Phase Three of the Internet Censorship War
James Wesley Rawles March 26, 2019
Back in October of 2017, I wrote this article: Internet Censorship is Now Rampant — It is High Time to Bookmark Your Alternatives. That was back in what I now refer to as Phase One of the Internet censorship war. I didn’t know it then, but that was back when the censorship campaign was still fairly mild and relatively subtle. Then, in early August of 2018, Alex Jones was systematically banned by more than 10 social media services and sites. Eventually, even Twitter jumped on the “Ban Alex” Band Wagon. When the Alex Jones mass banning was reported in the mainstream press, they made it sound like it was an independent decision made by Apple, and that the various social media then merely followed suit. But I suspect there was a meeting of many of those corporate leaders that took place in advance. (That meeting was probably in cyberspace, but it might have looked a lot like this one.)
In my estimation, the blacklisting of Alex Jones was just a just trial balloon. Once they saw that Jones was banned without too much of a fuss, it was the turning point. Thus began Phase Two: Overt Censorship. As Phase Two got underway, at least 10 other outspoken conservatives were similarly given “strikes”, or blacklisted, or outright banned. They included: Kris Paronto, Laura Loomer, Jesse Kelly, Candace Owens, actor James Woods, Gavin McInnes, Libertarian comedian Owen Benjamin, and street artist “Sabo”. Even left-wing feminist Meghan Murphy was banned, ostensibly for the quasi-conservative “crime” of “misgendering”. Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, the same has been done to Paul Joseph Watson, Carl Benjamin (aka Sargon of Akkad), Milo Yiannopoulos, Tommy Robinson (aka Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon), and several others. These censorship campaigns became so overt that a partial list of Twitter bans was documented at the ultra-leftist Wikipedia. Despite repeated attempts, the cabals couldn’t make that wiki page go away.
In Recent News
Most recently, we read: Facebook Now Automatically Blocks ZeroHedge.com articles. But then, just two days later: Facebook Reverses Zero Hedge Ban, Says It Made A “Mistake”. Hmmm… A mistake? I think that Facebook just got called out for censoring a little too hard, and a little too fast. Also in March of 2019, the left is again attempting to blacklist Tucker Carlson. (This smear campaign began in late 2018.) And following the recent massacre at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand. The Dissenter web page commenting plug-in has been banned in New Zealand. And just in the past few days: Twitter Bans User For Laughing At Rachel Maddow’s Tears Of Despair Over Mueller Report.
I’ll venture to make a prediction: As we get closer to November of 2020, the Internet’s censorious overlords will become less apologetic. Feeling secure in their near-monopolistic ivory towers, they will redouble their campaign to silence dissenters. They will attempt to blacklist not just “fringe” journalists, but move up the chain to attack more mainstream reporters who hold conservative views. Tucker Carlson was just one of their first targets.
It has also been reported that Internet payments giant PayPal has become an overt censor. Take a few minutes to read this: PayPal’s corporate censorship. Also in the past year, JPMorgan Chasebank began closing accounts of gun makers and sellers, as well as a few outspoken conservatives. A similar anti-gun strategy is reportedly in operation at CitiBank. And at least a half dozen banks have cut any ties to the National Rife Association (NRA). And even the nominally “neutral” Patreon has taken sides and cancelled the account of Sargon of Akkad for something he said at a third party site.
And of course we’ve already documented the insidious censorship that now infests YouTube.
Censorship is the New Normal
Outright censorship of the Internet–particularly in the social media sphere, in Wikipedia, and on YouTube–has become the new normal. That is an irrefutable fact. I believe that this is all part of a calculated, coordinated, and comprehensive plan by tech moguls, in coordination with mass media executives. The tech platforms are using Artificial Intelligence and carefully crafted algorithms for censorship. It is now clear that their intent is to systematically discredit, de-monetize, de-rank, disrupt, de-platform, demonize, and delete content from anyone with views that don’t match their own.
Who are their targets? Here is just a sampling:
Christians
Conservatives
Libertarians
Gun Ownership Advocates
Police Accountability Advocates
Privacy Advocates
Anti-Globalists
Anti-Statists
Constitutionalists
Investigative Reporters
Wikileakers
Anti-Immigration Advocates
Traditionalists
Anti-Vaccination Advocates
Coming Soon: Phase Three
I fully expect the Internet censorship campaign to go into high gear in the run-up to the 2020 U.S. Presidential election. That will likely be the beginning of Phase Three, or what should be called: “By Whatever Means Necessary” Censorship. I predict that in this phase, the leftist cabals will use every conceivable arrow in their quivers, to include (but not limited to):
Even more overt censorship/banning/blacklisting
Even more overt de-platforming and demonetizing
Doxxing
Orchestrated street protests
A tidal wave of lawsuits
SWATing. (Beware: This can get ugly.)
Contrived congressional committee investigations, with umpteen subpoenas
Malicious Red Flag/ERPO Reports — “Red Flagging” of gun owners
Banks and credit card processors cancelling accounts
Cyber Attacks (DDOS attacks, viruses, worms, and Trojan horses)
Litigation at various court levels
Faked, spoofed, or over-reported “Hate Crimes”
Various contrivances and provocations
Faked or skewed polls
Denigration of independent media and citizen journalists
Planned public humiliation incidents
Studio buildings occupied by various protestors and “student activists”
All in all, these tactics will make life a living hell for their political opponents.
And Phase Four?
And what if the Democrats eventually gain control of the White House and both the U.S. House and Senate? At that point we may witness Phase Four, or Scorched Earth Censorship. Thankfully, we are not there, yet. But I can foresee that this could include:
Planting fake evidence of crimes on cell phones and computers
Arson or other physical attacks on servers or studio buildings.
Summary seizure of smartphones and their contents, without a court order
Murders made to look like natural causes (the Andrew Breibart treatment)
Murders made to look like street crimes (the Seth Rich treatment)
Murders made to look like suicides (the Vince Foster treatment)
Murders made to look like traffic accidents (the Oswaldo Payá treatment)
False flag mass shootings, terrorism, or other attacks
Rendition (extradition) of outspoken Americans for prosecution overseas for “hate crimes”
Rendition (extradition) of outspoken expatriate Americans back to the U.S.
Outspoken critics being labelled “mentally ill’, and confined to mental institutions.
A Chinese-style personal Social Credit Score system
Selective prosecution and incarceration of political opponents.
Beware, folks! Mainstream social media is now doing their best to twist reality. So please seek alternatives like FreeZoxeeFriends, Dissenter, and Full30.com.
Do not expect support for righteous people to come from the Republican Party. It has been co-opted by the RINOs. And there are now just a handful of conservatives left in the Democrat Party. Pray for good government.
Bloggers in Their Crosshairs
I can foresee that bloggers video bloggers (vloggers) will be at particular risk. We are small, vulnerable targets. I say “vulnerable” because we don’t have deep pockets. Nor do we have attorneys on annual retainers, like the big media. Even independent blog sites–with independent domain names, some proprietary posting tools, and dedicated offshore servers–are at risk of censorship. My fellow bloggers have already suffered numerous DDOS attacks, manipulated Google ranking algorithms, and shadow banning. It is safe to assume that as the censorship war continues to escalate, a cut-off of funding via PayPal and/or Amazon Associates account may be next. Pray hard.
Oh, and get a VPN service. – JWR
