Internet censorship intensifies against conservatives

The Ron Paul Institute director, together with several other anti-leftist voices have had their Twitter accounts suspended. The suspensions follow in the wake of four tech giants banning Infowars. The website has been banned from Spotify, Apple, Facebook, and now YouTube.

Dan McAdams, the executive director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, radio host and editorial director of antiwar.com Scott Horton, and former State Department employee and author Peter Van Buren, found their Twitter accounts suspended on Monday, according to Antiwar.com.

Silicon Valley has turned to political censorship, using their market dominance and lack of legislated neutrality requirements to target Trump supporters.

On Monday ahead of the ban, Senator Rand Paul, the son of Ron Paul, had called for increased dialogue with Russian officials, saying that the two countries share a number of common interests.

Senator Paul met with a number of Russian officials, and invited MPs from the Russian Foreign Affairs Committee to the US. Paul told reporters that there are also hopes of scheduling meetings in a neutral third country. According to Paul there are “many Americans who want to have diplomacy, that want to have engagement”.

Russian foreign affairs chairman Konstantin Kosachev says that no arrangements have been made yet, but that he hoped such a meeting would be possible before the end of the year.

The timing of his visit is key, as a number of US lawmakers are trying to impose harsh new sanctions on Russia, and resisting diplomacy.

I've had my differences with @DanielLMcAdams, but seeing two strong anti-war libertarian voices suspended from Twitter at the same time is alarming. Regardless of disagreements, we must stand together to oppose deplatforming and the erosion of free speech. https://t.co/EQ6SOf5ETo

— Stefan Molyneux (@StefanMolyneux) August 7, 2018

Social media giant Instagram has now joined the fray in the censorship of conservatives by deleting Tommy Robinson’s account on their platform. When one tries to search for Robinson’s account on Instagram,(realtommyrobinson), the search comes back with the result “user not found”.

Robinson was just released from prison 5 days ago. He had originally been sentenced to 13 months behind bars for filming outside a Muslim rape gang trial.

An Australian political candidate running for the Victorian State Elections in Victoria, Australia was banned on Facebook this week after he posted a video in support of Tommy Robinson.

Avi Yemini is a popular activist in Australia who is best known for his video confrontations that focus on the Islamification of Australia. He was notified by Facebook last week that his page was unpublished for “hate speech”.

First they suspended Tommy Robinson’s Twitter account. Now they’re suspending his friends. pic.twitter.com/ro5qEQnWvm

— Ezra Levant 🇨🇦 (@ezralevant) August 6, 2018

US Democratic Senator Chris Murphy has called for social media websites to ban more conservative news outlets for “the survival of our democracy”. He said: “These companies must do more than take down one website.”

Facebook has meanwhile also banned Republican congressional candidate Elizabeth Heng’s campaign video ad about communist crimes that led her family to flee to America from Cambodia. Heng, who is running in California, made the video about her parent’s escape from the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. Facebook deemed the video to be “shocking, disrespectful or sensational”.

According to National Review, she was notified by Facebook: “We don’t allow ads that contain shocking, disrespectful or sensational content, including ads that depict violence or threats of violence.”

The 33-year-old Republican contender has expressed her surprise at the ban: “It is unbelievable that Facebook could have such blatant disregard for the history that so many people, including my own parents, have lived through.” The Khmer rule, which ended in 1975, had an estimated 275 000–310 000 people killed and displaced at least two million Cambodians.