Apple, Amazon, Google ban social media platform Parler in wake of US Capitol riots

[WAB]

I must say that I enjoy the sight of right-wingers tying themselves in knots about this issue. They consider themselves pro-business, but when a business does something that they dislike, they go bonkers. They don't even reconsider their stance.

I once started this thread: Conservatives against Capitalism? - I noted that the Right has a much poorer record than the Left in taming capitalism.

Gee, ya think?

 

[Keith&Co.]

Also, for all those screaming "1984!" about their social media being taken away from fascists, George Orwell was of the opinion that everyone should kill one fascist.
Then he went to Spain to throw grenades at fascists.

Yep. He'd love fascists waving his book at people dis-enabling their fascism.

 

[ronburgundy]

BTW, I cannot locate it any more, but last week on a FB group someone posted screen shots of a Parler thread about Greta Thunberg. It was started by saying "Greta turns 18 today, what present do you want to give her?" That was followed by dozens of replies saying they would give her anal rape or other forms of violence, like a punch in the face. One poster said he wouldn't rape her, but only b/c she was too old for his tastes (IOW, advocating child rape).

Though not as relevant for this thread, Greta cleverly trolled her enemies (and enemies of science) with the tweet below:

"Thank you so much for all the well-wishes on my 18th birthday!

Tonight you will find me down at the local pub exposing all the dark secrets behind the climate- and school strike conspiracy and my evil handlers who can no longer control me!
I am free at last!!"

(btw, my 'r' key has been sticking lately, and I noticed it led to the misspelling "Paler", then I thought, "Oh wait, that's pretty accurate for a white supremacy platform")

 

[lpetrich]

ꪜ𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚌 on Twitter: "A lone hacker hero scraped millions of posts, videos and photos published to Parler after the riot, preserving a trove of evidence for law enforcement investigating the insurrection by many who used the platform to coordinate the breach of the Capitol. https://t.co/TQD9Z68K8h" / Twitter
noting
Scraped Parler data is a metadata gold mine | TechCrunch

Great that someone collected all that data. It should be valuable for tracking down those who were involved in that attempted coup.

 

[Elixir]

ꪜ???????????????????????????????????? on Twitter: "A lone hacker hero scraped millions of posts, videos and photos published to Parler after the riot, preserving a trove of evidence for law enforcement investigating the insurrection by many who used the platform to coordinate the breach of the Capitol. ?????? https://t.co/TQD9Z68K8h" / Twitter
noting
Scraped Parler data is a metadata gold mine | TechCrunch

Great that someone collected all that data. It should be valuable for tracking down those who were involved in that attempted coup.

Timely and very smart to jump on that. Probably not an epic feat of hacking, considering that Parler was using a free trial copy of software to keep user data.

 

[RVonse]

So Parler sues Amazon - https://drive.google.com/file/d/10N3_J2fVHxGUYeuc-xL0cRWWVPQylnoM/view. Antitrust, breach of contract, and tortuous interference with business expectancy. The breach of contract is pretty clear. The antitrust claim raises facts many may not have known; that Twitter recently contracted with Amazon for server access. Hence, Parler is a competitor to Amazon. The discovery produced for those allegations would be interesting. Methinks that the Woke at Amazon didn't consult the lawyers before trying to kill Parler.

When Parler aided and abetted treason that basically removed any obligations Amazon had to continue hosting them. I don't think this will go much farther than all the other stupid lawsuits we have seen from the GOP recently.

So, you're telling me the Constitution doesn't protect the right to actively attempt to overthrow the Constitution?

That is definitely the best question of this thread.

Considering that our founders were revolutionaries themselves. I would be highly surprised if the Constitution and/or bill of rights does not protect and include the right to overthrow the current government. Especially considering that most of the Constitution has to do with limiting the powers of our current government. I remember some of it saying government "for the people and by the people" or something like that.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Considering that our founders were revolutionaries themselves. I would be highly surprised if the Constitution and/or bill of rights does not protect and include the right to overthrow the current government. Especially considering that most of the Constitution has to do with limiting the powers of our current government. I remember some of it saying government "for the people and by the people" or something like that.

Small problem there, though. You're not "overthrowing" the government if the government allows your actions. You're not a "revolutionary" if you're still within the letter or the intent of the law.
You cannot use the foundational documents of the government you're overthrowing to save the government.

There are venues created eithin the government to fight the fraud people keep claiming happened. Thry have been exhausted. The shiftless lying hucksters shouting the loudest have produced the least evidence for their cause...

"The people" have indeed spoken, and a LOT more want Trump out of there than want him in. That's how it's supposed to work.

 

[ronburgundy]

So, you're telling me the Constitution doesn't protect the right to actively attempt to overthrow the Constitution?

That is definitely the best question of this thread.

Considering that our founders were revolutionaries themselves. I would be highly surprised if the Constitution and/or bill of rights does not protect and include the right to overthrow the current government. Especially considering that most of the Constitution has to do with limiting the powers of our current government. I remember some of it saying government "for the people and by the people" or something like that.

But the majority of "the people" didn't want Trump, so his terrorists were violently attacking "the people". Right wingers and pseudo-libertarians love to other the government but the reality is that the Capitol attack was a violent attack on the basic human rights of 320,000,000 Americans.

If people can overthrow government, then they can kill police officers. The Constitution does not protect that, and the founders assumed that laws against violence, including against those in government would exist an be enforced.

If the government actually was in need of being violently overthrown (such as if Trump had been successful in retaining power via his violent coup attempt), then it becomes completely irrelevant what the current laws are or what the Constitution permits, b/c those documents would become null and void when the government is overthrown. So, it is nonsensical to think that those who created a particular government would want or attempt to make the violent dissolution of that government an act protected by that government.

This is similar to and expands on Keith's valid point above.

 

[GenesisNemesis]

Conservatives: "the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat!"

Also conservatives: "Waah you're 'unpersoning' Trump waah!"

 

[laughing dog]

So, you're telling me the Constitution doesn't protect the right to actively attempt to overthrow the Constitution?

That is definitely the best question of this thread.

Considering that our founders were revolutionaries themselves. I would be highly surprised if the Constitution and/or bill of rights does not protect and include the right to overthrow the current government. Especially considering that most of the Constitution has to do with limiting the powers of our current government. I remember some of it saying government "for the people and by the people" or something like that.

Why the preoccupation about what the founding fathers thought? The Constitution was a political compromise. It was silent on issues because there was no consensus whatsoever. For example, if my memory serves me correctly, sedition was mentioned in an early draft of the Constitution, but it is not mentioned in the adopted text. In my view, that means the question of how to treat (if at all) is up to the people via our legislative process.

 

[cycomiko]

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.294664/gov.uscourts.wawd.294664.10.0_1.pdf

Amazon listed (page4) out several examples of the reported content that got Parler shut down.

 

[lpetrich]

Jay Bookman on Twitter: "Parler has sued Amazon for refusing to provide it web services, and conservatives have rallied to Parler's defense, claiming their views are being censored. In its legal response, Amazon cites the type of Parler content that conservatives apparently want to defend. Take a look: (pix link)" / Twitter

• “Fry’em up. The whole fkn crew. #pelosi #aoc #thesquad #soros #gates #chuckschumer #hrc #obama #adamschiff #blm #antifa we are coming for you and you will know it.”
• “#JackDorsey ... you will die a bloody death alongside Mark Suckerturd [Zuckerberg].... It has been decided and plans are being put in place. Remember the photographs inside your home while you slept? Yes, that close. You will die a sudden death!”
• “We are going to fight in a civil War on Jan.20th, Form MILITIAS now and acquire targets.”
• “On January 20th we need to start systematicly [sic] assassinating [sic] #liberal leaders, liberal activists, #blm leaders and supporters, members of the #nba #nfl #mlb #nhl #mainstreammedia anchors and correspondents and #antifa. I already have a news worthy event planned.”
• “Shoot the police that protect these shitbag senators right in the head then make the senator grovel a bit before capping they ass.”
• “After the firing squads are done with the politicians the teachers are next.”
• “Death to @zuckerberg @realjeffbezos @jackdorsey @pichai.”
• “White people need to ignite their racial identity and rain down suffering and death like a hurricane upon zionists.”
• “Put a target on these motherless trash [Antifa] they aren’t human taking one out would be like stepping on a roach no different.”
• “We need to act like our forefathers did Kill [Black and Jewish people] all Leave no victims or survivors.”
• “We are coming with our list we know where you live we know who you are and we are coming for you and it starts on the 6th civil war... Lol if you will think it’s a joke... Enjoy your last few days you have.”
• “This bitch [Stacey Abrams] will be good target practice for our beginners.”
• “This cu** [United States Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao] should be... hung for betraying their country.”
• “Hang this mofo [Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger] today.”
• “HANG THAt N***** ASAP”

All copied from the legal brief linked to in the previous post.

 

[ZiprHead]

Stripe Stops Processing Payments for Trump Campaign Website
Financial-technology company’s move follows last week’s riot at the Capitol

Stripe Inc. will no longer process payments for President Trump’s campaign website following last week’s riot at the Capitol, according to people familiar with the matter.

The financial-technology company handles card payments for millions of online businesses and e-commerce platforms, including Mr. Trump’s campaign website and online fundraising apparatus. Stripe is cutting off the president’s campaign account for violating its policies against encouraging violence, the people said.

Spokespeople for the Trump campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Stripe asks users to agree that they won’t accept payments for “high risk” activities, including for any business or organization that “engages in, encourages, promotes or celebrates unlawful violence or physical harm to persons or property,” according to its website.

 

[ZiprHead]

Corporate America halts donations to Republicans who voted to overturn the election

New York (CNN Business)Some of America's biggest companies are suspending donations to Republican Congress members who objected to the Electoral College's votes.

The growing list of those corporations, including American Express (AXP), BlueCross BlueShield, Commerce Bank, Dow and Marriott (MAR), comes after a pro-Trump mob breached the US Capitol last Wednesday to fight against the ceremonial counting of electoral votes that confirmed President-elect Joe Biden's win.
147 Republicans voted against certification of the electoral votes in a joint session of Congress last Wednesday evening. They included Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, among hundreds of other Congress members.

More in the link.

 

[repoman]

Corporate America halts donations to Republicans who voted to overturn the election

New York (CNN Business)Some of America's biggest companies are suspending donations to Republican Congress members who objected to the Electoral College's votes.

The growing list of those corporations, including American Express (AXP), BlueCross BlueShield, Commerce Bank, Dow and Marriott (MAR), comes after a pro-Trump mob breached the US Capitol last Wednesday to fight against the ceremonial counting of electoral votes that confirmed President-elect Joe Biden's win.
147 Republicans voted against certification of the electoral votes in a joint session of Congress last Wednesday evening. They included Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, among hundreds of other Congress members.

More in the link.

Those types of corporations own congress already.

 

[lpetrich]

jack on Twitter: "I do not celebrate or feel pride ..." / Twitter

I do not celebrate or feel pride in our having to ban @realDonaldTrump from Twitter, or how we got here. After a clear warning we’d take this action, we made a decision with the best information we had based on threats to physical safety both on and off Twitter. Was this correct?

I believe this was the right decision for Twitter. We faced an extraordinary and untenable circumstance, forcing us to focus all of our actions on public safety. Offline harm as a result of online speech is demonstrably real, and what drives our policy and enforcement above all. That said, having to ban an account has real and significant ramifications. While there are clear and obvious exceptions, I feel a ban is a failure of ours ultimately to promote healthy conversation. And a time for us to reflect on our operations and the environment around us.

Having to take these actions fragment the public conversation. They divide us. They limit the potential for clarification, redemption, and learning. And sets a precedent I feel is dangerous: the power an individual or corporation has over a part of the global public conversation. The check and accountability on this power has always been the fact that a service like Twitter is one small part of the larger public conversation happening across the internet. If folks do not agree with our rules and enforcement, they can simply go to another internet service.

This concept was challenged last week when a number of foundational internet tool providers also decided not to host what they found dangerous. I do not believe this was coordinated. More likely: companies came to their own conclusions or were emboldened by the actions of others. This moment in time might call for this dynamic, but over the long term it will be destructive to the noble purpose and ideals of the open internet. A company making a business decision to moderate itself is different from a government removing access, yet can feel much the same. Yes, we all need to look critically at inconsistencies of our policy and enforcement. Yes, we need to look at how our service might incentivize distraction and harm. Yes, we need more transparency in our moderation operations. All this can’t erode a free and open global internet.

The reason I have so much passion for #Bitcoin is largely because of the model it demonstrates: a foundational internet technology that is not controlled or influenced by any single individual or entity. This is what the internet wants to be, and over time, more of it will be. We are trying to do our part by funding an initiative around an open decentralized standard for social media. Our goal is to be a client of that standard for the public conversation layer of the internet. We call it @bluesky: (earlier Twitter thread)

This will take time to build. We are in the process of interviewing and hiring folks, looking at both starting a standard from scratch or contributing to something that already exists. No matter the ultimate direction, we will do this work completely through public transparency. It’s important that we acknowledge this is a time of great uncertainty and struggle for so many around the world. Our goal in this moment is to disarm as much as we can, and ensure we are all building towards a greater common understanding, and a more peaceful existence on earth. I believe the internet and global public conversation is our best and most relevant method of achieving this. I also recognize it does not feel that way today. Everything we learn in this moment will better our effort, and push us to be what we are: one humanity working together.

 

[lpetrich]

More:
jack on Twitter: "Twitter is funding a small independent team ..." / Twitter

Twitter is funding a small independent team of up to five open source architects, engineers, and designers to develop an open and decentralized standard for social media. The goal is for Twitter to ultimately be a client of this standard.

twitter was so open early on that many saw its potential to be a decentralized internet standard, like SMTP (email protocol). For a variety of reasons, all reasonable at the time, we took a different path and increasingly centralized Twitter. But a lot’s changed over the years…

First, we’re facing entirely new challenges centralized solutions are struggling to meet. For instance, centralized enforcement of global policy to address abuse and misleading information is unlikely to scale over the long-term without placing far too much burden on people.

Second, the value of social media is shifting away from content hosting and removal, and towards recommendation algorithms directing one’s attention. Unfortunately, these algorithms are typically proprietary, and one can’t choose or build alternatives. Yet.

Third, existing social media incentives frequently lead to attention being focused on content and conversation that sparks controversy and outrage, rather than conversation which informs and promotes health.

Finally, new technologies have emerged to make a decentralized approach more viable. Blockchain points to a series of decentralized solutions for open and durable hosting, governance, and even monetization. Much work to be done, but the fundamentals are there.

Some of these issues were emphasized by @stephen_wolfram in a blog post following his Senate hearing titled “Optimizing for Engagement: Understanding the Use of Persuasive Technology on Internet Platforms”. - Testifying at the Senate about A.I.‑Selected Content on the Internet—Stephen Wolfram Writings

Recently we came across @mmasnick’s article “Protocols, Not Platforms” which captures a number of the challenges and solutions. But more importantly, it reminded us of a credible path forward: hire folks to develop a standard in the open. - Protocols, Not Platforms: A Technological Approach to Free Speech | Knight First Amendment Institute

Square is doing exactly this for bitcoin with @SqCrypto. For social media, we’d like this team to either find an existing decentralized standard they can help move forward, or failing that, create one from scratch. That’s the only direction we at Twitter, Inc. will provide.

Why is this good for Twitter? It will allow us to access and contribute to a much larger corpus of public conversation, focus our efforts on building open recommendation algorithms which promote healthy conversation, and will force us to be far more innovative than in the past. There are MANY challenges to make this work that Twitter would feel right becoming a client of this standard. Which is why the work must be done transparently in the open, not owned by any single private corporation, furthering the open & decentralized principles of the internet. We’d expect this team not only to develop a decentralized standard for social media, but to also build open community around it, inclusive of companies & organizations, researchers, civil society leaders, all who are thinking deeply about the consequences, positive and negative. This isn’t going to happen overnight. It will take many years to develop a sound, scalable, and usable decentralized standard for social media that paves the path to solving the challenges listed above. Our commitment is to fund this work to that point and beyond.

"We’re calling this team @bluesky. Our CTO @ParagA will be running point to find a lead, who will then hire and direct the rest of the team. Please follow or DM @bluesky if you’re interested in learning more or joining!

 

[TV and credit cards]

Corporate America halts donations to Republicans who voted to overturn the election

New York (CNN Business)Some of America's biggest companies are suspending donations to Republican Congress members who objected to the Electoral College's votes.

The growing list of those corporations, including American Express (AXP), BlueCross BlueShield, Commerce Bank, Dow and Marriott (MAR), comes after a pro-Trump mob breached the US Capitol last Wednesday to fight against the ceremonial counting of electoral votes that confirmed President-elect Joe Biden's win.
147 Republicans voted against certification of the electoral votes in a joint session of Congress last Wednesday evening. They included Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, among hundreds of other Congress members.

More in the link.

Those types of corporations own congress already.

You cannot own a politician. You can only rent them.

 

[Gospel]

Jay Bookman on Twitter: "Parler has sued Amazon for refusing to provide it web services, and conservatives have rallied to Parler's defense, claiming their views are being censored. In its legal response, Amazon cites the type of Parler content that conservatives apparently want to defend. Take a look: (pix link)" / Twitter

• “Fry’em up. The whole fkn crew. #pelosi #aoc #thesquad #soros #gates #chuckschumer #hrc #obama #adamschiff #blm #antifa we are coming for you and you will know it.”
• “#JackDorsey ... you will die a bloody death alongside Mark Suckerturd [Zuckerberg].... It has been decided and plans are being put in place. Remember the photographs inside your home while you slept? Yes, that close. You will die a sudden death!”
• “We are going to fight in a civil War on Jan.20th, Form MILITIAS now and acquire targets.”
• “On January 20th we need to start systematicly [sic] assassinating [sic] #liberal leaders, liberal activists, #blm leaders and supporters, members of the #nba #nfl #mlb #nhl #mainstreammedia anchors and correspondents and #antifa. I already have a news worthy event planned.”
• “Shoot the police that protect these shitbag senators right in the head then make the senator grovel a bit before capping they ass.”
• “After the firing squads are done with the politicians the teachers are next.”
• “Death to @zuckerberg @realjeffbezos @jackdorsey @pichai.”
• “White people need to ignite their racial identity and rain down suffering and death like a hurricane upon zionists.”
• “Put a target on these motherless trash [Antifa] they aren’t human taking one out would be like stepping on a roach no different.”
• “We need to act like our forefathers did Kill [Black and Jewish people] all Leave no victims or survivors.”
• “We are coming with our list we know where you live we know who you are and we are coming for you and it starts on the 6th civil war... Lol if you will think it’s a joke... Enjoy your last few days you have.”
• “This bitch [Stacey Abrams] will be good target practice for our beginners.”
• “This cu** [United States Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao] should be... hung for betraying their country.”
• “Hang this mofo [Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger] today.”
• “HANG THAt N***** ASAP”

All copied from the legal brief linked to in the previous post.

Before I jump to conclusions, I'll wait for tenacious D to post similar language being sent from BLM and Antifa to provide the reassurance my black ass desperately needs right now. Till then I'll be using 1821 instead of 2021 on my company's legal documents.

 

[TomC]

Jay Bookman on Twitter: "Parler has sued Amazon for refusing to provide it web services, and conservatives have rallied to Parler's defense, claiming their views are being censored. In its legal response, Amazon cites the type of Parler content that conservatives apparently want to defend. Take a look: (pix link)" / Twitter

• “Fry’em up. The whole fkn crew. #pelosi #aoc #thesquad #soros #gates #chuckschumer #hrc #obama #adamschiff #blm #antifa we are coming for you and you will know it.”
• “#JackDorsey ... you will die a bloody death alongside Mark Suckerturd [Zuckerberg].... It has been decided and plans are being put in place. Remember the photographs inside your home while you slept? Yes, that close. You will die a sudden death!”
• “We are going to fight in a civil War on Jan.20th, Form MILITIAS now and acquire targets.”
• “On January 20th we need to start systematicly [sic] assassinating [sic] #liberal leaders, liberal activists, #blm leaders and supporters, members of the #nba #nfl #mlb #nhl #mainstreammedia anchors and correspondents and #antifa. I already have a news worthy event planned.”
• “Shoot the police that protect these shitbag senators right in the head then make the senator grovel a bit before capping they ass.”
• “After the firing squads are done with the politicians the teachers are next.”
• “Death to @zuckerberg @realjeffbezos @jackdorsey @pichai.”
• “White people need to ignite their racial identity and rain down suffering and death like a hurricane upon zionists.”
• “Put a target on these motherless trash [Antifa] they aren’t human taking one out would be like stepping on a roach no different.”
• “We need to act like our forefathers did Kill [Black and Jewish people] all Leave no victims or survivors.”
• “We are coming with our list we know where you live we know who you are and we are coming for you and it starts on the 6th civil war... Lol if you will think it’s a joke... Enjoy your last few days you have.”
• “This bitch [Stacey Abrams] will be good target practice for our beginners.”
• “This cu** [United States Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao] should be... hung for betraying their country.”
• “Hang this mofo [Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger] today.”
• “HANG THAt N***** ASAP”

All copied from the legal brief linked to in the previous post.

Before I jump to conclusions, I'll wait for tenacious D to post similar language being sent from BLM and Antifa to provide the reassurance my black ass desperately needs right now. Till then I'll be using 1821 instead of 2021 on my company's legal documents.

I'm certain that one could dredge up similar internet insanity from the most deranged supporters of BLM and Antifa.
But there're two big differences. For one thing, they probably got deleted by the service for being inflammatory. But the biggest difference is that they aren't being instigated and supported by top government officials.
Tom