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Facebook, Twitter, Google, Netflix ALL BLOCK Russian News Broadcasts, Content At Direct Behest Of The European Union

You’re only allowed to see one narrative if you’re in Europe

Published

3 months ago

on

Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images / screenshot composite

Big tech has moved in lockstep to censor Russian news networks Sputnik and RT, further ensuring that westerners only receive one narrative when it comes to coverage of the conflict in Ukraine.

Facebook is restricting access to content from RT and Sputnik on both its main social media platform and Instagram following “requests from a number of governments,” according to he company’s vice president Nick Clegg.

The move comes just hours after the EU announced it will ban RT and Sputnik broadcasts across the bloc, with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen declaring that the networks are spreading “harmful disinformation,” and that the EU is further “developing tools to ban toxic and harmful disinformation in Europe.”

Following pressure from EU officials on Google and its subsidiary YouTube to crackdown on content from the Russian news networks, the tech giant also announced that it will block YouTube channels “connected to RT and Sputnik across Europe, effective immediately”.

Facebook and Google already both barred RT and Sputnik from monetizing content on the platforms last week.

Users who attempt to visit the YouTube channels of either Sputnik or RT or watch videos posted from those channels are now met with a message saying “this channel is not available in your country,” and “this video is not available in your country,” This even applies to non-EU countries, including the UK.

At time of writing, RT and Sputnik’s YouTube channels are still accessible in the U.S., and Europeans can access the channels and videos if they use a VPN.

In the UK, RT TV broadcasts are not yet being blocked (Sputnik stopped broadcasting last year) because the country is no longer a part of the EU and there is a broadcast regulator that is somewhat independent of the government.

Twitter will also begin putting warning labels on all content related to Sputnik and RT, as well as continuing “to de-amplify articles from these websites by barring the URLs from the platform’s top search function,” according to Politico.

Netflix has also announced it is blocking all Russian TV channels, which were previously available on the platform in the country owing to a Russian law mandating they be included.

It is very clear that big tech has taken all of these actions immediately at the direct behest of the EU, and not of individual governments. Countries such as the UK are not even a part of the EU, yet the platforms have taken the same actions there. Critics have warned that sets another dangerous precedent and highlights that information can be completely restricted with the proverbial flick of a switch without any government involvement or oversight.

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    censorship

    Big Sis is Big Sad

    Queen of disinfo gets dethroned.

    Published

    5 days ago

    on

    19 May, 2022

    It’s interesting how there’s a almost total Venn diagram overlap between ‘disinformation’ and information that embarrasses the regime.

    Funny that, isn’t it?

    Please share this video! https://youtu.be/X8XTDKDvmWk

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    French Open Warns Russian Players Not to Make Political Statements of Support For Putin

    Rules of ideological purity test set by organizers.

    Published

    2 weeks ago

    on

    13 May, 2022

    Michael Reaves via Getty Images

    The French Open tennis tournament has warned Russian players not to make political statements in support of President Vladimir Putin if they wish to take part in the grand slam.

    Unlike Wimbledon, where they will be banned altogether, Russian and Belarusian players will be allowed to compete at Roland-Garros, but only under strictly neutral status.

    However, Russian stars have been cautioned that they will face sanctions if they express anything other than pro-Ukraine opinions in the media in the run up to the event.

    Roland-Garros Tournament Director Amelie Mauresmo made the tournament organizer’s position clear in a statement given to the press.

    “We keep the line of what all the European governments – and other governments – decided in March, i.e. national teams of Russia and Belarus banned, but not the athletes as individuals, as long as they play under strict neutrality,” said Mauresmo.

    “We will be very meticulous on that,” Mauresmo vowed. “[But] if any of them should have pro-Putin statements in the media, there will be sanctions for sure,” he added.

    This obviously sets a dangerous precedent in terms of the free speech of prominent public figures.

    Today, they’re mandated to support the NATO-aligned narrative about the Ukraine to be able to properly pursue their careers.

    Next year, it could be something completely different, and indeed it was when Novak Djokavic was punished by Australian authorities for refusing to take a COVID-19 vaccine.

    Who knows – sports athletes, actors, musicians could all in future be forced to sign up to some kind of ideological purity test that codifies their inability to challenge regime narratives lest they be hit with instant cancellation and career suicide.

    As we highlighted last month, Ukrainian tennis star Elina Svitolina demanded that Russian and Belarusian players be subjected to ideological purity tests before they are allowed to compete in international tournaments.

    Before Wimbledon slapped a total ban on all Russian players, then world number one Daniil Medvedev was told he would have to publicly denounce Vladimir Putin to be able to compete.

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    Elon Musk: Twitter Deal “Temporarily on Hold”

    Questions over true percentage of user accounts that are spam bots.

    Published

    2 weeks ago

    on

    13 May, 2022

    NurPhoto via Getty Images

    Billionaire Elon Musk announced that his deal to buy Twitter is “temporarily on hold” over questions about whether fake and spam accounts really do represent less than 5 per cent of users.

    “Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users,” Musk tweeted.

    Despite Musk last week securing $7 billion from new investors for his $44billion takeover, Twitter shares fell 20 per cent in premarket trading in response to the news.

    The Tesla founder has made it one of his priorities to eliminate “spam bots” form the platform, which Twitter claims represent fewer than 5% of its monetisable daily active users.

    Media reports circulated earlier in the week suggesting Musk could still pull out of the deal and pay a $1 billion dollar compensation fee, but that may be waived if Twitter hasn’t been honest about the scale of its bot problem.

    Blue checkmarks on Twitter are likely to welcome the news that the deal is on hold given that they have been panicking for the last several weeks about being unable to further entrench their censorship agenda if Musk takes over the platform.

    Earlier this week, Musk asserted that the decision to permanently suspend President Donald Trump was “foolish” and that Trump would be allowed to re-instate his account after Musk’s takeover.

    The billionaire added that under his stewardship, permanent bans would become a thing of the past, aside from when they’re applied to fake accounts.

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