Information Wants to be Free

For John, BLUF:  Those on the world wide web seen as to the "right" of center are being harrassed by large scale providers, like Google, through cutting funding streams, known as demonitizing.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Why Is KiwiFarms.net ‘Harassment,’ But What Taylor Lorenz Does Is ‘Journalism’?

From The Other McCain, by Robert Stacy McCain, 20 October 2023.

Here is the lede plus three:

Did you know that Taylor Lorenz has her own Kiwi Farms thread?  Anyway, the question in the headline crossed my mind after reading KiwiFarms founder Joshua Moon’s complaint about how payment processors have blacklisted him.  That was referenced in a comment on yesterday’s post about how Instapundit got demonetized by Google Adsense because of allegedly “dangerous” content.

In case you don’t know, Taylor Lorenz first made herself infamous in 2018 by doxxing the teenage daughters of Pamela Geller.

Considering that Geller was (and still is) known to be a target of ISIS and other Islamic terrorists, and that Geller’s daughters were just Instagram influencers who had nothing to do with politics, this was an act sufficiently egregious that Taylor Lorenz should have been unemployed.  Instead, she ended up on the staff of the Washington Post and now, of course, a published author.  There is a double standard involved in Lorenz’s continued employment as a “journalist,” while Josh Moon is financially blacklisted because of Kiwi Farms.

Before getting into the topic of what Kiwi Farms is, let me reiterate that this topic suggested itself because of a comment on a post about how Google has banned Instapundit from its Adsense program.  Because he’s “dangerous.”  How?  We don’t know, because the process at Google is completely opaque.  Good luck getting them to answer any questions about how people get banned or how their search listings operate.  But in the process of trying to explore this, I was shocked to discover that you can’t get to Kiwi Farms via a Google search.  Not only doesn’t the site’s URL turn up in the Google results, but no article that links directly to Kiwi Farms is included in the first page of Google search results.  That’s why I decided to put the full URL, KiwiFarms.net, into my headline.

Once upon a time the World Wtide Web was seen as empowering for the "Little Guy".  Now we see economic giants, and the Federal Government taking aim at those whose thinking they find divient.  I wonder if this is Constitutional?  I wonder if it is compatible with who we think we are as Americans?  Although I will grant you, recent demonstrations on university campuses makes me wonder if the rising generation will understand our nation the way I do.

A recent CNN Poll raises serious question about who we are becoming as a nation.  It shows "81% of those age 65 or older see the response as fully justified, compared with 56% of 50-to-64-year-olds, 44% of 35-to-49-year-olds and 27% of 18-to-34-year-olds”.  I am proud tio be in the 65 and older group.  And glad to be there.  On the other hand, I am ashamed of those 49 and younger.

I woner how dangerous the content of this Blog Post is.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff