© REUTERS/Leah MillisA mob of supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump attempt to use a ladder on a group of law enforcement personnel as they storm the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, U.S., January 6, 2021.
DLive, a video streaming service which became popular over the past few years as a free speech alternative to websites like YouTube and Twitch, came under fire from its users after it announced sanctions to combat extremism.
After Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, media organizations like the
New York Times,
Wired, and the
Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) took aim at DLive for hosting users who attended and supported the incident - branding the alternative tech platform an "extremist haven."
"DLive has paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars to extremists since its founding, largely through donations of cryptocurrency built into a service provided by the site," SPLC claimed, pointing out that far-right livestreamer Anthime 'Baked Alaska' Gionet - who recorded himself during the storming of the Capitol - was one such figure reportedly making thousands on the platform.
DLive responded by
banning Gionet, as well as American nationalist commentator Nick Fuentes. On Friday, however, the tech platform announced it would be implementing even more restrictions on its user base.
"In response to the recent incident on Jan 6th, we have decided to implement a temporary feature to disable donations and paid subscriptions to all X-tag channels," the company
declared. "We understand the inconvenience this may cause for some of you but we believe this is the necessary action to take to ensure a responsible and safe community during this challenging time."
According to DLive's
Community Guidelines, X-tagged content consists of videos that "a reasonable viewer may not want to be seen accessing in a public or formal setting such as a workplace." Examples given by the company include nudity and profanity, but also "Any form of political content,""religion focused content,""controversial content," and "propaganda content."
With its new restrictions, DLive disabled a large chunk of its user base from making any money on the site, which understandably resulted in a large backlash against the decision."Wtf, if you're news you have to have an X. If you have an X no donations. Thanks bro,"
complained one user, while another
commented, "Well, there goes another free speech platform."
Fuentes called on his over 128,000 Twitter followers to delete their DLive accounts, while conservative journalist Cassandra Fairbanks pointed out that
DLive had "even turned off comments" on their controversial statement to avoid criticism.
Others compared the move to DLive "
cutting it's own throat" or "
shooting yourself in the d**k out of fear of losing it," due to the fact that DLive's popularity has largely come from it being free speech-friendly when compared to bigger and more popular platforms.
Not everyone was against the move, however. Sleeping Giants - a liberal pressure organization that campaigns to strip conservative cable news shows and media outlets of their advertisers and revenue - praised DLive for making "a start" but encouraged them to crack down more on speech on the platform.
Reader Comments
Take your favourite censorship platform, and check if a company like In-Q-Tel had been involved in it's rise. Perhaps you fathom the involved long-term planning, and can anticipate what's coming.
If not, it's fine, too ...
I knew Fakebook was late to the game, and pushed into an already existing and thriving market. With a Rockefeller-bastard as strawman.
And not to forget, The whole internet basically came into existence as a DARPA project.
R.C.
We learnt in school about the famous "Storming of the Winter Palace" by the Bolsheviks in St. Petersburg, ousting the Kerensky government. The battleship Aurora fired a gun as start signal, and hundreds of Bolsheviks stormed the gates, and a costly gun battle ensued. Several colorful oil paintings from outstanding bolshevik artists embellished the respective section of our history books ...
Turned out, all fake history. There where almost no guards, and no armed resistance at all. Just a group of armed thugs (a.k.a. bolsheviks), hired with Rothschild money, that marched in, captured and walloped the old government, and ravaged every room and hall.
(Right now, I have Neil Young, Trans, playing, and when I typed 'detail' that word came exactly on time at around the "ta". ("Perfection, in every detail.") Do you remember NY in Berlin? )
RC
Yes, I've read GA.
RC
For those not in the know - AgitProp is a socialist term fused from "Agitator" and "Propaganda". Straight in the face, isn't it ?
The term explicitly shows up in his German Wiki page: [Link]
Microsoft’s $10bn JEDI cloud contract ‘sets dangerous precedent’, says AWS - [Link]