Trump banned from Twitter

What are your thoughts on this?

Freedom of speech vs inciting issues.

I’m torn. Lefties like freedom of speech when it’s their freedom of speech.

Freedom of Speech =/= Freedom of consequences.

Twitter is a private company with every right to dictate who uses their platform and who can’t. The same way a pub can ban a rowdy punter, Annis can block a user on here, taxis can refuse customers, etc, etc, etc.

If he wants to tweet he can use the official POTUS account as long as his tweets remain within the rules. He broke the terms and conditions of using Twitter. Simple stuff.

Freedom of Speech =/= Freedom of consequences.

Twitter is a private company with every right to dictate who uses their platform and who can’t. The same way a pub can ban a rowdy punter, Annis can block a user on here, taxis can refuse customers, etc, etc, etc.

If he wants to tweet he can use the official POTUS account as long as his tweets remain within the rules. He broke the terms and conditions of using Twitter. Simple stuff.

If Annis was going to ban anyone on here surely it would have been the Tan lovers?

I am very torn. I am all for freedom of speech but that was shocking the other day.

But surely he can incite them in other ways?

Freedom of Speech =/= Freedom of consequences.

Twitter is a private company with every right to dictate who uses their platform and who can’t. The same way a pub can ban a rowdy punter, Annis can block a user on here, taxis can refuse customers, etc, etc, etc.

If he wants to tweet he can use the official POTUS account as long as his tweets remain within the rules. He broke the terms and conditions of using Twitter. Simple stuff.

If Annis was going to ban anyone on here surely it would have been the Tan lovers?

I am very torn. I am all for freedom of speech but that was shocking the other day.

But surely he can incite them in other ways?

Of course he can and if the new platform deems it too extreme or in breach of their T+C’s then they have the right to ban him from that site as well.

I do not know if any of you saw the crushing of that Police Officer and he is screaming, it is harrowing. The mob knew he was in trouble and ignored the terrible situation .Some clown has promoted the theory that the mob was a left wing communist gathering, he was n ex Washington Republican Senator. Words matter Trump Giuliani whomever 5 people died. Trump is unhinged and cannot be allowed to promote further instances such as we witnessed. Perhaps we here in the UK fail to realize Americans lack the level of cynicism we have they believe every word that comes out of this moron's mouth. Ban him to the dark web with Alex Jones and the flat earthers. He will not be free very long after January too many State lawsuits going at him his pardon does not cover State law only federal offences.

I do not know if any of you saw the crushing of that Police Officer and he is screaming, it is harrowing. The mob knew he was in trouble and ignored the terrible situation .Some clown has promoted the theory that the mob was a left wing communist gathering, he was n ex Washington Republican Senator. Words matter Trump Giuliani whomever 5 people died. Trump is unhinged and cannot be allowed to promote further instances such as we witnessed. Perhaps we here in the UK fail to realize Americans lack the level of cynicism we have they believe every word that comes out of this moron's mouth. Ban him to the dark web with Alex Jones and the flat earthers. He will not be free very long after January too many State lawsuits going at him his pardon does not cover State law only federal offences.

Great post.

I listened to a flat earther on a podcast the other day. He was talking about Covid and the vaccine. Very, very scary.

It is one of the issues with the internet. Freedom of speech allows it to people like that.

Why don't we ban TV then.

I am not on twitter, facebook or instagram but i know exactly what he said !

This albeit extremely late virtue signalling action will come back to haunt them in terms or accountability and stock price.

If these social media platforms are taking a view then surely they are publishers like newspapers. Social media is a cesspit and they should be responsible for ensuring all their posters are responsible for their posts with proper checks....That will kill them.

I bet one or two unelected people don't get to chose the political discourse in Russia or China

I have defended trump in the past but not this time , Twitter need to be careful though they have set the bar now ,that means anyone who does anything that can be seen to incite violence should be banned.

I cannot visualize any serious news outlet asking for "trial by combat" the morons believed Trump when he said prior to the march "I am coming with you"? Any serious evaluation of this malignant narcissist from numerous sources indicate a man who is incapable of any serious office. Yes he should be banned he would think it sport to ask his morons to march into the sea if he saw fit.

And this is the guy that has the nucleur launch codes. maybe that's how he will deal with Covid 19 in the States

I do not know if any of you saw the crushing of that Police Officer and he is screaming, it is harrowing. The mob knew he was in trouble and ignored the terrible situation .Some clown has promoted the theory that the mob was a left wing communist gathering, he was n ex Washington Republican Senator. Words matter Trump Giuliani whomever 5 people died. Trump is unhinged and cannot be allowed to promote further instances such as we witnessed. Perhaps we here in the UK fail to realize Americans lack the level of cynicism we have they believe every word that comes out of this moron's mouth. Ban him to the dark web with Alex Jones and the flat earthers. He will not be free very long after January too many State lawsuits going at him his pardon does not cover State law only federal offences.

Problem is there’s scum on both sides of the US political debate but SocialMedia only bans those it considers right wing. Trump banned Chinese Communist Party free to carry on Tweeting. I’m also struggling to see how multi billionaires can advance the socialist cause, or how the likes of Nike can embrace black rights while employing toddlers in 3rd World countries to sew trainers.

And all of a sudden Parler is removed from Google Play and App Store despite not having broken any rules just for the audacity of being a non silicon Valley social media alternative.

Just at the same time that the sitting President of the US is silenced in the modern town square by private companies.

A sitting president that had used Twitter to bypass a highly partisan media that twisted his words into a false narrative so often they became a parody of themselves.

Trump's overwhelming failure was not taking Silicon Valley on and repealling section 230. Now they are flexing their muscles in a arrogant show of strength.

The new and old media, owned by a handful of people have played a blinder.

So much manufactured anger at Trump that practically no-one is talking about the grotesque levels of power these private companies now hold.

They have silenced a sitting president in a coordinated move across multiple forums.

They have now moved to remove one of the only legitimate alternatives.

The president elect has just likened sitting G.O.P senators to Nazis for acting within the constitution.

There have been calls for lists of Trump supporters and for them to be 'cleansed'

Trump supporters have been called cockroaches and maggots that should be removed from society. This has been done openly and frequently across the media.

We have heard this kind of rhetoric before. We've seen this kind of language before many times in history, what follows is never good.

Does none of this concern you at all or is Orange Man Bad the only news you can see?

Actions have consequences and as a result of his actions, the consequence has been to have to his access to social media removed. Let's be clear here, he's been a total dick on it for years and that's ok, being a dick isn't a crime. But when millions of people believe what you say, and you say things that result in the deaths of other people then it's probably best for the adults to step in and slip a muzzle on you. He's caused so much chaos with his denying of Covid and talking about bleach and sunlight curing it...probably caused thousands of deaths indirectly through that. Then he was deliberately trolling black folk in America during the BLM riots, again causing more actual harm to real people. Finally he's spent 2 months stoking a crowd into a frenzy with populist rhetoric similar to that seen in 30's era Germany...which culminated in his angry mob storming the center of government and killing a cop.

Being banned from twitter should be the least of his worries and punishments.

Forgetting Trump he is what he is and he is going soon.

The banning of Trump is nothing more than window dressing to curry favor with the democrats who will hold the three seats of government. For years they have been bleating about elimination or reduction (or not) of section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. This protects Social media companies for litigation for content of its users.

Now they hold the keys to unopposed law changes, lets see what happens..........

I hope this is the start to the end of anonymous social media accounts and some sort of identity verification before posting, so you can hold people to account. The vile racist and sexual violence threats recently highlighted should make these great bastions of decency do the right thing and change how you can post.....

If you can silence the most powerful man in the world, who really holds the power ? How do we moderate ? What checks and measures are in place ?

Not holding my breath. This little morsel will be enough to satisfy Polosi and Schummer.

And all of a sudden Parler is removed from Google Play and App Store despite not having broken any rules just for the audacity of being a non silicon Valley social media alternative.

Not true - Parler have been given a warning as there was a shitload of stuff on their sites which promoted violence intended to help push political aims (which by the way is pretty much the definition of terrorism). Parler, unwilling to risk angering some of their lovely users, did very little to moderate these posts. Quote from Apple - "Specifically, we have continued to find direct threats of violence and calls to incite lawless action in violation of Guideline 1.1 - Safety - Objectionable Content."

The new and old media, owned by a handful of people have played a blinder.

So much manufactured anger at Trump that practically no-one is talking about the grotesque levels of power these private companies now hold.

People have been talking about media bias for ages. The media is being used for anything from whipping up people to support shitty wars, to pushing in policies based on benefits/immigration etc in the UK. It's also been used to smear Corbyn in this country and frame him as a terrorist which many Pro-Trump people f*cking loved and shared or paraphrased both on this forum and across the UK. Maybe people only care about media bias if the bias is against something they support?

Baffles me that people on the right have seemingly need to have an obese middle aged man shout 'FAKE NEWS' repeatedly at them for four years for them to realise that there is such thing as bias in the media. There has definitely been an Anti-Trump bias in many sections of the media though I'll give you that.

They have silenced a sitting president in a coordinated move across multiple forums.

For breaching policies and guidelines they have in place.

Trump supporters have been called cockroaches and maggots that should be removed from society. This has been done openly and frequently across the media.

I've not heard any media outlets referring to Trump supporters as 'cockroaches and maggots that should be removed from society' - So I'd say it's definitely not being done 'openly and frequently across the media'.

We have heard this kind of rhetoric before. We've seen this kind of language before many times in history, what follows is never good.

Feel like you're trying to draw parallels to nazis here - When people speak about right wing folk as 'nazis' on this forum they are rightly called out for doing so - Just because you dress it up slightly more eloquently doesn't make it any better.

Let’s get one thing straight. Trump hasn’t been “silenced” as some people are saying. He still has the POTUS social media account on Facebook, Twitter, Insta, etc. He can make a statement in the press room to journalists from every major and minor newspaper. He can make an address to the nation via television. He has the power to send a text to every active mobile phone in America.

Twitter, a private company, received flak that their platform was used to incite violence that has killed as of this moment 5 people. As a private company they decided to enact their rights to ban Donald Trump’s personal account, not President Trump’s account, for breaching their T+Cs.

And all of a sudden Parler is removed from Google Play and App Store despite not having broken any rules just for the audacity of being a non silicon Valley social media alternative.

Not true - Parler have been given a warning as there was a shitload of stuff on their sites which promoted violence intended to help push political aims (which by the way is pretty much the definition of terrorism). Parler, unwilling to risk angering some of their lovely users, did very little to moderate these posts. Quote from Apple - "Specifically, we have continued to find direct threats of violence and calls to incite lawless action in violation of Guideline 1.1 - Safety - Objectionable Content."

That argument would stand up if the same rules were applied consistently, but if they were both Twitter and Facebook would be pulled under the same regs. Same goes for AWS pulling their (Parler's) servers.

The new and old media, owned by a handful of people have played a blinder.

So much manufactured anger at Trump that practically no-one is talking about the grotesque levels of power these private companies now hold.

People have been talking about media bias for ages. The media is being used for anything from whipping up people to support shitty wars, to pushing in policies based on benefits/immigration etc in the UK. It's also been used to smear Corbyn in this country and frame him as a terrorist which many Pro-Trump people f*cking loved and shared or paraphrased both on this forum and across the UK. Maybe people only care about media bias if the bias is against something they support?

Baffles me that people on the right have seemingly need to have an obese middle aged man shout 'FAKE NEWS' repeatedly at them for four years for them to realise that there is such thing as bias in the media. There has definitely been an Anti-Trump bias in many sections of the media though I'll give you that.

It really doesn't matter about left and right anymore. It is all a distraction. Politics is downstream of media. The overwhelming majority of media is controlled by a very small group of people and that which isn't is being closed down. I agree with you that this has been going on for a long time on both sides.

I think during the Trump administration even the last pretence of media being anything other than propaganda finally was let go. Again, it doesn't matter who it is, what the topic is, they line it up, tell us where to direct our daily two minutes of rage at and off we go.

And yes I 100% agree it is the same on both sides.

They have silenced a sitting president in a coordinated move across multiple forums.

For breaching policies and guidelines they have in place.

Again, an argument that would hold water if it was applied consistently. Trump's tweet that got him banned read

“The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”


There are a lot worse tweets on Twitter right now. There has been a lot worse posted by people still on the platform. There is no incitement to violence in this tweet, just a bit of empty tubthumping, from an overly bombastic politician who was ultimately delivering his swan song having finally accepted defeat.

Trump supporters have been called cockroaches and maggots that should be removed from society. This has been done openly and frequently across the media.

I've not heard any media outlets referring to Trump supporters as 'cockroaches and maggots that should be removed from society' - So I'd say it's definitely not being done 'openly and frequently across the media'.

Yeah that should have read social media, apologies. Although the rhetoric creeps into mainstream media as well. John Leguizamo commented a while back on Bill Maher that "Latinos for Republicans are like Roaches for Raid" which got a lovely round of applause but I did mean mostly social media so a typo/mistake there and apologies if that was misleading

We have heard this kind of rhetoric before. We've seen this kind of language before many times in history, what follows is never good.

Feel like you're trying to draw parallels to nazis here - When people speak about right wing folk as 'nazis' on this forum they are rightly called out for doing so - Just because you dress it up slightly more eloquently doesn't make it any better.

Not just Nazis, Mao's China, Lenin's Russia, Pol Pot's Cambodia, Pinochet's Chile, Rwandan Civil War, Northern Irish Conflict, Mugagbe's liberation of Zimbabwe, the list goes on and on and on.

Dehumanising language, the polarisation of opposing views to the point where there can be no middle ground, it can be seen in all of the above examples and other similar tragic moments in history and the result is almost always the same. The difference perhaps this time around is the discussion is reverberating around the world in real-time thanks to the pandora's box of social media.

Like I said above, this isn't about left or right anymore. That shipped sailed some time ago.

This is about totalitarianism and it has been for some time.

Whether you agree or disagree on Trump being banned, whether you consider yourself on the right or left, the undeniable fact is a handful of men are now more powerful than anything we have ever known, and not one of them holds an elected office.

Shutting down Trump wasn't about stopping further incitement to violence, his tweet wasn't even close to that and like I said far, far worse has been allowed to remain.

It was a grotesque show of naked power that they would and could silence the sitting President of the USA.

You might be cool with a few unelected billionaires having so much power and influence.

I'll be honest it scares the shit out of me.

Just because you dress it up slightly more eloquently doesn't make it any better

It is easy to come across more eloquently when attacking an idea which is what I tend to do rather than an individual.

It is very rare you will find me make an explicit attack on an individual, and I have only ever done so in the face of very, very strong provocation.

Calling someone a Nazi in an ad hominem attack (or accusing them of hating all that is good and decent as was thrown at me not too long ago), is not only extremely classless but the sign of someone that has little more to add to the discussion but is too embarrassed to admit it.

Noting that there are distinct echoes of the kind of rhetoric that preceded other totalitarian movements in history with what we are seeing come out of the US at the moment is an observation that has validity and a very, very different thing entirely.

It may be an observation that is proven wrong (I really hope it is) but it is an observation, not an accusation and not nowhere near a personal attack on anyone, which in my eyes does make it an infinitely better approach to take.

Let’s get one thing straight. Trump hasn’t been “silenced” as some people are saying. He still has the POTUS social media account on Facebook, Twitter, Insta, etc. He can make a statement in the press room to journalists from every major and minor newspaper. He can make an address to the nation via television. He has the power to send a text to every active mobile phone in America.

Twitter, a private company, received flak that their platform was used to incite violence that has killed as of this moment 5 people. As a private company they decided to enact their rights to ban Donald Trump’s personal account, not President Trump’s account, for breaching their T+Cs.

The POTUS Twitter account has had tweets from Trump that were critical of Twitter's removal of his account. Looking at it now, the most recent tweet is 24th December so it looks like it is in some form of temporary shadow ban probably for the next couple of weeks until the transition of power is over.

The private company argument falls flat if alternatives like Gab, MINDS and Parler are forced to play the game under much more restrictive rules.

Social media and Twitter, in particular, are the modern-day town square. In acknowledgement of this, they have protection as a platform under section 230. By making political leaning editorial decisions they should no longer fall under that as they cease to be a neutral platform and instead become a publisher.

A lot of people, myself included, have criticised Trump for not pushing harder to take on Silicon Valley when he had the power to do so. Maybe it was because he was of an older generation that he didn't quite understand the threat, maybe it was because he was too in love with the power of his own Twitter account, but he neglected to act on this and this is the fallout.

Technically, he could set up an account on GAB (they have their own servers which they set up last time we went through a silicon valley purge) and use the emergency broadcast system to text every phone in America with his new account, but realistically he has been silenced and it has been done under false pretences - his final tweets showed nothing even close to incitement of violence or the intention to harm the transition of power - which was reasons put forward for suspending his account.

Now the media have carte blanche to accuse him of anything and everything they want and he is no realistic avenue of reply.

is a worrying precedent in my eyes

(ha! guess it is a worrying president in others eyes though - just thought of that while I was typing, oh well made me laugh at least )

Regardless of what certain individuals would have you believe Parler did break rules by allowing unmoderated hate speech to infest their boards. The people who owned the servers that parler were using are independent businesses and thus quite within their rights to choose who they accommodate. This from Wiki, "Parler is an American alt-tech microblogging and social networking service. Parler has a significant user base of Donald Trump supporters, conservatives, conspiracy theorists, and right-wing extremists. Posts on the service often contain far-right content, antisemitism, and conspiracy theories such as QAnon" . They we're taken down after January 6th Trump rally and not before.

Donald Trump has not been silenced because he can use all the main stream media available to The President of The United States. He used the main stream media when telling 4 black congresswomen to ,"go back to where they came from". That wasn't silenced. Thousands of people started yelling send them back. That was incitement.

Twitter and Facebook are private companies who can ban any account that they feel is acting against their policies. Twitter did not ban Trump for one post as has been suggested, he's been banned for continually posting statement that contravene the rules.

These bans came into being after the death of 5 people at the Capitol and after the Trump mob wanted to execute Pelosi and lynch Pence. It was 2 weeks before the end of his term in office. If it were a conspiracy against Trump it would have happened much earlier into his presidency. It is a LIE to say that Trump has been silenced and that this is a dangerous precedent.

People who bemoan the demise of Parler do so because they have lost their " Club" and have been stopped from bouncing their hate speech and ideas off each other. Parler was Full of Trump supporters, anti semites, anti Islamist, homophobic, white supremacists, QAnon and conspiracy theorists. Its no wonder it found favour with one or two posters from this forum.

Be careful of what you read from some posters. Just look through the headlines and you will see the truth.

Regardless of what certain individuals would have you believe Parler did break rules by allowing unmoderated hate speech to infest their boards.

How does this differ from twitter? The first thing that comes to mind is the Covington High School kids who were attacked, doxed and had multiple explicit death threats. There were plenty of references to their ethnicity and religion in those tweets both of which are protected characteristics so I'm sure there was plenty of 'hate speech' and that is just one example. High profile accounts like Kathy Griffin not only didn't get banned but remain with their blue checkmarks. Plenty of hate speach on twitter and facebook goes unflagged.

The same rules should apply to all companies equally regardless of ideological leaning.

The people who owned the servers that parler were using are independent businesses and thus quite within their rights to choose who they accommodate. This from Wiki, "Parler is an American alt-tech microblogging and social networking service. Parler has a significant user base of Donald Trump supporters, conservatives, conspiracy theorists, and right-wing extremists. Posts on the service often contain far-right content, antisemitism, and conspiracy theories such as QAnon" . They we're taken down after January 6th Trump rally and not before.

Again, exactly the same can be said for Twitter. The Guardian article on Ashli Babbit makes an explicit point about how she was 'deep into QAnon conspiracy theories tweeting 50 times a day.

If Parler is shut down because of unmoderated content of its posters then so should Twitter be. If Twitter has a more effective system of moderation than Parler, how were the Guardian able view Babbit's old tweets, on the exact content you've used to justify the shutdown of Parler, to reach their conclusion?

The same rules should apply to all companies equally regardless of ideological leaning.

Donald Trump has not been silenced because he can use all the mainstream media available to The President of The United States.

If you think Trump can use the mainstream media as a valid means of communication you are either being willfully deceptive, are woefully naive or having been living under a rock for the last four years.

The 'very good people' narrative, the 'drink bleach' narrative and the 'russian collusion' narrative are just three examples of his words being deliberately twisted for an agenda. Regardless of your opinion on Trump, the evidence of this is overwhelming that the MSM cannot be trusted to give him an honest platform without editorialising.

Meanwhile, Biden is literally on video bragging about threatening to withhold aid from Ukraine unless the prosecutor investigating his son was fired, yet the same media that were so obsessed by Russia collusion barely gave this story a mention.

If the media are to hold Trump's feet to the fire, fantastic, that is what they are supposed to do, to make sure politicians are accountable and act with the interests of the people at heart.

However, if they are going to do that they cannot run defence for Biden at the same time and still claim to be a non-partisan media. Non-partisan media is ultimately nothing but propaganda.

A true non-partisan media should treat all politicians equally regardless of their political party.

Thousands of people started yelling send them back. That was incitement.

Thousands of BLM and ANTIFA 'protesters' have chanted 'Pigs in Blankets, Fry 'em like Bacon' Are BLM and ANTIFA leaders - so if Trump's words incitement to violence are those of Patricce Cullors? What about Sahsa Johnson and her psuedo-military outcrop of BLM in Oxford? What about Kathy Griffin who held a mock bloodied-severed head of Trump and called for the doxing of an innocent Catholic school kid?

The application of moral judgement should be based on actions equally regardless of whether those committing an act is on your team or the opposition.

Twitter and Facebook are private companies who can ban any account that they feel is acting against their policies.

Twitter and Facebook are private companies that are afforded additional protections under section 230 as they are deemed as platforms, not publishers. If they want to make editorial decisions then they should be held accountable to the same regulations as all other publishers.

Twitter, Facebook and Google need to decide if they are neutral platforms or if they have a political bias. If it is the latter they should be held to the same standards and accountability as any other media company. Currently, they are not, they have a monopoly and are increasing their power further as competition is closed down while having to live up to a standard that Facebook and Twitter do not.


All media companies should be made to play by the same rules equally, whether that be as a publisher or as a platform


In each of the above, all I am arguing for is a level playing field.

Is calling for two opposing factions to be treated equally really that unfair?

Previously you've argued against me and criticised me when I stated racial segregation is a bad thing and we shouldn't be returning to it.

Now your arguing in favour of multibillion-dollar companies enforcing their monopoly by shutting down the opposition. You're literally arguing on behalf of the 0.1% and arguing against those who oppose them.

There seems to be a pattern emerging here...

Regardless of what certain individuals would have you believe Parler did break rules by allowing unmoderated hate speech to infest their boards.

How does this differ from twitter? The first thing that comes to mind is the Covington High School kids who were attacked, doxed and had multiple explicit death threats. There were plenty of references to their ethnicity and religion in those tweets both of which are protected characteristics so I'm sure there was plenty of 'hate speech' and that is just one example. High profile accounts like Kathy Griffin not only didn't get banned but remain with their blue checkmarks. Plenty of hate speach on twitter and facebook goes unflagged.

The same rules should apply to all companies equally regardless of ideological leaning.

The people who owned the servers that parler were using are independent businesses and thus quite within their rights to choose who they accommodate. This from Wiki, "Parler is an American alt-tech microblogging and social networking service. Parler has a significant user base of Donald Trump supporters, conservatives, conspiracy theorists, and right-wing extremists. Posts on the service often contain far-right content, antisemitism, and conspiracy theories such as QAnon" . They we're taken down after January 6th Trump rally and not before.

Again, exactly the same can be said for Twitter. The Guardian article on Ashli Babbit makes an explicit point about how she was 'deep into QAnon conspiracy theories tweeting 50 times a day.

If Parler is shut down because of unmoderated content of its posters then so should Twitter be. If Twitter has a more effective system of moderation than Parler, how were the Guardian able view Babbit's old tweets, on the exact content you've used to justify the shutdown of Parler, to reach their conclusion?

The same rules should apply to all companies equally regardless of ideological leaning.

Donald Trump has not been silenced because he can use all the mainstream media available to The President of The United States.

If you think Trump can use the mainstream media as a valid means of communication you are either being willfully deceptive, are woefully naive or having been living under a rock for the last four years.

The 'very good people' narrative, the 'drink bleach' narrative and the 'russian collusion' narrative are just three examples of his words being deliberately twisted for an agenda. Regardless of your opinion on Trump, the evidence of this is overwhelming that the MSM cannot be trusted to give him an honest platform without editorialising.

Meanwhile, Biden is literally on video bragging about threatening to withhold aid from Ukraine unless the prosecutor investigating his son was fired, yet the same media that were so obsessed by Russia collusion barely gave this story a mention.

If the media are to hold Trump's feet to the fire, fantastic, that is what they are supposed to do, to make sure politicians are accountable and act with the interests of the people at heart.

However, if they are going to do that they cannot run defence for Biden at the same time and still claim to be a non-partisan media. Non-partisan media is ultimately nothing but propaganda.

A true non-partisan media should treat all politicians equally regardless of their political party.

Thousands of people started yelling send them back. That was incitement.

Thousands of BLM and ANTIFA 'protesters' have chanted 'Pigs in Blankets, Fry 'em like Bacon' Are BLM and ANTIFA leaders - so if Trump's words incitement to violence are those of Patricce Cullors? What about Sahsa Johnson and her psuedo-military outcrop of BLM in Oxford? What about Kathy Griffin who held a mock bloodied-severed head of Trump and called for the doxing of an innocent Catholic school kid?

The application of moral judgement should be based on actions equally regardless of whether those committing an act is on your team or the opposition.

Twitter and Facebook are private companies who can ban any account that they feel is acting against their policies.

Twitter and Facebook are private companies that are afforded additional protections under section 230 as they are deemed as platforms, not publishers. If they want to make editorial decisions then they should be held accountable to the same regulations as all other publishers.

Twitter, Facebook and Google need to decide if they are neutral platforms or if they have a political bias. If it is the latter they should be held to the same standards and accountability as any other media company. Currently, they are not, they have a monopoly and are increasing their power further as competition is closed down while having to live up to a standard that Facebook and Twitter do not.


All media companies should be made to play by the same rules equally, whether that be as a publisher or as a platform


In each of the above, all I am arguing for is a level playing field.

Is calling for two opposing factions to be treated equally really that unfair?

Previously you've argued against me and criticised me when I stated racial segregation is a bad thing and we shouldn't be returning to it.

Now your arguing in favour of multibillion-dollar companies enforcing their monopoly by shutting down the opposition. You're literally arguing on behalf of the 0.1% and arguing against those who oppose them.

There seems to be a pattern emerging here...

Trump will have been President for 208 weeks on the 20/01/2021. He will have been posting on Twitter, instagram and facebook for 206 of those weeks. Where is your BIAS argument? Please help me here because i cant see it. The 6th January was a defining moment in his personal social media posts. "We love you, you're very special." after the death of 5 people? You carry on saluting Trump and alleging bias. 206 weeks out of 208 and its biased? You're not talking to one of your happy clappers here so i don't buy your argument.

It really doesn't matter about left and right anymore. It is all a distraction.

You say that mate but your posts all read like they have been written by someone who exclusively reads Breitbart.

Last week you were saying BLM are responsible for murder because they organised a protest, and in the vicinity of the protest later on in the night someone looted a shop and murdered the guard.

This week Trump tells his supporters to protest, multiple deaths. Instead of denouncing him you're backing him up and making him out to be the victim.

It really doesn't matter about left and right anymore. It is all a distraction.

You say that mate but your posts all read like they have been written by someone who exclusively reads Breitbart.

Last week you were saying BLM are responsible for murder because they organised a protest, and in the vicinity of the protest later on in the night someone looted a shop and murdered the guard.

This week Trump tells his supporters to protest, multiple deaths. Instead of denouncing him you're backing him up and making him out to be the victim.

Hallelujah.

It really doesn't matter about left and right anymore. It is all a distraction.

You say that mate but your posts all read like they have been written by someone who exclusively reads Breitbart.

Last week you were saying BLM are responsible for murder because they organised a protest, and in the vicinity of the protest later on in the night someone looted a shop and murdered the guard.

This week Trump tells his supporters to protest, multiple deaths. Instead of denouncing him you're backing him up and making him out to be the victim.

Hallelujah.

There was a big difference though, right? Trump was certainly promoting his supporters to protest, and to go to Capitol Hill. This is all allowed by law. But he never once mentioned storming Capitol Hill. In fact, he denounced it and asked them to go home. Whilst also calling for law and order all summer. He repeated that today.

On the other hand Harris, Biden, AOC, Pelosi and many other politicians egged on rioters all summer, who were looting and burning down communities. They had a completely different tone though, for those who stormed Capitol Hill.

Those who broke in deserved to be charged, prosecuted and condemned. But so do the ones who robbed, looted and burnt communities to the ground throughout the summer. You could in fact argue, that they caused more damage.

I think questions need to be asked as to why there was so little security at Capitol Hill. And also towards the Press' response, comparing it to Nazi Germany and describing it as a coup. Remember ANTIFA were trying to burn down a Federal building in Portland for days, even made an Autonomous Zone (much more Nazi and Coup like) which received less critical reporting, if any at all.

Anyway, on another topic. Twitter has now been suspended from Uganda and this was their (quite ironic) response:

"Ahead of the Ugandan election, we're hearing reports that Internet service providers are being ordered to block social media and messaging apps.

We strongly condemn internet shutdowns – they are hugely harmful, violate basic human rights and the principles of the #OpenInternet. Earlier this week, in close coordination with our peers, we suspended a number of accounts targeting the election in Uganda.

If we can attribute any of this activity to state-backed actors, we will disclose to our archive of information operations. Access to information and freedom of expression, including the public conversation on Twitter, is never more important than during democratic processes, particularly elections.

#UgandaDecides2021 #KeepItOn"

Trump will have been President for 208 weeks on the 20/01/2021. He will have been posting on Twitter, instagram and facebook for 206 of those weeks. Where is your BIAS argument? Please help me here because i cant see it. The 6th January was a defining moment in his personal social media posts. "We love you, you're very special." after the death of 5 people? You carry on saluting Trump and alleging bias. 206 weeks out of 208 and its biased? You're not talking to one of your happy clappers here so i don't buy your argument.

What has the amount of time Trump has been on Twitter and Facebook got to do with the unfair removal of Parler which he was never on?

Parler was taken down under the pretence of "allowing unmoderated hate speech to infest their boards.".

Facebook didn't get touched when a mass murderer live-streamed a massacre at a mosque in New Zealand where 50 people died for crying out loud. Twitter is a cess-pit of humanity with 'hate speech' all over the place.

Neither platform has ever been removed from Play and App stores. Neither platform has ever had their servers pulled.

Again, all I've said in this thread is that there should be an equal playing field, and competing companies should be held to the same standards and teh same regulations should be applied equally and fairly.

Is that really such an outrageous statement in today's world? Have we really gone so far down teh rabbit hole that expecting competing companies to be held accountable to the same standards is such an extreme position?

Is seeing a handful of billionaires control the overwhelming majority of media influence and thinking this is a bad thing an exclusively right-wing position?

It really doesn't matter about left and right anymore. It is all a distraction.

You say that mate but your posts all read like they have been written by someone who exclusively reads Breitbart.

Last week you were saying BLM are responsible for murder because they organised a protest, and in the vicinity of the protest later on in the night someone looted a shop and murdered the guard.

This week Trump tells his supporters to protest, multiple deaths. Instead of denouncing him you're backing him up and making him out to be the victim.

Quick Note:

This was initially just post responding to CB93 but actually, you know what, I'm done with this for a while, so it is just a bit of a signing off note. I'll be back in a couple of weeks or so, just want to unplug for a bit so it's au revoir rather than ta ra, but tbh I'm just fed up with all this shite.

Footballs depressing as it is and I'm fed up of being called a racist or a bigot or a nazi with absolutely zero substance. Yes, I know it is just a shitty way of closing off an argument, and no it doesn't really bother me because I realise those who say it have no substance behind there words but it just wears you down after a while and I've got a massive amount of work to do anyways so can't afford to get caught up in these types of conversations at the minute.

In the meantime imagine my response to be 'yeah what Nukes said'

I'll be lurking in the background though so don't say anything to mean behind my back (unless your mm3260 whose pretty much shot his load when it comes to being abusive nob end already)

See you in a bit lads

David Dorn, was murdered by a looter in a riot that followed a BLM march. My position was clear, they were marching under the banner (figuratively) of BLM that day and the person that murdered Dorn should in my mind be identified as BLM.

As I said on the other Trump thread, it was 'undoubtedly a Trump rally. He called them to DC. They marched under his banners." Brian Sicknick's killer should equally in my mind be associated with the MAGA protest that descended into violence on the 6th.

In that same thread I stated "to be very clear white supremacists are scum. This man in the [Auschwitz] hoody is scum."

I also maintained the same position, that has permeated everything I have said about BLM and the media:

"The media pushed the division of society. The media claimed half of the US were white supremacist, neo-nazi, misogynist, bigoted scum. What happened last night didn't emerge in isolation, it was the endpoint of a much longer process as I said in my last post.

If there is blood on the hands of Trump, then the media are covered in blood head to toe."

I've consistently raised my concerns that we are being divided as a society and whether this is part of some grand conspiracy or just a bi-product of the social media age, I'm still not sure. But either way, the power that people like Mark Zukerberg, Sergey Brin, Tim Cooke, Jeff Bezos, Jack Dorsey, Bill Gates and yes George Soros doesn't sit well with me at all. The fact that they are all pretty much in lockstep ideologically further adds to that unease.

That is a lot of power, funnelled in one direction (not the band although they could be in on it )

I'll ask similar questions to you that I put to my favourite angry stalker.

Do you think it is an exclusively right-wing position to think that this much power and influence in the hands of so few, in a world where we are becoming increasingly divided and polarised is a bad thing?

Is the only position one can hold on Trump without being called a Nazi or far-right etc a total, outright and comprehensive denouncement of everything he has done in office for four years if you are not to be called a racist and a nazi (and the very many other things I've been called on this board with zero merit)?

It is not OK to think some of his policies like not going to war, brokering peace in the middle east and the first-step act which will have a profoundly positive impact on the black community in the US are actually pretty good, while at the same time being able to criticise him in areas that I think he has been poor (ironically like being weak on Silicon Valley)?

Does it me make far-right to think that there could actually be some balance in the conversation rather than Orange Man Bad?

Honestly, take a look through the overwhelming majority of my posts and I've been consistent on all of this.

I think we are too divided as a society and are becoming increasingly polarised.

I vehemently dislike BLM because I think they are increasing that divide, they leveraged good peoples empathy to achieve this and did so with a false narrative.

I think that the consolidation of power and influence we now see is a very worrying trend.

I think overall, Trump did more good than harm in terms of the policies he implemented, I am prepared to acknowledge his failures, but equally don't think the false narratives like the 'very fine people' saga should go unchallenged.

I am prepared to apply the same logic to the killers of David Dorn being BLM as to the killer of Brian SickNick being MAGA

I think white supremacists are scum and equally, I think the concept of white privilege is a disgusting oversimplification of the challenges that working-class face and is the easy vilification of a section of society that has no real voice to answer back.

I refuse to see superficial bullshit like race, gender or sexuality as more important than more important traits that I do hold value in such as character, fortitude and integrity.

Oh and I also am not a fan of the amount of power the government has now since the coronavirus act, think the lockdowns are likely doing more harm than good, don't think vaccines should be mandatory, don't particularly want to be the first to get one but think anyone who wants to should absolutely fill their boots. (just to cover that whole Covid bit off as well)

I think that covers most of my non-football related positions across the last year or so.

Now, if that all makes me a right-wing bigot then I guess that is what I am because these are all points that align with my moral compass.

According to the political compass though I'm pretty much bang in the middle leaning the tiniest bit left and with a more clear libertarian-leaning. For reference, I just took that couple of hours ago as actually wanted to see if I still lined up where I did last time around.

Screenshot 2021-01-12 at 18.39.05.png

One final question then I'm done for a few weeks as the board is starting to wear me down and I'm tired of arguing with people who only see things in such tribal ways, who can't see the nuance of a conversation, (I'm not directing that specifically at you CB93, in fairness, you come across as a fairly balanced and reasonable chap ) plus I've got a ton of work to get through anyway.

So the final question for you...

If you had been called a sad individual consumed by your own hatred of decency, accused of being in the KKK, called a racist cretin (because I have a monkey in my Avatar of all the reasons!), and the spawn of Satan,

If you had had someone say they assume that I don't class some people as fellow humans.

If you had been openly mocked for being honest about the fact that you were a mental health sufferer.

If you had had multiple posts that deliberately misquoted you in order to weave a narrative that you are all of the above and worst.

If you had had all of this thrown in your direction, simply for expressing the opinions I have stated above - would you honestly have remained as courteous as I have tried to do?

People can pick me up for being eloquent all they want, as I have said many times I write for a living so its part and parcel of how I communicate, but you know what, I'd rather someone have a dig at me for that than be able to have a dig at me for some of the quite frankly outrageously offensive shite that has been thrown my way of late.

Right, anyway that's it I'm off to binge-watch Richard Spencer videos

(that'll last bit will be quoted by someone I'm sure)

Laters

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Oh sorry, one last thing...

Do me a favour and shut the fck up because anyone with half a brain can see through your, "I'm not a racist i've got black nephews " bollox. You may have black members of your family but it dont mean you empathise with them
https://www.cardiffcityforum.co.uk/view ... 2&t=215640

For someone who has ," Black Family and Friends" you're not clued up on matters black Annis.
https://www.cardiffcityforum.co.uk/view ... 4#p2216734

you call me an,"ignorant tosser not like normal folk" because i'm a black person who bends a knee for equality.
https://www.cardiffcityforum.co.uk/view ... 5#p2214725

you have an obvious problem with Black people or people of colour even though you try to disguise it.
https://www.cardiffcityforum.co.uk/view ... 5#p2214725

You saying that your normal and not ignorant for not taking a knee suggests that black people are not normal and are ignorant.
https://www.cardiffcityforum.co.uk/view ... 5#p2214725

I assume that you don't class these people as fellow humans and that they led the world to a ,"Dark Place"?
https://www.cardiffcityforum.co.uk/view ... 5#p2249465

"Just happened to be the wrong colour???????" I find it incredible that you defend these remarks and attack mine
https://www.cardiffcityforum.co.uk/view ... 8#p2235498

(oh and don't forget the above in this actual thread itself)

Prince Andrew allegedly has sex 3 times with a girl of 17 who could lawfully be married and have sex and have children yet people refer to him as a paedophile for taking advantage of a 17yr old.
https://www.cardiffcityforum.co.uk/view ... 3#p2217653

One again this is evidence to back up my claims about you and on top of all that you called me a MORON. OMG you have found me out!!!!! I need some of your medication.

Seriously as i said, if you are getting professional; help and if this forum is part of your therapy i do wish you well and hope you can find a calm place in your mind where all are born equal under god. PS keep swearing, i love it xx

My niece recently took her own life leaving 2 young children so i know only too well the hurt and truth behind mental health issues.

This board has become a place where people are spouting views that have nothing to do with football and Cardiff City but instead they create conflict.
https://www.cardiffcityforum.co.uk/view ... 1#p2233951

Said after making 52 of his total 56 posts on non-football related topics (42 posts are race-related incidentally)

f**k you, you racist, race-baiting, bigoted, bullying, lying scumbag.

Oh sorry, one last thing...

Do me a favour and shut the fck up because anyone with half a brain can see through your, "I'm not a racist i've got black nephews " bollox. You may have black members of your family but it dont mean you empathise with them
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=215640

For someone who has ," Black Family and Friends" you're not clued up on matters black Annis.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=216144&p=2216734#p2216734

you call me an,"ignorant tosser not like normal folk" because i'm a black person who bends a knee for equality.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=215896&p=2214725#p2214725

you have an obvious problem with Black people or people of colour even though you try to disguise it.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=215896&p=2214725#p2214725

You saying that your normal and not ignorant for not taking a knee suggests that black people are not normal and are ignorant.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=215896&p=2214725#p2214725

I assume that you don't class these people as fellow humans and that they led the world to a ,"Dark Place"?
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=219041&p=2249465#p2249465

"Just happened to be the wrong colour???????" I find it incredible that you defend these remarks and attack mine
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=217852&p=2235498#p2235498

(oh and don't forget the above in this actual thread itself)

Prince Andrew allegedly has sex 3 times with a girl of 17 who could lawfully be married and have sex and have children yet people refer to him as a paedophile for taking advantage of a 17yr old.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=216246&p=2217653#p2217653

One again this is evidence to back up my claims about you and on top of all that you called me a MORON. OMG you have found me out!!!!! I need some of your medication.

Seriously as i said, if you are getting professional; help and if this forum is part of your therapy i do wish you well and hope you can find a calm place in your mind where all are born equal under god. PS keep swearing, i love it xx

My niece recently took her own life leaving 2 young children so i know only too well the hurt and truth behind mental health issues.

This board has become a place where people are spouting views that have nothing to do with football and Cardiff City but instead they create conflict.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=217756&p=2233951#p2233951

Said after making 52 of his total 56 posts on non-football related topics (42 posts are race-related incidentally)

f**k you, you racist, race-baiting, bigoted, bullying, lying scumbag.

Wow what a tantrum hey?? I hope you feel better now that you've got that off your chest again and again. BTW Parler was taken down by a private company. It is free to carry on spreading its anonymous hate posts if it finds another server provider. Don't see how you can equate that to other social media platforms??? Legislation hasn't touched Parler

Enjoy your break and your lurking: i'm listening to True Colours by Cyndi Lauper

We really need a right back though lads. Think that Osei-Tutu is gunna be riddled with injuries for the rest of the season

We really need a right back though lads. Think that Osei-Tutu is gunna be riddled with injuries for the rest of the season

Brilliant.