As an 8 year Veteran of Online Activism, as well as actually organizing protests (G-Summits: G7, G8, G20, crashing a Vice-Presidential Speech ”Dick Cheney”, University revolts in Paris France, Impeach Bush Protests, #Occupy World, etc…), I thought I would discuss online Censorship; especially pertaining to Facebook.
I created Anarchadia in 2010, to try and fight Mainstream Disinformation by Spin Doctors; and it worked well for a year. We were getting loads of feedback, people all over Facebook were hearing of our endeavors.
Then one day, our profile was deleted, under new Facebook Guidelines, which forced you to be an actual person, in order to have and maintain a Facebook Profile (which Facebook can change on a whim without any respect for their 800,000,000 clients. They don’t even have a Customer Service to complain, except for Law Enforcement who has a direct line on their Hotline #).There is also the fact, that many Organizations and Companies, were still creating Friend Profiles, and were not forced to delete. Everyone at the time said it was normal. I didn’t find it normal, but I decided to ignore.
Luckily, I had saved our Facebook Profile Information, before they deleted the Ask Anarchadia Profile we had. But I did think of all those people who had not. They lost precious information, maybe. Ask Anarchadia had people behind it; we used it to communicate with close Friends and acquaintances (just like the guidelines said), and everything Anarchadia did was Non-Profit, and totally Underground. So I dismissed the fact that Facebook had just targeted thousands of Activist Pages, not even crazy Religious/Fascist/Bigot Activist pages; I am talking about real censorship on Anarcho-Pacifist Organizers. Do you remember when Michael Moore said in 9/11, Homeland Security was targeting Anarcho-Pacifists.Real Censorship on intelligent action, and underground movements.
But as I said before, my first instinct was to refute any sort of paranoid thinking.
Then one of our close friends Wiki Junky got her account deleted, just for helping us spread, truthful, intelligent information, to our Friends. Wiki is now a commited volunteer (and we got a bit more credibility since our account had been directly attacked) there wasn’t only a negative side, to this story.
So I forgot that Homeland Security has over 50,000 people acting as real people, spreading distorted information. And most of America did the same; it was at a time, when most people, still thought Obama was the Real-Deal-Socialist-Selfless-Helper of the poor, he said he was. There was this sort of illusion still permeating in the air, that all of George Bush’s Policies were passé. I also couldn’t complain, because Facebook had turned my Profile into a Like Page (after deleting all of our personal/public Information; and since we only published our information on Facebook, it was a severe blow). But that was another Catch 22. There is a reason for Like Pages and Profile Pages on Facebook; and it goes far beyond, the naive thought, that Facebook is just: “trying to help”. You have to pay for a Like Page to be shared by Facebook (unless you are advertised externally; which is hard to do when you have no funds, and are only specialized in Geo-Politics, not Web Designing), with a profile page Facebook advertises your profile for free.
If you don’t have the right to make loads of activist friends, or spread the truth on Facebook, then who must these “Friend Profiles” be for?
Allow me to say this before, you consider my answer:
There is a Myth around Facebook which obscures most of the truth, just like the most expensive Public Relations Campaigns do; with such agility and finess.The idea is that Facebook is made up of complex Algorithyms, which allow us to communicate better (True). There is also the factor of being censored by your peers (True), and also forced to follow Facebook Guidelines (whatever they might become, once public opinion believes Facebook is an Angel from Heaven: just like Americans used to associate Coca Cola with Santa Claus and not Cancer). And worst of all, if Facebook is caught censoring you, they can say it was an accident, remember the “Automatic Algorithms”?
So what would stop, a Facebook Homeland Security Joint Task Force? And who would that force be truely paid to protect? Individual Rights? Or a Malevolently-Greed-Enthusiastic Corporation’s Rights? Probably the latter one, just like Obama, Colin Powell, Condolezza Rice, Judge Napolitano, Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, and Hillary Clinton did… or sold out to. Could Facebook also be enforcing the CIA/World Bank/Corporate Agenda? Since the 1950′s the CIA and World Bank have been backing Right-Wing Coups, corrupting Government Officials, Terrorists, and Dictators (most of whom trained on American soil, in our infamous School of the Americas), in order to quench the insatiable thirst of 1st World Corporations.
You don’t see very many Right wing extremists being censored on Facebook, I have seen some pretty horrific things, in my time browsing the site. It seems more to me as if Facebook doesn’t censor ignorance; it censors valuable information for those who have no interests in the corrupt values/methods/ideologies our Corporatocracy employs; those people are the ones getting censored. So the War is still between the Haves and Have nots. And that can’t change as long as there are those who have, and the rest. I’m sure if you work for a Corporation you are probably furious at this article, and will paste it somewhere in the paranoid conspiracies section of your brain. But what if we were all debt slaves, being lead toward Corporate Fascism, would you still dismiss it?
Nato/ U.S Military have killed more than 30,000,000 people, since 1949. In the past 10 years, the Nato Forces have killed over 1,033,000 (only counting the Middle East), versus the 3500 Al Qaeda has killed. Over-Population? 2012 Conspiracies? You mean the current genocide, of South American Indigenous tribes? And don’t even mention the Taliban, because we know exactly who put them in Afghanistan in the first place.The gap between the rich and the poor has never been so great. And International Bankers would love you to keep believing everything happens by chance, especially when they are pulling strings, to solely satisfy their own personal greed.
So, If you don’t have the right to make loads of activist friends, or spread the truth on Facebook, then who must it be for?
The Corporations of course! Facebook is about making money (for the few), and lots of it. Just like the U.S Military, Federal Reserve, and every other Country’s Centralized/International Banker controlled/ Privatized Monetary Systems. Don’t trust Mr. Zuckerberg one second, when he boasts about being a humble and down to earth type of guy. A humble person doesn’t rob an idea from several people, to then monopolize, and censor positive Activism.
And its absolutely your decision to dismiss this article as Paranoid Conspiracy or simply as an observation.
By: John McCarthy
Further Links:
http://www.change.org/petitions/facebook-give-the-people-true-freedom-to-share
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Facebook#Government_censorship
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-Social-Network-Censorship/145984358805461
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