InfoWars Banned from Facebook and iTunes

Apple has removed hundreds of podcasts by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his InfoWars brand from its iTunes and Podcasts apps.

It said in a statement that it "does not tolerate hate speech".

Facebook has also "unpublished" the InfoWars page on its platform for "using hate speech".

LINK

I am kind of on the fence on this one, on the one hand I understand that its their house and so its their rules and its up to them if they see fit to remove someone from using their service as they see fit. Much in the same way that if I don't play by the house rules of ATS I face being banned.

Yet I still can't really see how this is anything more than censorship and I think that pretty much all of what Infowars has to say is total rubbish, that still means I believe they have a right to freedom of speech. Really all this does is give infowars some free publicity, make Alex jones even angrier, give him more ammunition to talk about how the whole world is against him, they are trying to stop the truth getting out. Furthermore I also think its good for society when idiots like infowars have their ideas out there for all to see, it shows how out of touch they really are.

So yeah, as much as I can appreciate that its up to Apple and FaceBook who gets to play in their house and as much as I think Infowars is just utter rubbish, I still have to say I disagree with this move.

Its a bit of a slippery road, say Facebook and iTunes are followed by Twitter and YouTube then essentially these big internet giants demonstrate that they have the absolute power and are willing to use that power to silence those they disagree with.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

Here is the 'slippery slope' articulated nicely........

originally posted by: OtherSideOfTheCoin
Yet I still can't really see how this is anything more than censorship and I think that pretty much all of what Infowars has to say is total rubbish, that still means I believe they have a right to freedom of speech. Really all this does is give infowars some free publicity, make Alex jones even angrier, give him more ammunition to talk about how the whole world is against him, they are trying to stop the truth getting out. Furthermore I also think its good for society when idiots like infowars have their ideas out there for all to see, it shows how out of touch they really are.

Hey Alex is a Capitalist right? This is Capitalism in action. Apple just sees that in order to please its customer base it doesn't want to support AJ's agenda. The government stepping in and helping him would be the government silencing Apple's right to decide what products to offer or not offer.

He should take some of that money from selling all those medically questionable health supplements and create his own podcasting service. Then he can charge exorbitant fees to hear him yell at you about how the system is out to get you.

But the POTUS does like his news fake-free, so Apple and Facebook are doing him a favor with removing Fake-News-inc.

This thread is going sooo much over the top/under the top, it will be hilarious! Enraged attacks onto the left and onto the right, enflamed responses and retorts telling the other side to shut up and drop their fakest-of-all-fakes, but nevertheless.

The internet might become a much more enjoyable room when the most aggressive persons would be expelled.

This is from the same group of individuals who decided that "ghosting" comments made by people would be a good idea. Make a comment on a forum and if it matches one of their censorship keyword rules, it get's blocked from viewing by anyone else but the original author can still see it.

That messes with people's minds who then think they are being ignored by everyone else.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

MEH....idc, This sort of thing happens all the time. Jones is a crack pot so I can see the reasoning but yes it is a slippery slope. Essentially anything we do online runs through some company and it is up to them if we are allowed to continue our own bull snip. It is what it is I guess.

"do as I say, not as I do"......

a reply to: Sublimecraft

Wait..

If Infowars would be a "rival publisher", it would be a wise and by all respects correct decision of Facebook to remove Infowars ability to use Facebooks ressources to gain more attention.

If Infowars is NOT a "rival publisher" being that it might neither be a "rival" nor a "publisher", Facebook would have removed an useless abuser of their ressources from their website without hindering nor decreasing Infowars influence.

I'm not on the fence on this at all. True, we have a freedom of speech; however, we are not required to give anyone a venue to exercise their free speech. In fact, I'd say thah this is a case of "you are either with us or against us". Let those that agree with such garbage be the ones to provide the venue. Let that ilk be acountable for their own crazies.

originally posted by: WeDemBoyz
I'm not on the fence on this at all. True, we have a freedom of speech; however, we are not required to give anyone a venue to exercise their free speech. In fact, I'd say thah this is a case of "you are either with us or against us". Let those that agree with such garbage be the ones to provide the venue. Let that ilk be acountable for their own crazies.

My only point thought is that on the internet we have a few really big names like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, iTunes and so on that provide content creators with a massive potential audience. So if you don't like what someone is saying and want to shut them up the easiest way is to simply have them banned from these big giants of the internet.

Alex Jones would be nothing if it were not for him taking advantage of these big online venues.

I do agree Facebook are not obliged in anyway to host Alex Jones's BS.

a reply to: WeDemBoyz

If it was HuffPo or BuzzFeed you'd be out in the streets with "flags", right?

originally posted by: ManFromEurope
a reply to: Sublimecraft

Wait..

If Infowars would be a "rival publisher", it would be a wise and by all respects correct decision of Facebook to remove Infowars ability to use Facebooks ressources to gain more attention.

If Infowars is NOT a "rival publisher" being that it might neither be a "rival" nor a "publisher", Facebook would have removed an useless abuser of their ressources from their website without hindering nor decreasing Infowars influence.

A few years back a lady friend of mine haa a brother that is a “survivalist”. I told him I was into conspiracy theories and the like. He got all James Bond and handed me a list of things he fealt I should look into. Top of that list was Jones........LMAO Fing fool...I wanted to grab him and shake him.

Then he's free to start his own hate echo chamber of twattle

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

Don't forget that AJ is an always has been an opportunist. Yes, he'll whine about this and probably try to skew the narrative to make it sound like the system is out to silence him. However, if it wasn't this issue he'd just be whining and yelling about something else. Though, it is Apple's right to remove his content. It's their product he is being hosted on. As WeDemBoyz and I suggested he can just make his own service. If it doesn't have the same public exposure then so what? The system AJ wants wouldn't give someone in his position a hand so I don't care what happens to his content. At the end of the day it's not like the 1st Amendment is being violated.

Plus, AJ will be fine. He still has his Infowars website, crappy (and unregulated) health supplement sales, and stupid and overpriced survivalist gear.

originally posted by: SailorJerry
Then he's free to start his own hate echo chamber of twattle

I wonder actually if thats what he will do.

Could be a huge opportunity for him, he can use this to generate loads of traffic then create his own content creation platform for content that is more along his line of thinking.

Make his own echo chamber as you put it.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

Yeah, ya get that ...

When a company such as facebook, and apple become so ginormous they tend to invalidate and gobble up public forums for free speech. Its similar to them having a monopoly on free speech in the digital age. I dont listen to Alex and i do know he is controversial on out there conspiracy theories, but I feel this is the governments work-around our freedom of speech and people are not forced to listen to him.

I am no fan of Apple or Facebook, but clearly their business model is being impacted by bad publicity, and people like Alex Jones carry a whole bag of crap. In the case of Facebook, the proof is in the pudding as to whether they will sort their skewed moral compass out. A compass that bans the picture of a breast feeding mother, but allows a video of a child being beaten up and abused, or is slow to remove content of terrorist barbarity.

If people can access Channel 4 Dispatches, I thoroughly recommend viewing the documentary on Facebook. Basically, violent videos make them money!

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin


“I'm like a chimpanzee, in a tree, jumping up and down, warning other chimpanzees when I see a big cat coming through the woods… I'm the weirdo? Because I'm sitting in a tree going OOH OOH OOH AAH AAH AAH”
—Alex Jones, describing his attempts to wake the sheeple[16]

So they give ‘hate speech’ as the reason for banning.

Where is the hate speech - examples???

I imagine AJ has a shrinking audience or maybe not, if Infowars is being targeted but are people supposed to just take FB and iTunes at their word?