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Breitbart: "Pollak: The Attack on Alex Jones Is An Attack on Free Speech"
Pollak: The Attack on Alex Jones Is An Attack on Free Speech JOEL B. POLLAK
Internet provocateur and InfoWars proprietor Alex Jones is being systematically excluded from social media platforms. This is, plainly, an attack on free speech.
Over the weekend, Facebook removed several Alex Jones-related pages, and Apple deleted many of his podcasts. On Monday, YouTube followed suit by deleting his video channel. Pinterest closed its InfoWars page. Twitter may soon do the same.
The timing is no coincidence: all of these outlets are responding to a campaign by left-wing activists who are determined to shut down conservative voices including Breitbart.
It is a shameful effort which is why some of those responsible for the boycotts have tried to maintain their anonymity.
Today, they are circulating copy/paste talking points that argue they are not abusing freedom of speech or the press by pushing companies to ban Jones, because free speech protects you from your government. Jones is being censored by private companies, not the government. He has no right, after all, to force anyone to carry his content.
It is true that the First Amendment is not implicated by private censorship, but free speech certainly is damaged by it.
From the point of view of the person being silenced, it makes absolutely no difference whether the censor is a policeman or a mob. And freedom of speech is a social value, a characteristic of an open and democratic society that has exists quite independently of the government. It is or ought to be sustained by civil society, even and especially when the views expressed are objectionable.
