Category: Tech Censorship

Narcissism Of The Fact-Checkers

Money, partisanship, and authoritarianism behind demand for censorship Phoebe Smith and Michael Shellenberger Aug 2, 2023 ∙ Paid Fake news about the riots in France was yet more proof that misinformation is widespread on social media platforms, said experts last month. “This video of several cars falling from […]

Why Threads is unraveling

July 25, 2023 Hello, Insiders! Happy Big Tech earnings week to all who celebrate. On deck today: Microsoft, Samsung, and Alphabet. Later this week: Amazon and Meta. These are some of the most powerful companies, so it’s a make-or-break week for the market.   And on that note, […]

Zuck takes on Twitter

July 6, 2023 Hiya! They say love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life. For one 92-year-old woman that means working at a Wendy’s in Ohio, where she finds it therapeutic and plans “to stay as long as I can.”   Speaking of […]

The Elite War on Free Thought

Address at Free Speech Event in London, with Russell Brand and Michael Shellenberger Matt Taibbi Jun 23, 2023 A funny thing happened last night, at a remarkable event in London in celebration of free speech with Russell Brand and Michael Shellenberger. Before the proceedings Michael suggested we give […]

The World War On Free Speech Intensifies

Elon MusAdd Newk can’t fight censorship on his own Michael Shellenberger Jun 19, 2023 Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, US President Joe Biden, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz before G7 […]

Cowardice Of The Censors

Cowardice Of The Censors Why do the people who demand that their critics be silenced refuse to debate? Michael Shellenberger Jun 18, 2023 We arrived in the UK last Wednesday in preparation for this Thursday’s launch, with Russell Brand and Matt Taibbi, of a new global free speech […]

What Censorship Leaders Are Hiding

“Anti-disinformation” groups refuse to turn over subpoenaed information to Congress, are canceling public workshops, and won’t answer questions. Michael Shellenberger Jun 5, 2023 Jennie King of the Institute of Strategic Dialogue (Left) and Marianna Spring of BBC (Center) refuse to answer questions about their “anti-disinformation” work, while the […]

‘How TikTok Beat the Ban (For Now)’

Earlier this spring, a TikTok ban seemed like an inevitability. Democrats and Republicans had come together to loudly blast big tech and Chinese interference, a rare moment of bipartisanship in Washington. So how are we still scrolling? New York contributing editor Andrew Rice digs into the lobbying blitzkrieg […]

Why The Media Is Attacking Free Speech

Michael Shellenberger May 30, 2023 Governments around the world are cracking down on free speech. What they are demanding includes the ability to read private encrypted text messages and invade homes in search of wrongspeech. Their demands thus go far beyond what the Censorship Industrial Complex was able […]

My Crazy IRS Case

A House Subcommittee investigation reveals new details about my IRS case that should unnerve any journalist, or any American, for that matter Matt Taibbi May 24, 2023 Saturday, December 24, 2022 was one of the most memorable, and most panicked, days of my life. I spent Christmas Eve […]

A Century of Censorship

Matt Farwell’s painstaking timeline of over a hundred years of American information suppression, secret bureaucracies, and “anti-disinformation” scares The Hunt for Tom Clancy May 19, 2023 Clockwise from top left: Franklin Roosevelt, J. Edgar Hoover, Harry S Truman, and Joseph McCarthy The turn of the last century brought […]

Twitter Unfairly Maligned For Turkey Censorship

Twitter more transparent than Google or Facebook and even Elon Musk’s harshest critics say Twitter had little choice Michael Shellenberger May 16, 2023 Member of Parliament in Turkey, Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu, protesting government censorship legislation that criminalized “disinformation” last year. [October 13, 2022, in Ankara, Turkey, Photo by […]

Callin Discussion Today at 3:00 EST: On the “Top 50 Organizations to Know” in the Censorship-Industrial Complex

On the release of Racket’s “Top 50” census of “anti-disinformation” organizations, why the general public will have to keep fighting to keep track of the exploding censorship bureaucracy Matt Taibbi May 10, 2023 Visual representations of “misinformation,” 2016-2023 First of all, after months of work by a team […]