Glenn Greenwald warns that Internet censorship is intensifying

In a series of tweets, journalist Glenn Greenwald – who is anything but right-wing or conservative – warns that overt, in-your-face censorship collaboration between the state and Big Tech is becoming worse and worse.  Here’s the Threadreader version of his warning.

The regime of censorship being imposed on the internet – by a consortium of DC Dems, billionaire-funded “disinformation experts,” the US Security State, and liberal employees of media corporations – is dangerously intensifying in ways I believe are not adequately understood.

. . .

This is *Govt censorship* disguised as corporate autonomy.

There’s now an entire new industry, aligned with Dems, to pressure Big Tech to censor. Think tanks and self-proclaimed “disinformation experts” funded by Omidyar, Soros and the US/UK Security State use benign-sounding names to glorify ideological censorship as neutral expertise.

The worst, most vile arm of this regime are the censorship-mad liberal employees of big media corporations. Masquerading as “journalists,” they align with the scummiest Dem groups to silence and deplatform.

It is astonishing to watch Dems and their allies in media corporations posture as opponents of “fascism” – while their main goal is to *unite state and corporate power* to censor their critics and degrade the internet into an increasingly repressive weapon of information control. 

A major myth that must be quickly dismantled: political censorship is not the by-product of autonomous choices of Big Tech companies.

This is happening because DC Dems and the US Security State are threatening reprisals if they refuse.

But the worst is watching people whose job title in corporate HR Departments is “journalist” take the lead in agitating for censorship. They exploit the platforms of corporate giants to pioneer increasingly dangerous means of banning dissenters. *These* are the authoritarians.

This is the frog-in-boiling-water problem: the increase in censorship is gradual but continuous, preventing recognition of how severe it’s become. The EU now legally *mandates censorship of Russian news. They’ve made it *illegal* for companies to air it.

So many new tactics of censorship repression have emerged in the West: Trudeau freezing bank accounts of tucker-protesters; Paypal partnering with ADL to ban dissidents from the financial system; Big Tech platforms openly colluding in unison to de-person people from the internet.

All of this stems from the classic mentality of all would-be tyrants: our enemies are so dangerous, their views so threatening, that everything we do – lying, repression, censorship – is noble. That’s what made the Sam Harris confession so vital: that’s how liberal elites think … CIA concocted a lie about it (it’s “Russian disinformation”); media outlets spread that lie; Big Tech censured it — because lying and repression to them is justified!

There’s more at the link.  It’s well worth taking the time to read it in full.

I’m waiting for this censorship mania to hit the blogosphere as well.  I won’t be surprised to see Google’s Blogger forced into compliance with official “newspeak” in due course;  and WordPress has already silenced several blogs that it regarded as unacceptable on the basis of their content.  Some bloggers have already migrated to platforms offering – at least nominally – greater independence, and others (including yours truly) are in the process of doing so.  However, there’s no guarantee that the powers that be won’t go after such platforms and blogs as well.  The one thing they cannot tolerate is public dissent, particularly in the form of ridicule or debunking their so-called “facts”.  (Why do you think memes tend to be the weapon of the opposition, rather than those in power?  It’s because memes use humor and satire to make fun of what are essentially humorless, nose-in-air extremists who regard opposition as beneath contempt.  Humor’s always been a good weapon against them, as has pointing out the consequences when, thanks to their nose-in-air attitude, they trip over real life because they never look down at it.)

Glenn Greenwald is one of the few journalists and investigative reporters on the left wing of politics whom I respect for his objectivity and lack of partisanship.  I certainly don’t share many of his views, but he’s always honest enough to state what those views are, demonstrate how they affect his analysis, and give his readers the opportunity to think for themselves as they weigh up what he has to say.  That sort of honesty is all too rare these days.  Kudos to Mr. Greenwald for keeping the standard flying.

Peter