August 20, 2018

Facebook "mistakenly removed" videos from Prager University’s Facebook page and says it's "continuing to look into what happened."

"We mistakenly removed these videos and have restored them because they don't break our standards. This will reverse any reduction in content distribution you’ve experienced. We’re very sorry and are continuing to look into what happened with your Page."

That's the Facebook tweet, reported at "Facebook Apologizes for Removing Conservative Site’s Posts" (Mediate).

I'm fascinated by the phrase "continuing to look into what happened." I got this link from my son John (at Facebook, a public post), where I wrote:
"continuing to look into" doesn't mean they have no idea what happened and I think (without more) kind of admits they do know but realize they need to look more deeply into what they are doing because it's not working. That's great, though, because it shows at least that the victims of censorship can make enough noise and create enough pressure to force Facebook to consider behaving better.

114 comments:

Martin said...

When all the "mitsakes" flow in one direction, I know I am being lied to.

Nonapod said...

It makes you wonder how often these "mistakes" occur to left leaning pages.

Achilles said...

There are going to be several million mistakes made in October and November.

This is all dry run.

They have everything pinned on the house this fall.

bagoh20 said...

This has been happening to Prager U for years now, and they have been publicizing it and fighting Facebook and Youtube over it. It's not news to them, and it's no accident.

gspencer said...

Believe the "mistakenly" excuse all you wish, but every conservative site, which by virtue of being conservative espouses personal responsibility, is in the crosshairs of all these lefty sites. Only if the complaints are loud and plentiful will any attention be paid. That's when the "mistakenly" lie will come out.

Temujin said...

'continue to look at what happened'. Translation: we're looking into how we keep getting caught and working on a procedure to do this in a way that won't be noticed....as much.

bagoh20 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
paminwi said...

One of the videos banned was Kimberly Strassel's of the WSJ talk on free speech.
You just can't make this crap up.

eric said...

This is real collusion.

Democrats are working with silicon valley in order to suppress the Republican message before November elections.

It's smart and it'll probably work. I say it will probably work because it's new and it's always tough forming a strategy the first time around. But by 2020, Republicans should be up to speed on how to deal with it.

bagoh20 said...

Related to these bubbles we live in: What happens if the polls end up being way off again and completely missing a red wave? I'm not predicting we will have that, but if we do, and the polls completely miss it again, what will that do to election polling, and its reporting?

Michael K said...

Facebook is fine for baby pictures and family updates. That is all.

I do wish someone with the resources would start a competitor to You Tube.

It would be like Charles Krauthammer's description of Fox News, which is increasingly no longer the case.

"Murdoch discovered a niche market with 50% of the population."

gilbar said...

Temujin said...
'continue to look at what happened'. Translation: we're looking into how we keep getting caught and working on a procedure to do this in a way that won't be noticed....as much.

Yes, the PROBLEM IS: People keep noticing that facebook is doing this; No One is supposed to know

bagoh20 said...

Didn't the IRS claim a similar excuse until they couldn't any longer. Still nobody was held accountable. The IRS (I mean the taxpayers) eventually paid the plaintiffs pennies each, but somehow nobody was responsible.

Achilles said...

Now that Twitter and Facebook and google are editing content it is time to put them on the hook for defamation and slander.

They are now responsible for every single comment made on their forums.

reader said...

Just because they say they are looking into it doesn’t mean that they actually are looking into it.

bagoh20 said...

It's consumer fraud, and should be prosecuted.

The Crack Emcee said...

"Continuing to look into"...kind of admits they do know but realize they need to look more deeply into what they are doing because it's not working. That's great, though, because it shows at least that the victims of censorship can make enough noise and create enough pressure to force Facebook to consider behaving better."

It's working and they're behaving great. I said Prager U shouldn't be in any purge and they're not. Now it's time for the other (Left) shoe to drop.


Mike Sylwester said...

I can believe that some recent hire at YouTube decided stupidly that Prager University was posting hate-speech videos, but surely such decisions are reviewed and approved by experienced supervisors.

YouTube should explain itself. How do such blatantly stupid decisions get made there?

I suppose that the supervisory level too is infested with people who cannot tolerate any opinions that are politically conservative. These are people who are have graduated in recent years from universities, where they were indoctrinated with such ideological intolerance.

Original Mike said...

”We mistakenly removed these videos and have restored them because they don't break our standards.”

Well, they actually do break your “standards”, don’t they? You just ran out of excuses.

Amadeus 48 said...

Trust in Twitter and Facebook has been blown to smithereens. It ain’t coming back

gilbar said...

Hey Crack MC? (i understood you to say) you were going to change your registration and stop being a Republican; have you? Thanx!

ps. i liked your song

Matt Sablan said...

Funny how "mistakes" and "abuse of algorithms" pretty much universally only impacts people on the right on social media.

Ha ha ha.

Matt Sablan said...

"I'm not predicting we will have that, but if we do, and the polls completely miss it again, what will that do to election polling, and its reporting?"

-- "That was within the margin of error" or whatever excuses they used to explain institutional faceplanting after missing the Trump election so badly.

Rick said...

These are people who are have graduated in recent years from universities, where they were indoctrinated with such ideological intolerance.

This is the advantage of controlling campus politics where everything the left disagrees with is defined as "hate". You fill people with it long enough they will start to act on it.

This is why left wingers who pose as moderates attack criticisms of campus politics. Their goal is to export those attitudes into the rest of society and protecting their breeding ground is crucial.

CJinPA said...

That's great, though, because it shows at least that the victims of censorship can make enough noise and create enough pressure to force Facebook to consider behaving better.

Prager has 3 million followers (YouTube subcribers? I forget...) Most people won't be able to generate such noise.

etbass said...

How did our major corporations get under the control of such leftists to start with?

Unknown said...

As others have said, funny how all the mistakes flow in the same direction. Mmmm....

mccullough said...

Are these blocks the result of a Woke Algorithm or is a Woke Elf at Facebook involved as well?

Mike Sylwester said...

A fundamental problem is developing in the USA's universities. Since the universities are admitting too many students who cannot or will not read at the university level, the number of such students who fail academically must be explained.

The diversity administrators explain that such students fail because their feelings are hurt by subtle racism, micro-aggressions and so forth. The blame is placed onto the university environment instead of on foolish admissions.

In order to correct the university environment, any talk that might hurt the feelings of incompetent students must be prevented. Beyond talk, any old symbols (building names, statues, etc.) must be eliminated. Furthermore, "cultural appropriations" (e.g. sombreros at fraternity parties) must be banned.

The idea is that if the university environment will be purified, then the non-reading students will succeed.

Although many White students cannot or will not read at the university level, the problem is disproportionately among the colored students.

Anyway, many students who do graduate have learned at the university that much talk must be banned because it hurts the feelings of "marginalized people". Such graduates get hired at places like YouTube, where they are outraged by videos posted by, for example, Prager University or by Diamond and Silk.

Thus the suppression of free speech is spreading from the universities out to the larger society.

In past centuries, freedom of speech spread from the universities out to the larger society, but now the opposite dynamic is happening.

Yancey Ward said...

Shorter Facebook:

"We will continue to take down non-leftist content unless you make a big enough stink about us doing it."

Birkel said...

The tech companies that are subverting the civil liberties of private citizens are no different than the businesses of Civil Rights Era Mississippi that banded together to deprive a group of people of civil liberties. The laws are on the books.

And the Sherman violations that would be uncovered would allow treble damages, methinks.

Seeing Red said...

Damn it, we got caught again. Next time it’ll be permanent and an iron-clad excuse.

Mike Sylwester said...

Correction to my previous comment at 11:51 AM

When I wrote the expression colored students, I meant to write Students of Color.

I apologize.

Please make the mental correction.

Richard Dolan said...

The attempt to control the narrative by such crude means as censorship is self defeating, and not just because it alienates a large portion of the audience. The platforms trying to do that are inviting a WikiLeaks-type attack, just waiting for their Edward Snowden to steal the keys and pass them around. The technology that gave rise to these platforms 15 years ago will make that effort at control impossible, as offense becomes more effective than defense.

OneAmericanAmongMany said...

When it happens once to one person, then it's a mistake. When it happens repeatedly and only to persons who express a specific set of ideas, then it's a pattern.

etbass said...

"The technology that gave rise to these platforms 15 years ago will make that effort at control impossible, as offense becomes more effective than defense."

Hope you're right.

James K said...

This has been happening to Prager U for years now

True. They are obviously right over the target.

Tank said...

CJinPA said...

That's great, though, because it shows at least that the victims of censorship can make enough noise and create enough pressure to force Facebook to consider behaving better.

Prager has 3 million followers (YouTube subcribers? I forget...) Most people won't be able to generate such noise.


Exactly !

hawkeyedjb said...

Madame Blogmistress, why not put up an Althouse poll: How many believe "Mistake?" How many believe "Lying Bullshitters?"

The Crack Emcee said...

gilbar said...

"Hey Crack MC? (i understood you to say) you were going to change your registration and stop being a Republican; have you? Thanx!

ps. i liked your song"

Thanks. Yes. I'm an Independent now. I took two black friends with me when I got the form, so they understood what I was doing, and why. Plus, that way, the Republican Party not only lost a consistent black voter (who was also a vocal supporter in the black community) but two potential black voters, who saw - and didn't appreciate - what could happen to them if they'd decided to switch. Now they're talking to our other friends, too, and that's that.

I don't know what I'll do with the series, now, since the commenters, here, killed my buzz for the Right with their bullshit. (I really did forget how disturbiing they are - can you imagine someone telling you not to be who you are?) The whole "UnMastered" project was built on an inspiration to help, that I no longer feel, so I may take it down, or run with this new darker outlook they've re-awakened, and explore that as the series' motivation. I just don't know. My black friends figured this would happen, so there's probably not much there they want to see memorialized, unless it's me, admitting I was mistaken about whites - again.

Lord knows, I've made enough of 'em,...

Rick said...

can you imagine someone telling you not to be who you are?

I see you've internalized the line that criticism is denying your existence. What bullshit.

Birkel said...

TCE,
Sorry we didn't buy into your reparations plan. As a Native, I was hoping to get a very large check. Oh well.

Tank said...

Tank said...

CJinPA said...

That's great, though, because it shows at least that the victims of censorship can make enough noise and create enough pressure to force Facebook to consider behaving better.

Prager has 3 million followers (YouTube subcribers? I forget...) Most people won't be able to generate such noise.

Exactly !


Forgot to mention that Prager also has a nationally syndicated radio talk show and lectures all over the country allowing him to tell many, many people just what Facebook is doing to him.

How many people/organizations can say that?

Larry J said...

Martin said...

When all the "mitsakes" flow in one direction, I know I am being lied to.


Indeed. As Fleming stated, "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action."

Real American said...

the only thing they're "looking into" is how to get away with this in the future.

it's becoming more and more evident that the left wishes to censor conservative speech, not just so snowflakes don't hear opinions they don't want to hear, but so the rest of us don't hear views we do.

Drago said...

TCE: "(I really did forget how disturbiing they are - can you imagine someone telling you not to be who you are?)"

You are not a scientist.

You are not a pharmaceutical expert.

You do not have special and unique insight into the supplements industry.

You are also not a 25 foot tall dragon who can predict the future and is a whiz at gin rummy.

I'm sorry if this sounds brusque but there is simply no easier way to say it.....

Defenseman Emeritus said...

What Google is doing is at least as bad:

These Screenshots Show How Google Shadowbans Conservative And Pro-Trump Content at The Federalist

Anonymous said...

Michael K: I do wish someone with the resources would start a competitor to You Tube.

It's not just a matter of getting around the existing social media PTBs. They're not the only corporations that think anything they don't agree with is "hate speech" that they are justified in shutting down. Alternatives to services like GoFundMe and Patreon (and, iirc, social media like Youtube) get shut out of, e.g., necessary payment processing and financial services networks.

The Crack Emcee said...

Rick said...

"I see you've internalized the line that criticism is denying your existence. What bullshit."

No, I was told to "forget" I was black, as a way to get along with racists. THAT's bullshit.

The Republicans are nuts.

The Crack Emcee said...

Birkel said...

"Sorry we didn't buy into your reparations plan. As a Native, I was hoping to get a very large check. Oh well."

Nobody asked you. All you had to do was not abuse me for it. But, just like the Democrats - needing to not act crazy before the midterms - you just couldn't do it.

Oh well.

narayanan said...

Would it solve the problem if instead of monolithic Facebook we had Face(R)book and Face(D)book etc with FacebookMonolith as holding company?

The Crack Emcee said...

Drago said...

TCE: "(I really did forget how disturbiing they are - can you imagine someone telling you not to be who you are?)"

"You are not a scientist."

Now you're mixing topics. You are not coherent, and you're a pain in the ass. Blacks don't need pains in the ass.

Drago said...

TCE: "Blacks don't need pains in the ass."

You are still not a scientist and, at this rate, I fear you will never make it there.

Drago said...

TCE: "Nobody asked you."

Clearly Birkel is not following the "TCE pre-approved comment" policy.

That sounds like something that will end up in Birkel's "permanent record".

Rick said...

I was told to "forget" I was black, as a way to get along with racists.

It's a thought experiment no different than someone suggesting whites consider themselves black for the purpose of evaluating a set of circumstances. Imbuing it with this "deny my existence" nonsense is stupid and demonstrates you're only interested in taking offense.

Roger Sweeny said...

I very much doubt this is a top down plan. More likely some low ranking (and probably young) people having fun and thinking they are making the world a better place by shutting up nasty righties. On the other hand, I don't think the higher ups really disapprove. But they don't want to know or be held responsible for it.

Stoutcat said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
BUMBLE BEE said...

Prager U will have attained ONE BILLION views this year. Their fastest growing demographic is 18 - 25 year olds. That is significant. It is the second busiest site of its type worldwide. People are influenced there!

Stoutcat said...

"I'm not predicting we will have that, but if we do, and the polls completely miss it again, what will that do to election polling, and its reporting?"

I predict they'll trot out #RussianHackers again. It worked so well for them the last time.

Birkel said...

Here I am, living my life on a continent stolen from my forebears, and another man thinks he has to ask me before I get to offer an opinion?

You do not own me, TCE.

The Crack Emcee said...

My singularity is taking hold, and, as it does, you're going to have to make decisions:

"HOW YOGA CHANGES YOUR BODY. I’m focusing on upping my deadlifts and starting power cleans right now, but yoga is good for you."

Glenn Reynolds, JANUARY 12, 2014 - but he's totally leaving out:

People’s egos get bigger after meditation and yoga, says a new study so you're not likely to be able to reason with someone jacked-up with an out-of-control ego, are you?

New study claims the exercise can make pain or injuries WORSE

Never saw this study on Instapundit. Are you being informed? Especially when it comes to how all this yoga behavior looks to our enemies?

Of course, a new study claims the exercise can make pain or injuries WORSE and the Nazi connection and what it means isn't a popular topic of discussion, especially when it comes to the outright cruelty yoga users are found to display to others over time. Very high divorce rates in their crowd. Hardly ever mentioned.

And, naturally, not a word about cults using yoga as a recruiting tool. Just the claim "yoga is good for you" so the innocent can be fed to the wolves.

Just like Oprah and all the rest, taking advantage of Americans is "simply business" on the Right. I learned that, here, from John Henry. I once thought conservatives were better. My bad.

*BURP*

Birkel said...

Now that I think of it, at least TCE is consistent.
He writes as if he can silence my opinion.
He thinks tech companies should be able to silence me, too.

Hard pass.

Michael K said...

Prager U will have attained ONE BILLION views this year.

Why do you think they want to gone ?

I'm Full of Soup said...

Can Facebook et al provide us with the names and pictures of these purple haired and green haired librul pussy and lezzy employees who keep making all these "mistakes"? You know they are just an angry and sad bunch like what we have seen in Antifa groups.

narciso said...

Well guess who's on the board of MasterCard, Obama's fcc chair and the one who invited Martha raddatz to his wedding.

Thc is just hogging the convo.

Rusty said...

Birkel @ 1:28
Because your narrative interrrupts the con. You're alerting the marks. Grifters can't have that.

Jim at said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
HoodlumDoodlum said...

That's great, though, because it shows at least that the victims of censorship can make enough noise and create enough pressure to force Facebook to consider behaving better.

Credulously optimistic take bordering on silliness, here.
It shows, at best, that certain very large, very vocal entities can create enough pressure to cause Facebook to react. How many such entities are there? How many entities were harmed by Facebook's actions but are too small to garner widespread attention? This particular target is large enough, and well-funded enough, that Facebook's action wasn't likely to actually "silence" them anyway. That's rare, though, and we should care more about the many more entities for whom that isn't true.

PragerU was a stupid target and it'd be dumb to interpret Facebook's reaction to that backlash as evidence that Facebook will change their behavior in toto instead of just picking better targets. What has Facebook done to inspire such a generous view of their actions? I'm not sure we should assume good faith at all, much less accept their (implied) claims!

narciso said...

They were banning the content in mike Doran (one of the leading middle East experts) who happened to be wise to this groshenko hunt.

campy said...

"What happens if the polls end up being way off again and completely missing a red wave?"

Enough "misplaced" ballot boxes will emerge from democrats' car trunks to erase it.

TRISTRAM said...

"continuing to look into" doesn't mean they have no idea what happened and I think (without more) kind of admits they do know but realize they need to look more deeply into what they are doing because it's not working. That's great, though, because it shows at least that the victims of censorship can make enough noise and create enough pressure to force Facebook to consider behaving better.

Or, more cynically, "how can we make sure the rubes don't notice it"

Unknown said...

This was not the result of AI (Artificial intelligence), but of NS (Natural Stupidity).

Jim at said...

When it happens repeatedly and only to persons who express a specific set of ideas, then it's a pattern.

In this case, it's an enemy action.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

etbass said...How did our major corporations get under the control of such leftists to start with?

It's either Robert Conquest's 2nd Law or John O'Sullivan's 1st Law.

Both say basically: Any institution not explicitly (and constitutionally) right wing will sooner or later become left wing.

Sebastian said...

"create enough pressure to force Facebook to consider behaving better"

Ever the nice, reasonable, midwestern optimist.

But out here, in the real world, there's a war going on.

As Holvoet and others noted, the point is, "how can we make sure the rubes don't notice it?"

But I am pleased Prager is fighting, and that the Althouses of the world are allies.

The Crack Emcee said...

Prager was never in any danger. I said so yesterday (and my word is Law!). The Right is just being unmasked, and can't admit A) they don't think for themselves, and B) how many bullshit artists they support - even Michael Savage is a homeopathic scumbag - so C) they're in complete denial about how many conservative con artists any responsible company, rightly, wouldn't want on their platform.

And it's probably more than they ever imagined.

ccscientist said...

My daughter thinks it is awful (censorship) but believes it is equal against right and left because they did censor one leftist Occupy event messaging in London or something. 1=the same.

MadTownGuy said...


Blogger etbass said...
"How did our major corporations get under the control of such leftists to start with?"

In addition to what Mike Sylwester said, you can lay the blame at the doorsteps of our institutions of higher learning, where education has been conflated with indoctrination.

Vance said...

Funny how Crack wants and now endorses censoring PragerU. I don't seem to remember him ever calling for censoring the left... now he comes out calling for the right to be purged off the internet.... because they don't support massive reparations.

Meanwhile, Robert Spencer of JihadWatch is still offline because MasterCard has decided to play politics. Leftist politics, of course. Nasty, brutish, censorship that has the left and its supporters cheering loudly.

Anyone know how many Antifa pages have been removed? Like, say, all those white antifa members trying to hurt black Candace owens, calling her the N word and so forth? Some people who left the Republican party now ally with them, I think. Seems like a tactical mistake to me.

Sheridan said...

I can't take it anymore! Facebook the company didn't screw up some human yahoo with a first and last name did the screwing! Not an AI, not an algorithm, not a hacker but an employee of or a contractor to Facebook is guilty. And like all guilty people, the screwer would have taken steps to obscure the data path from the screwing to the discovery thereof. How many people who work for Facebook (or worked as the possibility is strong that whoever did the deed has already been figuratively liquidated by the company) took part in the event impacting PragerU? Is it even reasonable to assume that Facebook management can ever get on the other side of this issue by stopping people, prior to their HR onboarding, who want to restrict the free speech of Facebook users? How many Reality Winner type personalities already work at Facebook? If you want to define the "deep state" outside of government just take a gander at Facebook and Twitter and any other organ of the SJW crowd. Other than switching-off those platforms (hey the NSA can do anything, right!) the other option is to regulate the crap out of these businesses. Good luck with that one as regulators and interveners are slightly less corrupt than the Mob. I dream sometimes of living in a world of books and the telephone and the Telex and 3 issues a day newspapers and not much else. Does anyone really think the identity politics never existed before today? It's been there as long as homo sapiens have been around only there was no method of instantaneous communication available to get the miniscule minority stirred up. And whatever happened to basic civics where in a Representative Democracy the majority will prevailed but the interests of the Minority were protected? Seems like that got flipped.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

Prager University's videos are actually pretty anodyne. You would have to be a certifiable loon to find them offensive. Or a total fanatic. And if they are outside the bounds of civil political debate then we are pretty close to a shooting civil war.

PM said...

Was about to comment on this FB post when a homeless guy outside my office started screaming "Fuck off, America!" Done.

Birkel said...

Prager U was never any danger...
He typed after Prager U was suspended...
Without irony...
Ever.

I wish TCE were in as little danger.

The Godfather said...

This all seems to begin in the colleges and universities with the concept of "hate speech". Of course the students are taught to believe in "free speech", but that doesn't include "hate speech". So someone who says you should be free to wear a controversial costume on Halloween is committing "hate speech". Someone who says that affirmative action is a bad idea, or unnecessary, is committing "hate speech". Someone who critizes the behavior of Black Lives Matters or Antifa is committing "hate speech". And "hate speech" can and SHOULD be prohibited.

In the 1940's and 1950's the folks whose speech was sought to be suppressed were Communists and Socialists and Civil Rights Agitators. A lot of folks thought they were committing what we would call "hate speech", but as a Nation we (eventually) came to accept the idea that they had the right to promote their crazy notions. Or maybe we as a Nation simply decided that we didn't disagree with their speech strongly enough to prohibit it. But although promoting totalitarianism wasn't bad enough to be prohibited, today promoting the Free Enterprise System or conventional sexual morality constitutes "hate speech" and should be banned.

RobinGoodfellow said...

How did our major corporations get under the control of such leftists to start with?

O’Sullivan’s First Law
Any institution that is not explicitly right wing will become left wing over time.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Lying leftwing liars gonna lie.

Gk1 said...

Wasn't it a year or so ago that Facebook disbanded its internal news feed division because they were systematically hiding right of center sources? This isn't going to stop until they lose a finger whether through the stock market or government regulation.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/hashtag/content/368001/the-legal-and-ethical-issues-behind-facebook-s-massive-psychological-experiment/story/

The Crack Emcee said...

Vance said...

"Funny how Crack wants and now endorses censoring PragerU."

Show of hands: exactly how many of you can't read?

The Crack Emcee said...

Birkel said...

"Prager U was never any danger...
He typed after Prager U was suspended..."

It was a mistake. They happen. Especially when implementing a new policy. Grow up.

Big Mike said...

Prager was never in any danger.

That’s a lie and you’re a liar. Is it the Right that is unmasked here? Or is it you who are unmasked?

Birkel said...

TCE,
Always in one direction.
And the Left needs apologists like you to make the requisite excuses happen.
Fuck you, bitch.

Drago said...

Crack: "Show of hands: exactly how many of you can't read?"

Credit where credit is due Crack. That was funny!

Drago said...

Crack: "It was a mistake. They happen. Especially when implementing a new policy."

Could you explain, using relevant information regarding facebook coding of their policies, how this was a mistake, only a mistake, and nothing but a mistake?

Further, is it your understanding, based on your deep understanding of facebook policies and coding practices, that fundamental logic requires only conservatives to ever be "accidentally" removed?

LOL

Darkisland said...

Of course, a new study claims the exercise can make pain or injuries WORSE and the Nazi connection and what it means isn't a popular topic of discussion, especially when it comes to the outright cruelty yoga users are found to display to others over time.

So what you are saying is that yoga is more dangerous than homeopathy? Not surprised. It is hard to think of anything less dangerous than homeopathy, since it is only water. Sleeping is more dangerous.

So are you calling for a ban on yoga?

If it will calm your spirits, I will promase not to market my services to any yoga factories or studios.

John "LN" Henry

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

turn off the tv

tim in vermont said...

Crack: "It was a mistake. They happen. Especially when implementing a new policy.”

Yep, over and over and over again, always in the same direction, kind of like arithmetic mistakes on tax forms.

tim in vermont said...

A) they don’t think for themselves

What complete bullshit.

tim in vermont said...

The main job of the press in America is to ramp up Democrat turnout and suppress Republican turnout. Remember that when reading these Blue Wave (TM) stories. Democrats do great when they can focus national resources on single districts. Republicans turn out more than Dems as a rule in off year elections. The generic ballot is in pretty much the same place it was when Republicans have won the House in the past.

narciso said...

Btw it turns out Spencer didn't have a master card account, so this attempt at prescription seems odd.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Prager is a threat to the hivemind. Free speech must be stomped on, especally anything that threatens the hivemind.

Ideas that might convince someone to question the hivemind are dangerous.

FIDO said...

That's great, though, because it shows at least that the victims of censorship can make enough noise and create enough pressure to force Facebook to consider behaving better.


For now. Zuck can't afford to lose too many more billions of dollars.


Right now he is trying to figure out how to get the Conservative money without, you know, having to give SERVICE to Conservatives.

FIDO said...

You know how Zuck and Dorsey can convince us that they are serious?


Fire people. Get the people who were responsible, at least ten, and out them and fire them.

If someone wrote a racist screed, or tried to get a kick back on a contract, or did some other nefarious thing like testing horrible drugs in Appalachia, there would be a limited number of people who were guilty and policy would need to directly CHANGE with a detailed and insistent assertion of the change by the CEO.

But they aren't doing that, are they? They aren't saying they are changing policy. They aren't stating they are unswervingly dedicated to Free Speech from here on out and that if some hate speech gets thrown into the mix, that is the price you pay for liberty. They are not firing the so called 'bad actors'.


I'm guessing because the 'bad actors' have thumb drives FULL of corporate memos expressly requesting this action FROM THE TOP. Zuck can't fire himself, can he? And if it was directed from the top...


There are ways to apologize for this. FB is not doing any of them. Zuck is not doing any of them.

Instead we get evasive pabulum.

Bob Loblaw said...

"Continuing to look into"...kind of admits they do know but realize they need to look more deeply into what they are doing because it's not working.

Nah. They're just buying time, hoping that after a few news cycles the whole thing will blow over. This kind of thing works surprisingly well - delay, delay, delay, "Hey, what difference does it make at this point?"

FIDO said...

This is like a little boy's tree house. Half the fun was to say 'no XXX allowed' (girls, Homers etc.)

And when that 'privilege'...or should we say 'right' of association was removed and XXX was FORCED by the government, the school, or worse, Mom, there was a sacredness that was lost from the place.

Owning a place.

Now, 'ownership of the place', whether it is men's clubs, golf clubs, an All White Fraternity have had their borders kicked in.

Now it the presupposition is 'freedom of access to all'. One can no longer have a 'white only' lunch counter.

So I understand Zuck's inner gator brain for wanting to 'get rid of those elements' but I am holding him to those same standards HE has for that lunch counter.

Same as women. No 'women only' showings of Wonder Woman.

It's all the same rules now.

stlcdr said...

Non apology. Of course.

This appears to be a disturbing trend. Of course, it's hard to discern whether this is 'true' until you experience it for yourself. Searching for videos on youTube - that you know exist, and you search for the exact name - and it doesn't show until pages later or not at all, it becomes very suspicious. Especially when They tell us how smart their search algorithms are.

When discussing this with someone who does not believe its happening because their views align with what is available, after being laughed at, called a conspiracy theorist, dumb, and all sorts of names - essentially denying that it happens - you quickly move on to 'they have the right to host what they want as a non government entity'. Essentially tacit admission that this is acceptable behavior.

I'm sure, way back when printing press makers only allowed certain things to be printed on their presses.

Anonymous said...

narciso: Btw it turns out Spencer didn't have a master card account, so this attempt at prescription seems odd.

Not at all. It has nothing to do with an individual user's credit card. Patreon uses MasterCard's payment processing services, and MasterCard gets thuggish with Patreon if Patreon provides service to clients proscribed by MasterCard corporation's internal Committee for the Promotion of Virtue.

But Principled Conservatives(tm) assure us that this is all for the best in the best of all possible (clown) worlds as long as the mutaween in question aren't government employees.

JAORE said...

If you flip a coin 100 times and it comes up heads 97 times and tails 3 times... the guy betting on heads is cheating.

The Crack Emcee said...

Drago said...

"Could you explain, using relevant information regarding facebook coding of their policies, how this was a mistake, only a mistake, and nothing but a mistake?"

Prager U is back. With an apology. That's usually what happens when mistakes were made. Alex Jones? Still a pariah.

Everything's fine.

The Crack Emcee said...

Darkisland said...

"It is hard to think of anything less dangerous than homeopathy, since it is only water. Sleeping is more dangerous."

The shallow thinker is my least favorite kind. Homeopathy is just water? Have you forgotten, along with drinking the water, you have to believe certain things? "Like cures like" for instance? The more delute the substance, the stronger the potion, and so on? And there's many people with an extreme interest in others believing that nonsense - who nobody cares about in this era of hating anyone peddling "Fake News" for some reason? So, recapping now - you've got water - and a belief system, too, no? Plus lots of users of the water and peddlers of the water and a lot of nonsense being peddled. Hmm. Let's see:

Cult: Homeopathy

Founder or Leader: Dr. Samuel Hahnemann (1755 - 1843)

True Believers and Followers: Melanie Hahnemann, Past and Present Practitioners

Popular Slogan: Similia Similibus Curentur

Mystery - Irrational Belief: Dynamization - Potentization

Pecuniary Interest: Selling "Medicines", Tuition for a fee



"Sleeping is more dangerous", huh? I personally know of three people dead from it.


The Crack Emcee said...

tim in vermont said...

Crack: "It was a mistake. They happen. Especially when implementing a new policy.”

"Yep, over and over and over again, always in the same direction, kind of like arithmetic mistakes on tax forms."

It's not their fault you guys think GOOP is as OK as Alex Jones. Complain and take her down - see if I care. As long as you guys don't make a distinction, between charlatans and people making mistakes, I don't think your arguments hold water. As long as you want to cry about "Fake News" while defending it's purveyors, you're irresponsible hypocrites who only pretend to be patriots when blacks don't take a knee. That more of your shit gets taken down, when you act this way, is no surprise. You have no ethics, only a desire for power.

The Crack Emcee said...

Dickin'Bimbos@Home said...

"Prager is a threat to the hivemind."

That's about as convincing as the pussycat feminists declaring anyone's "scared" of them. (Why do you guys think so hyperbolically - about yourselves?) Prager is too religious to be a threat. He gats some things right, like the Civil War, and that's enough. Jesus.

The Crack Emcee said...

I’m okay with a US Space Force. But what we need most is a Truth Force — one that defends against all enemies of accurate information, both foreign & domestic.

- Neal De Grasse Tyson

It isn't lost on me that "reason" is a scary word to many....

Richard said...

OMG. Why do any of you respond to Crack? He is a troll, and probably not black at all.
The mangling of the language seems inauthentic.
And yes, I recognize the irony.

The Crack Emcee said...

Richard said...

"OMG. Why do any of you respond to Crack? He is a troll, and probably not black at all."

White people are obsessed with us.