Thread by @ggreenwald

The ACLU in NYT on why the union of Silicon Valley monopolies -- Apple, Google and Amazon -- to remove Parler from the internet is so problematic. While ACLU is largely just a liberal pressure group now, they still have some real civil liberties lawyers:

nytimes.com/2021/01/10/tec…

Tech monopolies -- FB, Google, Apple, Amazon -- have more concentrated wealth & power than any in history. They have used brute force 3 times in 3 months to manipulate US politics: censoring NY Post, banning Trump, destroying Parler.

And liberals are overwhelmingly supportive.

That these Silicon Valley monopolies are grave menaces to political freedom & economic well-being is *not* a right-wing view.

The most comprehensive report warning of these dangers was issued 3 months ago by a Democratic House Sub-Committee. Read this:

arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20…

Authoritarians never believe they're authoritarians, no matter how much censorship, surveillance, jingoism, & imprisonment they demand.

They tell themselves their enemies are so uniquely evil and dangerous - terrorists - that anything done in the name of fighting them is noble.

Do you know how many of the people arrested in connection with the Capitol invasion were active users of Parler?

Zero.

The planning was largely done on Facebook. This is all a bullshit pretext for silencing competitors on ideological grounds: just the start.

For those asking the basis for that last claim: I spent the weekend reporting on the removal of Parler from the internet, including reviewing lots of documents and interviewing people associated with the companies involved, including Parler.

The article will be up shortly.

Silicon Valley defenders: If you don't like Big Tech's censorship, just start your own social media platform with rules you want.

Parler: OK, we did. We're the country's most popular app!

Amazon/Apple/Google: We're uniting to take you off the internet with our monopoly power.

I wonder how many people subserviently cheering Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook and Google billionaires for destroying Parler a) have ever been on Parler, b) know anything about it besides what CNN & NBC censors have shown them, & c) compared the hate speech there to what's on FB & YouTube.

Amazon -- which already has a $600 million contract to provide services to the CIA, and is desperately bidding to make that far more -- is deeply opposed to violence and fascism.

Jeff Bezos will use his monopoly power to make the world better:

latimes.com/business/techn….