{"id":198018,"date":"2019-11-18T08:23:01","date_gmt":"2019-11-18T08:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=198018"},"modified":"2019-11-21T08:00:22","modified_gmt":"2019-11-21T08:00:22","slug":"social-media-censorship-reaches-new-heights-as-twitter-permanently-bans-dissent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=198018","title":{"rendered":"Social Media Censorship Reaches New Heights as Twitter Permanently Bans Dissent"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">Mnar Muhawesh &#8212; Mint Press Nov 14, 2019<\/h1>\n<div align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/content.jwplatform.com\/players\/xYnsHcE0-YuKiCfZc.html\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"auto\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Watch on <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=F38KaO0OXm4&amp;amp;feature=youtu.be\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>YouTube<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">&#8212;<\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">It\u2019s an open secret.\u00a0The deep state is working hand in hand with Silicon Valley social media giants like Twitter, Facebook and Google to control the flow of information. That includes suppressing, censoring and sometimes outright purging dissenting voices \u2013 all under the guise of fighting fake news and Russian propaganda.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Most recently, it was <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.middleeasteye.net\/news\/twitter-executive-also-part-time-officer-uk-army-psychological-warfare-unit\">revealed <\/a><\/strong><\/span>that Twitter\u2019s senior editorial executive for Europe, the Middle East and Africa is an active officer in the British Army\u2019s 77th Brigade, a unit dedicated to online warfare and psychological operations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">In other words: he specializes in disseminating propaganda.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The news left many wondering how a member of the British Armed Forces secured such an influential job in the media.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The bombshell that one of the world\u2019s most influential social networks is controlled in part by an active psychological warfare officer was not covered at all in the <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/search?dropmab=true&amp;endDate=20191011&amp;query=%22Gordon%20MacMillan%22&amp;sort=best&amp;startDate=20181011\"><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>New York Times<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/a>, <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/search?q=gordon%20macmillan&amp;size=10&amp;sort=newest\"><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>CNN<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/a>, <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/search\/?query=%22gordon%20macmillan%22&amp;qsearchterm=%22gordon%20macmillan%22\"><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>CNBC<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/a>, <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/search\/Gordon%20macmillan\"><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>MSNBC<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/a> or <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/search-results\/search?q=gordon%20macmillan&amp;ss=fn&amp;sort=latest&amp;min_date=2019-08-01&amp;max_date=2019-10-11&amp;start=0\"><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Fox News<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/a>, who appear to have found the news unremarkable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">But for those paying attention and for those who have been following \u2019<em>MintPress News\u2019<\/em>\u00a0extensive coverage of social media censorship, this revelation was merely another example of the increasing closeness between the deep state and the fourth estate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Amazon owner, and world\u2019s richest man, Jeff Bezos was <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/technology\/archive\/2014\/07\/the-details-about-the-cias-deal-with-amazon\/374632\/\">paid $600 million<\/a><\/strong><\/span> by the CIA to develop software and media for the agency, that\u2019s more than<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong> <a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/story\/jeff-bezos-paid-250-million-for-the-washington-post-but-the-cost-is-ending-up-to-be-billions-more-2018-04-04\">twice as much<\/a><\/strong><\/span> as Bezos bought the <em>Washington Post<\/em> for, and a move <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/fair.org\/home\/amazon-wilkileaks-the-washington-post-and-the-cia\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>media critics warn<\/strong><\/span><\/a> spells the end of journalistic independence for the <em>Post<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Meanwhile, Google has a very close relationship with the State Department, its former CEO Eric Schmidt\u2019s book on technological imperialism was heartily endorsed by deep state warmongers like Henry Kissinger, Hillary Clinton and Tony Blair.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">In their book titled,<em> <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/06\/02\/opinion\/sunday\/the-banality-of-googles-dont-be-evil.html?pagewanted=all&amp;_r=0\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business<\/strong><\/span>,<\/a><\/em> Eric Schmidt and fellow Google executive Jared Cohen <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/wikileaks.org\/google-is-not-what-it-seems\/#body_ftn88\">wrote<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">What Lockheed Martin was to the twentieth century\u2026technology and cyber-security companies [like Google] will be to the twenty-first.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Another social media giant partnering with the military-industrial complex is Facebook. The California-based company <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-facebook-elections\/facebook-expands-fake-election-news-fight-but-falsehoods-still-rampant-idUSKCN1LZ2XY\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>announced<\/strong><\/span><\/a> last year it was working closely with the neoconservative think tank, The Atlantic Council, which is largely funded by Saudi Arabia, Israel and weapons manufacturers to supposedly fight foreign \u201cfake news.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The Atlantic Council is a NATO offshoot and its board of directors reads like a rogue\u2019s gallery of warmongers, including the notorious Henry Kissinger, Bush-era hawks like Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, James Baker, the former head of the Department of Homeland Security and author of the PATRIOT Act, Michael Chertoff, a number of former Army Generals including David Petraeus and Wesley Clark and former heads of the CIA Michael Hayden, Leon Panetta and Michael Morell.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/digital-news-report-2018.pdf\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>39 percent <\/strong><\/span><\/a>of Americans, and <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/digital-news-report-2018.pdf\">similar numbers<\/a><\/strong><\/span> of people in other countries, get their news from Facebook, so when an organization like the Atlantic Council is controlling what the world sees in their Facebook news feeds, it can only be described as state censorship on a global level.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">After working with the council, Facebook <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2019\/jan\/31\/facebook-and-twitter-removed-hundreds-of-accounts-linked-to-iran-russia-and-venezuela\">immediately began<\/a><\/strong><\/span> banning and removing accounts linked to media in official enemy states like Iran, Russia and Venezuela, ensuring the world would not be exposed to competing ideas and purging dissident voices under the guise of fighting \u201cfake news\u201d and \u201cRussian bots.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Meanwhile, the social media platform has been partnering with the U.S. and Israeli governments to silence Palestinian voices that show the reality of life under Israeli apartheid and occupation. The Israeli Justice Minister proudly <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2017\/12\/30\/facebook-says-it-is-deleting-accounts-at-the-direction-of-the-u-s-and-israeli-governments\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>revealed<\/strong><\/span><\/a> that Facebook complied with 95 percent of Israeli government requests to delete Palestinian pages. At the same time, Google <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2018\/08\/23\/google-deletes-58-accounts-with-ties-to-iran-from-youtube-and-other-sites.html\">deleted dozens<\/a><\/strong><\/span> of YouTube and blog accounts supposedly connected to the government of Iran.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">In the last week alone, Twitter has purged several Palestinian news pages, including <em>Quds News Network<\/em> \u2014 without warning or explanation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Electronic Intifada co-founder Ali Abunimah <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/blogs\/ali-abunimah\/twitter-censors-news-palestine\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>wrote<\/strong><\/span>,\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">This alarming act of censorship is another indication of the complicity of major social media firms in Israel\u2019s efforts to suppress news and information about its abuses of Palestinian rights.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Alternative voices not welcome<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The vast online purge of alternative voices has also been directed at internal \u201cenemies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Publishers like <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/uk\/home-news\/julian-assange-health-torture-prison-extradition-belmarsh-un-wikileaks-a8938561.html\">Julian Assange<\/a><\/strong><\/span> and whistleblowers like <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2019\/mar\/23\/chelsea-manning-jail-solitary-confinement-wikileaks\">Chelsea Manning<\/a><\/strong><\/span> are still being held in solitary confinement in conditions that international bodies and human rights <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2012\/03\/manning-treatment-inhuman\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>groups<\/strong><\/span><\/a><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong> <a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.truthdig.com\/articles\/the-media-is-complicit-in-julian-assanges-torture\/\">call torture<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, for their crime of revealing the extent of the global surveillance network and the control over the media that Western governments have built.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">As attempts to re-tighten the state and corporate grip over our means of communication increases, high-quality alternative media are being hit the hardest, as algorithm changes from the media monoliths have deranked, demoted, deleted and disincentivized outlets that question official narratives, leading to <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsws.org\/en\/articles\/2017\/08\/02\/pers-a02.html\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>huge falls<\/strong><\/span><\/a> in traffic and revenue.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The message from social media giants is clear: independent and alternative voices are not welcome.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">One causality in this propaganda war is Daniel McAdams, Executive Director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, a public advocacy group that argues that a non-interventionist foreign policy is crucial to securing a prosperous society at home. McAdams served as Senator Paul\u2019s foreign affairs advisor between 2001 and 2012. Before that, he was a journalist and editor for the <em>Budapest Sun<\/em> and a human rights monitor across Eastern Europe.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">McAdams, who spent much of his time on Twitter calling out the war machine supported by both parties, was recently permanently banned from the platform for so-called \u201chateful conduct.\u201d His crime? <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/cdn-images-1.medium.com\/max\/720\/0*R1IFxa4o5XdDhjSM.jpg\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Challenging<\/strong><\/span><\/a> Fox News anchor Sean Hannity over his hour-long segment claiming to be against the \u201cdeep state,\u201d while simultaneously wearing a CIA lapel pin. In the exchange, McAdams called Hannity \u201c<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ccffff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/libertyconservativenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/McAdams-Retarded.jpg\">retarded<\/a><\/strong><\/span>,\u201d claiming he was becoming stupider every time he watched him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Yes, despite that word and its derivatives having been used on Twitter over ten times in the previous minute, and often much more aggressively than McAdams used it \u2013 only McAdams fell victim to Twitter\u2019s ban hammer. Something didn\u2019t make sense about this ban. One only needs to read the replies under any of President Trump\u2019s tweets to see far more hateful speech than what McAdams displayed to suspect foul play.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">I spoke with McAdams about the ban and began by asking him if he accepts the premise of the ban, or if he believes something else was afoot.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><strong><em>Mnar Muhawesh<\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0is founder, CEO and editor in chief of MintPress News, and is also a regular speaker on responsible journalism, sexism, neoconservativism within the media and journalism start-ups.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mintpressnews.com\/social-media-censorship-twitter-permanently-bans-dissent\/262807\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recently it was revealed that Twitter\u2019s senior editorial executive for Europe, the Middle East and Africa is an active officer in the British Army\u2019s 77th Brigade, a unit dedicated to online warfare and psychological operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61,42,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-198018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Commentary","category-controlling-the-news-andor-the-free-exchange-of-ideas-and-information","category-The_Media"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=198018"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":198027,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198018\/revisions\/198027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=198018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=198018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=198018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}