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Lobby Group Sues Apple To REMOVE Telegram From App Store For Allowing ‘Hate Speech’

Warns ‘extremists’ are set to “migrate to Telegram” after Parler was successfully purged

Published

1 month ago

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Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

A lobbyist group is suing Apple in an effort to get free speech messaging platform Telegram removed from the app store, claiming that it allows ‘extremists’ to spread ‘hate speech’.

Telegram has seen a surge in users since Twitter and Facebook permanently suspended President Trump. Last week the service gained more than 25 million new users in just 72 hours, taking the total users to over 500 million.

The platform promotes itself as a service that believes in free speech and a strong privacy ethic, often polarising itself from the likes of Facebook owned Watts App and Microsoft owned Skype.

Now, amid calls for the platform to be restricted, lobby group The Coalition for a Safer Web has called for it to be completely deleted from big tech app stores.

In particular, the group has filed a lawsuit against Apple, alleging that it has failed to hold Telegram accountable for violating its terms of service.

The complaint, filed in the US District Court for Northern California, accuses Telegram of allowing anti-Semites, neo-nazis and white supremacists to use the platform to foment hate.

“Telegram currently serves as the preferred neo-Nazi/white nationalist communications channel, fanning anti-Semitic and anti-black incitement during the current wave of protests across America,” the lawsuit claims.

It also states that ‘extremists’ are set to “migrate to Telegram” in bigger numbers following Apple, Google and Amazon’s attempts to wipe Parler off the internet completely.

The lawsuit further alleges that Telegram “is currently being used to coordinate and incite extreme violence before the inauguration of President [-elect] Joe Biden.”

The Coalition for a Safer Web’s President, Marc Ginsberg, who is a former US ambassador to Morocco and deputy senior adviser to the US president on Middle East Policy, has claimed that “By continuing to host Telegram on the Apple App Store, [the] defendant (Apple) facilitates religious threats against him and his family that has caused Ambassador Ginsberg to fear for his life.”

The lawsuit points to the purging of Parler as a precedent, noting that “Apple has not taken any action against Telegram comparable to the action it has taken against Parler to compel Telegram to improve its content moderation policies.”

The group, which also has a Council on Foreign Relations executive, a former Chairman of the RNC, and a former Homeland Security chief on its advisory board, is also said to be preparing a lawsuit against Google for the same purpose of targeting Telegram.

While Telegram has positioned itself against the big tech behemoths, it has made efforts to remove ‘neo-Nazi’ channels from its platforms in recent months.

Meanwhile, Parler reemerged on the internet Sunday, after Amazon unceremoniously wiped it from its hosting servers.

Parler Chief Executive John Matze posted a message on Paler.com asking “Hello world, is this thing on?”

“Now seems like the right time to remind you all – both lovers and haters – why we started this platform,” Matze further wrote, adding. “We believe privacy is paramount and free speech essential, especially on social media.”

“Our aim has always been to provide a nonpartisan public square where individuals can enjoy and exercise their rights to both. We will resolve any challenge before us and plan to welcome all of you back soon. We will not let civil discourse perish,” he further noted.

However, the site now appears to be offline again.

It appears that Parler is now being hosted by Epik, the company that also hosts Twitter alternative Gab and messageboard 8chan.

Epik has stated that it disagrees with big tech moves to purge the likes of Parler, noting “It is becoming increasingly easy to demonize anyone who has different beliefs with no recognition of the actual effects and impact this can have on society.”

The company’s statement immediately led to calls for it to be targeted for annihilation, along with other hosting companies that are refusing to go along with mass censorship on the internet. 

The end point of the ongoing purge seems clear, a completely censored internet dominated and controlled by unregulated big tech elites, where only ‘acceptable’ opinions cans be accessed and shared.

Removing neo-Nazi and terrorist channels is one thing, however when that encompasses blanket banning everyone else along with them, and completely removing platforms and websites, free speech no longer exists.

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censorship

Facebook Algorithm Accuses 81-Year-Old Grandmother of “Hate Speech” Over Knitted Pigs Comment

Threatens to ban her account.

Published

5 hours ago

on

24 February, 2021

Rita Rich-Mulcahy

Facebook’s algorithm flagged an 81-year-old grandmother’s comments about knitted pigs as an example of “hate speech” and threatened her with a permanent ban.

Yes, really.

After losing her husband last year, Rita Rich-Mulcahy, a retired teacher who lives in Australia, created the Facebook page to share with the world her love of knitting and raise money for The Smith Family charity, which helps disadvantaged children.

After posting a picture of her own knitted pigs, Rich-Mulcahy referred to them as “white pigs” and “high-viz pigs,” resulting in the threat to terminate her account over “hate speech.”

“It may seem a small thing to most people, but to someone who had never even had an overdue library book, being charged with using hate speech was frightening,” said Rich-Mulcahy.

Facebook issued a statement asserting that its automated system flagging the comments was a “mistake” that its AI “sometimes” makes.

The story once again illustrates how Facebook’s censorship algorithm, which gets stricter almost by the day as a result of relentless mainstream media hysteria, is completely broken.

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Twitter Blocks Links to CPAC Website

Users told link is “unsafe.”

Published

6 hours ago

on

24 February, 2021

SOPA Images via Getty Images

Twitter is blocking links to the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) website, with users being told they are sharing an “unsafe” URL.

CPAC is an annual political conference attended by activists, journalists and elected officials from the United States.

The organization’s 2021 gathering will get underway tomorrow Orlando, Florida, with former President Donald Trump scheduled as the headline speaker.

However, Twitter users attempting to access CPAC’s website from the social media platform are now shown a warning that tells them clicking the link “may be unsafe.”

The warning message goes on to list four categories, which includes “violent or misleading content that could lead to real-world harm.”

Users are still able to get to the website, but they have to agree to continue at their own risk.

Back in October, Twitter caused controversy by blocking a New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s alleged attempts to influence his father, Joe Biden, to shut down a probe into Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

The company claimed the story violated their “hacked materials” policy but did an about-face after CEO Jack Dorsey admitted that blocking URLs without context was “wrong.”

However, even after admitting its error, Twitter then blocked a follow-up story about Hunter Biden’s alleged effort to get his father a cut of a deal involving Shanghai-based CEFC China Energy Co.

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Democrats Demand To Know Why Cable Companies Don’t CENSOR Conservative Media

“Are you planning to continue carrying Fox News, OANN, and Newsmax on your platform both now and beyond the renewal date? If so, why?”

Published

2 days ago

on

23 February, 2021

Steve Watson

Screenshot

In a blatant attempt to pressure cable providers to censor conservative media, Democrats have penned a letter demanding to know what they intend to do about certain channels, including Fox and Newsmax, spreading ‘disinformation’.

The letter sent Monday by California Democrats Anna Eshoo and Jerry McNerney also asked satellite and digital TV providers “Are you planning to continue carrying Fox News, OANN, and Newsmax on your platform both now and beyond the renewal date? If so, why?”

The letter, which claimed the networks have spread ‘conspiracy theories’ regarding the election, was sent to Comcast, AT&T, Spectrum, Dish, Verizon, Cox and Altice, as well as digital carriers Amazon, Apple, Google, Hulu and Roku. 

The Democrats also accused conservative networks of “encouragement or incitement of violence.”

Eshoo and McNerney head the subcommittee on Communications and Technology, which will hold a hearing on “traditional media’s role in promoting disinformation and extremism” on Wednesday. 

A press release for the hearing declared that there is an “increasing reliance on conspiracy theories and misleading or patently false information” among conservative news networks, and this “raises questions about their devotion to journalistic integrity.”

Republican Brendan Carr, who sits on the Federal Communications Commission, described the Democrats’ letter as “a chilling transgression” of free speech rights.

Carr added that Democrats are “sending a message that is as clear as it is troubling—these regulated entities will pay a price if the targeted newsrooms do not conform to Democrats’ preferred political narratives.”

Carr called for the FCC to “join me in publicly denouncing this attempt to stifle political speech and independent news judgment.” 

The response on social media to the letter was led by independent journalist Glenn Greenwald:

Others noted that AT&T is the parent company of CNN, so censoring that networks direct rivals would be a bold move:

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