Deplatforming? Two can play at that game, apparently.
Your T1 WIFI, an Internet Service Provider that services the North Idaho and Spokane, Washington, areas, has decided to block Facebook and Twitter after customers complained about the social-media companies’ censorship.
The ISP confirmed that restriction of Facebook and Twitter will go into effect for some customers beginning on Wednesday, KREM 2 reported.
The decision came after the two social-media sites banned President Trump for allegedly inciting the breach of the Capitol Building by a crowd of protesters last week.
“It has come to our attention that Twitter and Facebook are engaged in censorship of our customers and information,” read an e-mail from Your T1 WIFI to customers. The provider went on to explain that many customers have called asking them to not display the social-media sites, as they do not want their children to see them.
“Our company does not believe a website or social networking site has the authority to censor what you see and post and hide information from you, stop you from seeing what your friends and family are posting,” the e-mail reads. “This is why with the amount of concerns, we have made this decision to block these two websites from being accessed from our network.”
The company originally said they were banning the social-media sites for all customers except those who called the company and requested access. But on Monday, the company shifted gears slightly and said only those who specifically request the sites be blocked would not see them.
One customer, Krista Yep, was alarmed by the news; in rebuking Your T1 WIFI, she ironically made the case against what Facebook and Twitter have themselves done.
“Just because you don’t like what Twitter and Facebook have done, then you decide to block it for everyone else, so in your opposition to censorship, you’re going with censorship,” said Yep, who said she will cancel her service.
“I was pretty shocked that they were just coming out and saying that,” she added. “If it’s not illegal, it’s highly unethical.”
A spokesperson for Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s office said the attorney general’s Consumer Protection Division was “taking a look at the matter” to determine whether Your T1 WIFI is in violation of the state’s Net Neutrality law.
That law includes the following language:
A person engaged in the provision of broadband internet access service in Washington state, insofar as the person is so engaged, may not:
(a) Block lawful content, applications, services, or nonharmful devices, subject to reasonable network management;
(b) Impair or degrade lawful internet traffic on the basis of internet content, application, or service, or use of a nonharmful device, subject to reasonable network management; or
(c) Engage in paid prioritization
Brionna Aho, a spokesperson for Attorney General Bob Ferguson, said he takes enforcement of the net neutrality law “very seriously.”
Idaho does not have the same net neutrality law; a representative for Idaho’s attorney general said their office does not have the original jurisdiction to be the enforcement authority in this matter.
The New American has written about how the policy of shutting down conservative speech is fueling division that threatens to tear the nation apart:
Note here that peace talks are valued because it’s often figured that if people are talking, they’re not fighting. If Joe Biden were serious when he spoke of “unity,” he’d inveigh against the Big Tech effort to separate Americans by expelling conservatives from their platforms.
But, of course, leftists are interested only in a forced, superficial unity won via a dissident-quelling iron fist. They aren’t interested in debate because this can reveal Truth, which refutes their agenda.
The result is that the battle lines are being ever more sharply drawn. Aside from the social-media division, to a far smaller extent liberals and conservatives may even patronize different businesses, as “woke” companies alienate superciliousness- and sanctimony-weary citizens. (For Christmas, I sent someone a gift from the Black Rifle Coffee Company largely because of its patriotic leanings.)
It doesn’t help Big Tech’s case that they’re deeply in bed with Communist China.
And if you think the Silicon Valley censorship is bad now, wait until they wield political power. Joe Biden is planning to line his administration with the Big Tech Bosses.
