Deplatformed

This week, as tech companies were either dropping Infowars or clumsily explaining their reasons for not doing so, the Daily Stormer, a notorious neo-nazi white supremacist website run by Andrew Anglin, wrote a post to express his solidarity with Alex Jones. I had to laugh when I saw this because Andrew Anglin is one of the few people who would know exactly what Jones is going through — how it feels when the Internet-at-large finally reaches a tipping point and casts you out.

After Charlottesville, tech companies presumably shaken by their role in the violent rally went on a bender of removing neo-nazis and white supremacists from their platforms. Companies from Twitter to Paypal to Airbnb were disturbed to learn organizers had used their products and services to organize the event and took action. (It helped that participants were quickly identified in photos thanks to efforts of activists online). Daily Stormer was hit hard, losing a succession of web and domain hosts, its Discord channel, and social media presence. Daily Stormer and Andrew Anglin can still be found online but mainstream social media platforms are no longer amplifying his content. For the most part he’s relegated to the few platforms that still embrace white supremacists such as Gab.

Of course by the time tech companies got their shit together, the damage had been done. A woman died, several others were injured, and the city of Charlottesville has declared a State of Emergency in advance of the anniversary out of concern that despite being denied a permit, violent protesters would show up anyway. A year later white supremacist groups are thriving and some of their views have become mainstream ideas on the America right. And as Politico notes, President Trump, unable to denounce white supremacists at the time, frequently uses race to shore up support with his base. Pro-Trump media amplify similar messages constantly.

Laura Ingraham: “The America we know and love doesn’t exist anymore. Massive demographic changes have been foisted on the American people, and they are changes that none of us ever voted for, and most of us don’t like … this is related to both illegal and legal immigration” pic.twitter.com/s5G2qIY4W0

— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) August 9, 2018

Post-Charlottesville some hate groups are unable to organize online but others can still rely on tech to support their organizing and infrastructure. Facebook, Twitter, and Google’s policies aren’t clear to anyone and their enforcement is inconsistent at best. The most consistent policy seems to be that shame works. If you’re able to create a PR problem for one or more tech companies, you can probably get hateful and harmful content removed. If you lack the social capital to do this, you’re on your own.

Facebook, Twitter, and Google’s policies aren’t clear to anyone and their enforcement is inconsistent at best. The most consistent policy seems to be that shame works.

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Alex Jones is the new Andrew Anglin. His influence over political and cultural conversation will wane, his ability to attract new audiences is severely limited, and his bottom line will take a hit. That’s a good thing. But what about the next Anglin or Jones? More importantly, what about the the vast majority of users who aren’t white supremacists or dangerous far-right conspiracy theorists?

As tech companies scramble to fix what they clearly view as another PR problem, the rest of us are just trying to navigate our online lives. We need to be active on social media without a barrage of online harassment. We need to make sure our kids aren’t exposed to hateful and violent speech online. We need the platforms that make money from our time and attention not to amplify conspiracy theories and hoaxes. Finally, we need tech to draw a moral line, or as Kara Swisher put it in the New York Times, “stand up to the uglies to protect the rest of us.” A year later, we’re still waiting.

We need tech to draw a moral line, or as Kara Swisher put it in the New York Times, “stand up to the uglies to protect the rest of us.” A year later, we’re still waiting.

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This piece was originally published on August 12, 2018 in the Ctrl Alt-Right Delete newsletter. To read the full August 12 Ctrl Alt-Right Delete in which it appeared, click here.