Thread by @iwelsh

Ok, people. I'll lay down a line, this "fake news" hysteria is hitting too many collateral targets. Bugger off with your censorship.

In a world with only a few platforms deplatforming=noplatforming.

And until the NYT is noplatoformed for its Iraq lies, I'll know this is BS.

this weird idea that Twitter/YouTube/Google/Facebook are actors who can be trusted to judiciously deplatform people is beyond laughable. I wouldn't trust Zuckerberg to mow a lawn, let alone determine who deserves to have speech rights.

And no, the "it's private property" argument is BS. This private property, in an oligopoly situation is public space. You get deplatformed, you are invisible. It's getting as bad as the pre-internet period, with respect to gatekeepers.

This is what the internet has become?

Reminds me of people telling farmers in the old days that railroads could charge them whatever or deny them carriage because they were private.

Yeah, and then you could go bankrupt.

Fuck that shit. Private oligopolies are monstrous.

I'll give a minor personal example. When Google changed their algo after the 2018 elections my article "Ethics 101: The Difference Between Ethics and Morality" went from #1 on the results for Ethics and morality to not on the first page.

Also, again, has any independent producer done as much damage as the NYTimes did when it pushed lies about Iraq WMD?

Fuck off with this fake news BS until you are serious.