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Re: that absurd @voxdotcom letter calling on YouTube to deplatform @scrowder, advertisers should also note that Media Matters-style activists masquerading as journalists who call advertisers for comment on conservatives aren't interested in a story. They're astroturfing boycotts.
This applies to @voxdotcom, @HuffPost, @buzzfeednews and a wide variety of other pseudo-journalistic entities that see it as their mission to destroy the profit motive for conservative shows by attacking advertisers who advertise on a wide variety of programming.
These pseudojournalists know full well that advertisers don't endorse every message on every program upon which they advertise. But they manufacture the specter of secondary boycotts that never take place to frighten advertisers into submission. It's disgusting, and it's common.
It's the reason they won't call advertisers for Joy Reid to ask whether they will continue to advertise on her show, but they will reliably call advertisers for @IngrahamAngle and @TuckerCarlson for comment on their nightly programs. It's all a gross attempt to shut down voices.
They're not policing the public square for bad actors. They're policing it for conservatives, and then using whatever brickbat is available to club advertisers -- and the shows that benefit from advertising revenue -- into submission.
You know how this all stops? By advertisers and platforms just saying "no." That's all it takes. All they have to do is say that they don't agree with or even like all the stuff they advertise on or that is posted, but they endorse open platforms and differences of opinion.
It would work, and all this nonsense would end. Because here's the truth: not one of these astroturfed boycotts by pseudojournalists has ever resulted in serious financial damage for an advertiser or platform. Not one. Often, the publicity has resulted in BIGGER revenue.
See, e.g., Chick-Fil-A -- or, on the Left, see Nike. The best way to stop this vicious cycle is for those with the power (advertisers and platforms) to simply refuse to play this idiotic game. /END
