When you have this power, surely they have the responsibility to abide by the constitutional norms regardless of their "private corporation" status?
I'm shocked that free speech can be censored like this. I only hope that Infowars, et al realize that decentralization and immutable content lives and thrives in IPFS and the crypto-community.
Imagine living like people did 25 years ago. People have survived thousands of years without Google and will continue to do so when they are gone.
You say on an Internet forum using the latest decentralized forum posting technology.... What browser did you use to view this? Chrome by chance? Or maybe Safari? And on an Android or Apple phone? Hmmm.... It's far more pervasive than you give it credit for. Google & Apple have become the govt of the Internet. I'm not happy about it, but it is unrealistic to attempt to exist on the Internet without them. If you want to unplug, then go ahead. I'll see you back here in a couple of days.
Oh BTW, I did exist and succeed in computing 35 years ago. But that was at a time when everyone didn't expect you to have access to technology provided by these juggernauts - when people had real maps in their glove boxes, no phones to carry around, etc. It was romantic back then, but definitely if I had to live like I did in 1978, it would be so far removed from the norm that I would look like a villager in a tribe in Africa somewhere, with about that level of productivity and competitiveness.
I have seen his content be removed before where the corporation involved claimed the content contained particular things, but in reality it did not.
Whether or not censorship is taking place depends on the intent. If a publisher simply chooses to not publish something due to their own policies - then it is not censorship (if the policies apply to all authors) - whereas, if the content is removed or not published due to an intention to shut down particular messages, then it is censorship. without seeing the meetings within the corporations where the decisions were taken, it is not really possible to know the intent.
Good riddance.