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Rundown
In this episode Mexie talks with Robbie Martin, documentary filmmaker and co-host of Media Roots Radio, about the recent co-ordinated banning of Alex Jones and Infowars off of most of the prominent social media outlets. Robbie places the bannings within the broader context of Silicon Valley execs partnering with state and defence contractor-funded think tanks to eliminate “fake news” or “Russian disinformation” from their platforms in order to circumvent any further blame for undesirable political outcomes, such as the backlash Facebook faced after the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the election of Donald Trump. We then talk about the implications of this broader Russiagate narrative and Silicon Valley’s control over our information for the left, and discuss to what extent the Alex Jones incident represents a slippery slope for any dissenting voice that challenges the mainstream, corporate or think tank class narratives. We end with a discussion of how leftists might be able to engage people on and off of social media in ways that may protect against being erased and silenced at the whim of big tech corporations.
Sources and Links
- Media Roots Radio, Co-hosted by Robbie and Abby Martin: https://soundcloud.com/media-roots
- A Very Heavy Agenda, documentary series by Robbie Martin: averyheavyagenda.com
- A Very Heavy Agenda on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/
- American Anthrax, documentary by Robbie Martin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT7ATynE8_0
- American Bisque, documentary by Robbie Martin (cw for violence): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1-EAnV6-58
- Alan MacLeod, Facebook Also Censoring the Left Isn’t Just a Worry – It’s a Reality: https://www.truthdig.com/articles/that-facebook-will-turn-to-censoring-the-left-isnt-a-worry-its-a-reality/
- Matt Taibbi, Censorship Does Not End Well: How America Learned to Stop Worrying and Put Mark Zuckerberg In Charge of Everything: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/facebook-censorship-alex-jones-710497/
- Matt Taibbi, Beware the Slippery Slope of Facebook Censorship: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/facebook-censor-alex-jones-705766/
- Go Fund Me to keep the Empire Files going: https://www.gofundme.com/keep-empire-files-going/donate
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