Major "hate speech" bans across multiple social media sites

[Spider-Dan]

Reddit bans 'The_Donald' forum amid broad social media crackdown

On Monday, Reddit banned the subreddit The_Donald, a forum for supporters of Donald Trump, for violation of the site's rules against hate speech.  Reddit also banned the ChapoTrapHouse subreddit, associated with a popular left-wing podcast, for "consistently hosting rule-breaking content."  Both of these subreddits had been "quarantined" since last summer; subreddits under quarantine require a verified e-mail address and explicit opt-in to access.  In total, over 2000 subreddits were banned on Monday (though only about 200 of them were active).

YouTube also banned six right-wing channels for hate speech violations, including the channels of Richard Spencer, Stefan Molyneux, and David Duke.

The streaming site Twitch.tv also temporarily suspended Donald Trump's account for "hateful conduct." One of the flagged streams was Trump's 2015 kickoff rally, in which Trump said that Mexico was sending rapists to the US.

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First things first: if anyone mentions the term "First Amendment" in this discussion, I will use my Second Amendment rights to fire my satellite laser at their city of residence, reducing it to a smoking crater.  The First Amendment has literally nothing to do with this.  The government is not involved.

That said...

Of course, I'm in favor of this.  Reddit banning The_Donald at the same time they ban Chapo is like mixing chocolate with peanut butter: two great tastes that taste great together!  It's win-win-win.  When Chapo declared themselves the "dirtbag left," they were being modest.  The_Donald is, naturally, a wretched hive of scum and villainy.  And if you think I'm going to shed tears over white supremacists on YouTube losing their income and/or recruitment streams, you're mistaken.

I anticipate that there will be some wailing and gnashing of teeth over "free speech" or "deplatforming." This usually takes the form of "I detest what you say, but I will defend your right to say it."  To those who would defend these scumbags under the principles of free speech, I ask you this:

ISIS has had various social media accounts continuously banned since at least 2014.  If it's really important that we defend the speech of those we disagree with, why not start with ISIS?  After all, we really disagree with them.  Why is it that white supremacists deserve a voice on these platforms, but radical Islamic extremists do not?

When you ban some forms of vile speech and not others, you are implicitly making a value judgement as to what is acceptable discourse and what is not.  Giving platforms to neo-Nazis like Richard Spencer inherently confers a level of validity on his arguments that is not afforded to, say, people who wish to advocate for pedophilia.

In conclusion: if you don't care for the politically correct SJW liberal-controlled websites, there's always Gab/Parler/Twitchy!

[Dolphster]

I don't have a problem with those bannings.  Like you said, it has nothing to do with the First Amendment.  The only concern I have with the whole "hate speech" thing is that the term "hate speech" is very subjective.  But I don't have a problem with them banning under any of the examples that you cited.  In full disclosure, the fact that I don't give a shit about social media might have something to do with my not caring. 

[Tenshot13]

I can't speak for the other sites, but there is a whole big thing with Reddit. 

Chapo has been accused of doxxing and brigading conservative subs, and it took a lot of flack just to get them quarantined.  They're like rabid animals over there, and I'm glad they got shut down.  The_Donald moved to TheDonald.win, as they saw the writing on the wall to be banned.  There was some "hate speech" initially, they asked the mods to crack down on that and they were according to them.  That sub and many others claim chapo was doxxing their subs with n-bombs, child porn and other site bannable offenses with alt accounts, then reporting those to administrators to shut down the sub.  I saw it happen myself as well on r/watchredditdie which had a pretty great timeline since I started following it to the current Reddit climate (it should also be noted, there are some petty things as well, so take the good with the bad).  I had joined The_Donald for a bit, but it was too much...my whole timeline was Trump Trump Trump so I unsubbed.  I use reddit for more niche stuff and that was being lost from all The_Donald crap.  Another sub called r/whitebeauty was shut down as well.  It was really just pictures of pretty white people and nuclear families...that's it. 

Why it's a shame is because the co-founder Aaron Swartz championed freedom of speech, and his website has become the opposite of that.  Reddit CEO Steve Huffman aka "Spez" had been caught editing comments and "wielding his power to anonymously change references to his own username, and replace them with moderators of the pro-Donald Trump subreddit, r/the_donald."  The message there being what else has he edited for his own gain.

If you don't think this was all done as a political move months away from a presidential election, I've got a bridge to sell you.

[Spider-Dan]

I think it has less to do with the election than it does the protests.  For example, I doubt the legislature and governor of MS approved removing the Confederate battle flag from the MS state flag because of "the election." I don't think it helps them much in November.

[Tenshot13]

I think it has less to do with the election than it does the protests.  For example, I doubt the legislature and governor of MS approved removing the Confederate battle flag from the MS state flag because of "the election." I don't think it helps them much in November.

The protests may have been the perfect "excuse" for lack of a better word to finally put the nail in the coffin of those subs, but this has been building up for a while now and tons of people saw it coming for months, if not years.

[Tenshot13]

[Sunstroke]

^^^  So the guy has learned a lot about the real world since then...

[Tenshot13]

^^^  So the guy has learned a lot about the real world since then...

He's dead, and rolling in his grave on what Reddit has become.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

He's dead, and rolling in his grave on what Reddit has become.

He wasn’t really a founder.  And any anx he has in the afterlife is probably related to his crimes and suicide.

[Tenshot13]

He wasn’t really a founder.  And any anx he has in the afterlife is probably related to his crimes and suicide.

1.  He is titled "Co-founder"...
2.  He was never convicted of any crimes and was going to trial, even after given a plea to only do 6 months in a white collar prison.

Wiki
The federal prosecution involved what was characterized by numerous critics (such as former Nixon White House counsel John Dean) as an "overcharging" 13-count indictment and "overzealous" prosecution for alleged computer crimes, brought by then U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Carmen Ortiz.[97]

3.  His "suicide" is fishy, like Epstein fishy.  Why would a guy deny a plea, say he's going to trial, but then commit suicide a day later?  Regardless, I don't know how him committing suicide is some sort of comment you want to hang your hat on.  Brilliant people are troubled sometimes.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

John Dean has a soft spot for corruption.

[Sunstroke]

He's dead, and rolling in his grave on what Reddit has become.

I really wouldn't know a Reddit if one crawled out my ass and speed-bagged my nutsack. Never used or even visited...not much interest in adding more social media crap to my world.

[Tenshot13]

I really wouldn't know a Reddit if one crawled out my ass and speed-bagged my nutsack. Never used or even visited...not much interest in adding more social media crap to my world.

The best way I can describe it would be multiple message boards under the same website.  Each message board would be called a subreddit.  Subreddits could include everything from the Miami dolphins, cooking, politics, porn, comic books...you name it there's a subreddit.  You follow the ones you like, people make posts, people comment in posts and people up vote or down vote everything.

[Fau Teixeira]

I really wouldn't know a Reddit if one crawled out my ass and speed-bagged my nutsack. Never used or even visited...not much interest in adding more social media crap to my world.

you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy .. mixed with gifs of cute puppies

[Spider-Dan]

I look at that statement from Aaron Swartz the same way I would look at it if it were coming from Mark Zuckerberg: