Two quick follow-ups on my post yesterday about Apple removing Infowars from their podcast directory, and related actions by Facebook and YouTube. First, Alan Jacobs summed it up really well on his microblog:
What Alex Jones is being deprived of is amplification. Not the right and freedom to speak, but multiple megaphones.
And I love this quote from the Onion:
What we see here really could be the beginning of a slippery slope towards a horrific ordeal in which any citizen who violates hate speech policies or blatantly spreads lies that cause other individuals to receive death threats will immediately be discredited and, perhaps, even asked to host their demonstrably false content on a website that they actually own.
The best satire is often true. We’re seeing a major shift in how mainstream users view the role of these huge social networks.
