https://sputnikglobe.com/20240306/us-censorship-industrial-complex-alive-and-well-1117154704.html
US ‘Censorship Industrial Complex’ Alive and Well
US ‘Censorship Industrial Complex’ Alive and Well
Sputnik International
Independent journalist Steve Poikonen discusses how US military and intelligence interests help shape the discourse online.
2024-03-06T04:22+0000
2024-03-06T04:22+0000
2024-03-06T18:08+0000
analysis
freedom of speech
censorship
social media censorship
internet censorship
media censorship
elon musk
central intelligence agency (cia)
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The United States’ online censorship industrial complex showed its fangs Monday when blogger Yves Smith was sent a threatening message from Google via his website’s ad service provider.Smith, who runs the popular blog Naked Capitalism, wrote about the ordeal in a post entitled “Google Demands That We Censor Our Content.”“I request you to review the page content and fix the existing policy issues flagged,” the email chided. “If Google identifies the flags consistently and if the content is not fixed, then the ads will be disabled completely to serve on the site."Smith called the claims from Google "capricious, arbitrary, and demonstrably false," noting a blog post linked to in the email "has nothing whatsoever to do with health or health care policy. That creates the appearance that Google regards 'anti-vaxx' as a showstopper, and is for some reason desperately applying it to this site, which is not vaccine hostile. Google has blatantly mislabeled unrelated content to try to make that bogus charge."The apparent act of intimidation is one of many faced by independent online journalists in recent years as websites such as The Grayzone that critique US foreign policy are often denied the ability to fundraise and solicit donations through online services. In the case of The Grayzone, a Gofundme campaign that raised tens of thousands of dollars was arbitrarily shut down, with an automated email cryptically claiming the measure had been taken "due to some external concerns."Independent commentator Steve Poikonen joined Sputnik's The Critical Hour program on Tuesday to discuss how private companies hide behind opaque policy enforcement and subjective claims of "disinformation" to effectively censor and repress independent voices online."It's effectively, you know, the same media monopoly that we all complained about in terms of the mainstream,” he added, noting that most media in the United States is owned by just six large corporate conglomerates. Poikonen claimed the same kind of centralization and homogenization is taking place on the Internet with US military and intelligence interests perhaps exercising even more direct control over content online.Host Wilmer Leon noted that Amazon and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos is also a major US government contractor, collecting billions of dollars to offer web hosting services for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and other government organizations. Bezos expanded his influence several years ago when he bought Twitch, an online streaming platform popular with younger audiences. Twitch has generated controversy by periodically suspending popular streamers like Hasan Piker over alleged offensive content.Poikonen agreed, noting that the frequent opaqueness of social media platforms’ moderation and content serving policies is a major concern.“He's implemented a social credit score on Twitter,” he said of Elon Musk. “There's a whole bunch of algorithms that determine your reach and your ability to get your word out, and all of them have to do with never saying anything out of line.”Poikonen concluded by noting that users should bear in mind the US government origins of many popular online services. "There's no Facebook without In-Q-Tel funding," he said, referring to the CIA's venture capital arm that funds projects useful to its mass spying and data gathering efforts. "The investment arm of both the military industrial complex and the intelligence agencies, individually, has provided the backbone for all of our social media platforms."In 2022, journalist Lee Fang reported on a clandestine effort between the X social media platform (formerly known as Twitter) and the US Department of Defense to spread US-backed propaganda on the microblogging site.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20240221/we-own-the-truth-how-freedom-of-speech-has-become-wests-nemesis-1116907345.html
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230112/trump-calls-on-congress-to-investigate-how-the-deep-state-censored-americans-1106240165.html
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US ‘Censorship Industrial Complex’ Alive and Well
04:22 GMT 06.03.2024 (Updated: 18:08 GMT 06.03.2024) Independent journalist Steve Poikonen discusses how US military and intelligence interests help shape the discourse online.
The United States’ online censorship industrial complex showed its fangs Monday when blogger Yves Smith was sent a threatening message from Google via his website’s ad service provider.
Smith, who runs the popular blog
Naked Capitalism, wrote about the ordeal in a post entitled “Google Demands That We Censor Our Content.”
“We noticed that Google has flagged your site for Policy violation and ad serving is restricted on most of the pages with the below strikes,” read the email, which claimed the website had violated policies around “violent extremism,” “hateful content,” “harmful health claims," and "anti vaccination" content.
“I request you to review the page content and fix the existing policy issues flagged,” the email chided. “If Google identifies the flags consistently and if the content is not fixed, then the ads will be disabled completely to serve on the site."
Smith called the claims from Google "capricious, arbitrary, and demonstrably false," noting a blog post linked to in the email "has nothing whatsoever to do with health or health care policy. That creates the appearance that Google regards 'anti-vaxx' as a showstopper, and is for some reason desperately applying it to this site, which is not vaccine hostile. Google has blatantly mislabeled unrelated content to try to make that bogus charge."
The apparent act of intimidation is one of many faced by independent online journalists in recent years as websites such as The Grayzone that critique US foreign policy are often
denied the ability to fundraise and solicit donations through online services. In the case of The Grayzone, a Gofundme campaign that raised tens of thousands of dollars was arbitrarily shut down, with an automated email cryptically claiming the measure had been taken "due to some external concerns."
Independent commentator Steve Poikonen joined
Sputnik's The Critical Hour program on Tuesday to discuss how private companies hide behind opaque policy enforcement and subjective claims of "disinformation" to effectively censor and repress independent voices online.
"If you are espousing genuine dissent, if you are challenging power, regardless of what its political party is, you are on the chopping block," said Poikonen, adding "this is a war for the supremacy of the digital information space."
"It's effectively, you know, the same media monopoly that we all complained about in terms of the mainstream,” he added, noting that most media in the United States is owned by just six large corporate conglomerates. Poikonen claimed the same kind of centralization and homogenization is taking place on the Internet with US military and intelligence interests perhaps exercising even more direct control over content online.
"Elon Musk is performing a service for the security state, not just on Twitter, but in every other company he owns," said Poikonen of the tech magnate, who contracts services to the United States government via SpaceX and other companies.
12 January 2023, 03:26 GMT
Host Wilmer Leon noted that Amazon and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos is also a major US government contractor, collecting billions of dollars to offer web hosting services for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and other government organizations. Bezos expanded his influence several years ago when he bought Twitch, an online streaming platform popular with younger audiences. Twitch has generated controversy by periodically suspending popular streamers like Hasan Piker over alleged offensive content.
"I think it's incredibly optimistic if not pollyannaish to think that those individuals can operate outside of the interests of those that are paying their mortgages," said Leon. “And we also have experienced an incredible steady decline in free speech on those social platforms that people got used to thinking were the proverbial electronic town square.”
Poikonen agreed, noting that the frequent opaqueness of social media platforms’ moderation and content serving policies is a major concern.
“He's implemented a social credit score on Twitter,” he said of Elon Musk. “There's a whole bunch of algorithms that determine your reach and your ability to get your word out, and all of them have to do with never saying anything out of line.”
"There have been some challenges to that," Poikonen added. "But I don't think they're going to be nearly as successful until we can get outside of the partisan framing that they're almost always put in."
Poikonen concluded by noting that users should bear in mind the US government origins of many popular online services. "There's no Facebook without In-Q-Tel funding," he said, referring to the CIA's venture capital arm that funds projects useful to its mass spying and data gathering efforts. "The investment arm of both the military industrial complex and the intelligence agencies, individually, has provided the backbone for all of our social media platforms."
In 2022, journalist Lee Fang
reported on a clandestine effort between the X social media platform (formerly known as Twitter) and the US Department of Defense to spread
US-backed propaganda on the microblogging site.
