Facebook and its Open War on Independent Media

[image: 21stcenturywire.com]

(The Real Agenda News) Facebook excuses its censorship on a plea to “end disinformation” and “sensationalism” on the internet.

It will not be enough to have a large audience or be registered as a medium, Facebook wants to measure the trust that the media possess to prioritize their content on the social network.

As of Friday, more than 2 billion active service profiles will see 4% of content generated by professional pages instead of the current 5% in Facebook’s latest attempt to control what information people have access to and what information they are banned from seeing.

Starting next week, users will have a relevant role when it comes to choosing which media are the ones with the most preponderance, Facebook claims.

The company will ask you how much you trust a medium, with an emphasis on local media and the sources used.

Mark Zuckerberg announced the first changes to give more relevance to what was published by friends and family at the expense of the official pages of brands and media:

“Following the 2018 goal, we want to make sure that time on Facebook is a time well spent,” said Zuckerberg.

In a new message on his wall he explains that he is obsessed with quality information.

“There is too much sensationalism, misinformation and polarization in the world,” he points out as support for a decision that moves the waves in which the media live a little more.

“Social networks allow information to be disseminated faster than ever, but if we do not confront these problems we will end up expanding them,” he says.

The change not only affects media pages, but also the links that particular users put on their wall.

Just as Google does when pondering the value of a medium or page to make it appear before one domain or another, the so-called Google Rank, Facebook will create its own rating system to give more visibility, or less, depending on the reliability.

As in the case of Google, the quantities and ingredients are not provided to discover their secret sauce, as they like to call success formulas in Silicon Valley.

That is perhaps because that is how Facebook, Google and other social media manage to openly censor accounts and alternative media publications.

According to the calculations of the founder, the amount of news will decrease to 20%.

In the last year, the relationship between the media and Facebook has become blurred, especially at the political level, where they have been accused of having a bias in favor of both Republicans and Democrats.

Facebook maintains that this change and its weighting model will be based on objective data, but the size of the media or its political bias will not be taken into account.

Facebook claims that the decision to delegate to the community aims to provide objectivity to the decision:

“We have decided that it is the users who decide broadly what is the most objective”.

The director emphasizes that they will not show the results of the surveys, because it would not give a real version of the whole process.

There are several points that will have weight in this valuation system: the title, who writes it, who speaks and so on.

The post Facebook and its Open War on Independent Media appeared first on The Sleuth Journal.

Health Ranger: Mainstream Media Is A Part Of The Biggest Scandal In US History

The FBI is currently masterminding the most egregious political crime of the century, according to Mike Adams, the Health Ranger.  All of the masterminds in power have now been exposed but it’s time to expose the media too.

The mainstream media is covering up the FBI, deep state, and Democrats scandal because they are a part of this.  It’s their job to use propaganda to alter public opinion and they have done it well.

Adams starts his podcast by revealing what we already know: the mainstream media is lying to us.  But then he says that we should prepare to have our minds blown. “The ‘house of cards’ of the FBI scandal, the corrupt deep state FBI run by criminal-minded individuals…this house of cards is crumbling by the day,” Adams says.

It’s no secret anymore that the FBI was protecting Hillary Clinton while trying to basically invent stories about Donald Trump.  Adams goes into detail about the nefarious action the FBI took to protect the corruption and criminal activities of the left while doing everything in their power to demean Trump. “It’s one set of laws for the Clintons and a completely different set of laws for everybody else,” Adams says.

“Now what we are seeing exposed is the deep deep corruption of the FBI…what a disastrously dishonest organization! The FBI has now been exposed as being [dishonest]. It’s the leadership that’s being poisoned by extreme politics.  They’re all political hacks. And frankly, I’m calling for their arrest.

This is the largest and most egregious political scandal in the history of America and not a WORD from CNN about this. Not a word from MSNBC. Not a word from The New York Times or The Washington Post, or any of the other swamp publishers, USA Today.  They are all covering it up because they are part of it. They accepted the deep state “leaks”… “ –Mike Adams

This is the biggest political conspiracy in US history, says Adams, and the media is intentionally covering for Democrats and the deep state.  Their propaganda has taken hold though, and it will take a concerted effort of revealing the truth in order to undo the brainwashing that has taken place.

“They thought they could get away with this.  But now, thanks to largely, the independent media…who are just hammering this home. Independent media has been nailing this story and it is a story for the ages. As an American, I am so disgusted with what Hillary Clinton got away with and how the media helped her and her rapist husband get away with their crimes for so long, and how the FBI has been corrupted and turned into a political hack organization.”

Adams makes several good points.  The government is corrupt, the media is biased and a part of the corruption and scandals are ignored by the everyday American because propaganda is easier to absorb than the truth. Imagine the freedom and lifestyle we could all have if we strip the power from the government and their propaganda arm, the media, and return it to the individual.

Journalist Ben Swann Is Returning Thanks To DASH Cryptocurrency

By Derrick Broze

After nearly a year of silence on social media, journalist Ben Swann is preparing to make his triumphant return using the popular DASH cryptocurrency. 

On February 1, 2017, award-winning journalist Ben Swann “went dark” as his social media accounts on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and elsewhere were suddenly deactivated. Swann is a well-known local journalist at CBS46 in Atlanta, as well as a viral Internet sensation for his Reality Check investigative reports. Swann’s Reality Check reports began to garner attention around the 2012 U.S. election and have continued to gain millions of views while questioning the mainstream narrative.

Prior to his disappearance, Swann had been under attack by much of the corporate media (as well as left-leaning media which supported Hillary Clinton) for his now notorious Reality Check segment on the controversial Pizzagate theory. During the segment, Swann draws attention to what he sees as curious aspects of the theory which warrant further attention. Swann was immediately attacked by The Daily Beast (going so far as to place a tin-foil hat on the journalist), the Inquisitr, and many other publications. CBS46 initially defended Ben Swann’s reporting, but later appeared to take the blame for allowing the report to air.

Shortly after the Pizzagate segments and the subsequent attacks, Ben Swann posted the following message across social media:

Hey guys, everyone is asking if everything is ok. They are. I will be heading back to CBS46 on Monday but there will be changes. The biggest one will be that this social media page will be going dark f/n on Tuesday, Feb. 1. We’ve been building this project for 6 years and those who have come to know me.. I hope you have also come to trust me.

Swann’s disappearance from the Internet sparked a massive debate and outcry from his supporters who wondered whether or not the Internet sensation had become a victim of censorship or something worse. Despite shutting down his own website (Truth In Media) and all his social media channels, Ben Swann continued to report on CBS46 in Atlanta. However, his reporting has exclusively focused on local news as opposed to the hard hitting journalism of his earlier Reality Check segments.

 

 

Ben Swann Returns Thanks to DASH, Digital Cash

In mid-December 2017, Ben Swann began posting in the forums of the cryptocurrency, DASH. While an increasing amount of public attention is given to the popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin, many people in the privacy focused crypto community are placing their support behind DASH.  Originally released under the name “Darkcoin” back in 2014, the crypto would later be rebranded as DASH, or digital cash.

What differentiates DASH from Bitcoin and other alt coins? DASH is designed to confirm transactions faster than Bitcoin with their “InstantSend” feature which can confirm payments in less than a second. DASH also allows for privacy with transactions and balances via “PrivateSend.”

The biggest feature that sets DASH apart from Bitcoin is the use of self-governing, self-funding protocol. This allows users to submit proposals to the treasury which help grow the DASH community and potentially receive funding. (DASH is a powerful cryptocurrency and I recommend visiting their website linked above for a more thorough, technical understanding.) Users submit proposals via forums in the DASH community. It is in these forums where Ben Swann sought assistance for reviving Reality Check and his Truth In Media website. Ben Swann wrote:

We propose that just as DASH is creating disruption in the financial world, it now creates disruption in the media world by bringing back to the masses Reality Check with Ben Swann. As the sole sponsor of Reality Check, DASH will be branded and tied to what is one of the most successful news segments in the world. Our hope is to establish and sustain a long-term partnership, and we would be honored to be an enduring ambassador of Dash.

Swann’s proposal called on the DASH community to fund the return of 24, two- to five-minute episodes of Reality Check. The proposal also asked for funding for hiring writers for the Truth In Media website, including a section on cryptocurrencies like DASH. In late December the proposal was approved with Ben Swann and team receiving a payout of 800 DASH per month for 3 months (about $2.3 million USD). According to the proposal, the episodes will air every Tuesday and Thursday beginning February 6th.

Although Ben Swann’s proposal was ultimately approved by the community, he did face opposition because of his reporting on Pizzagate and vaccinations. In response to two different questions regarding Pizzagate, Ben had the following to say:

First, Pizzagate. I can’t say a lot about this at this point but I will say this. I did not create Pizzagate. Nor was I the first journalist to cover it. In fact, I did not cover it until every major network in the country talked about the gunman who entered the pizza place. Those networks also reported that the gunman was responding to a fake conspiracy theory but never explained what that theory was. After receiving hundreds of requests to explain the theory, that is what I did. You may not like the fact that I covered the story at all, but you are yet to explain what I said in that report that was false.

Regarding his social media blackout Swann offered the following:

I can’t discuss (yet) everything that has happened to cause RC to be discontinued. I am still working working with CBS in Atlanta. I can tell you that since the beginning of 2017, I have had dozens of huge websites and video content companies contact me about providing RC through their channels. I have absolutely no doubt that the continued viral reach will not be a problem. I still receive several dozen emails every week asking when RC will come back.

Ben Swann also confirmed that he will begin appearing publicly starting with the Anarchapulco conference in Acapulco, Mexico in late February. “I have already been invited by Jeff Berwick to speak in Acapulco… The slot I have been offered is to be just before the keynote speaker (Dr. Ron Paul),” Swann wrote.

Ben Swann’s reporting style, honesty, and credibility has been sorely missing from the independent media for the last year. Many of us (myself included) have done our best to fill the gap left by Swann. It will be a great pleasure to have Ben Swann back in the trenches working alongside the truth media.

Derrick Broze is an investigative journalist and liberty activist. He is the Lead Investigative Reporter for ActivistPost.com and the founder of the TheConsciousResistance.com. Follow him on Twitter. Derrick is the author of three books: The Conscious Resistance: Reflections on Anarchy and Spirituality and Finding Freedom in an Age of Confusion, Vol. 1, Finding Freedom in an Age of Confusion, Vol. 2 and Manifesto of the Free Humans.

Derrick is available for interviews. Please contact Derrick@activistpost.com

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Leaked Docs Show Google Contractors Suppressed Alternative Media, Google Confirms

Leaked documents now reveal a plan by search engine behemoth Google to censor alternative media through the blatant suppression of search results — and, for all intents and purposes, the censoring appears part of the political establishment’s plan to quash dissent.

Documents obtained by InfoWars’ Mike Cernovich indeed show a Google contractor instructing staff to rate prominent but controversial website, InfoWars, as “low-to-medium” in reliability, with articles frequently having “been debunked.”

Although Cernovich and other InfoWars staff have indeed been known to occasionally embellish the facts, Business Insider reports,

“A Google representative appeared to confirm the validity of Cernovich’s report, linking Business Insider to his Medium post.

“A vendor hired by Google employs contractors to rate the websites that appear in its search results — the rating is used to improve search quality, helping Google’s automated search algorithm prioritize higher-rated, reliable information.

“In examining how the staffers working as website ‘raters’ should evaluate a ‘rather poor site,’ the contractor pointed to InfoWars, advising raters to consider the quality of the information and its reputation.”

While Google does employ contractors that way to improve an automated algorithm, the company noted to Business Insider it had not given instructions citing specific websites to use as examples in quality ratings; rather, it provides general guidelines for improving searches.

“In this instance, we have confirmed that a vendor we work with sent out more detailed instructions to some raters without our knowledge, which included references to specific sites,” a Google representative told Business Insider. “This is in conflict with the intent of our guidelines and the vendor has taken action to remove these references in their training module.”

InfoWars, which has been skewered for publishing articles both leaning alt-right and of the conspiracy variety, was understandably infuriated over the behind-the-scenes — if, perhaps, technically unintentional — method of censorship by suppression.

On Monday’s Alex Jones show, Cernovich enjoined followers to protest the startling censorship of InfoWars by protesting peacefully outside Google’s headquarters.

Just over one month ago, Google announced its answer to improving the quality of searches by battling faulty information and disreputable sites with a veritable army of contractors rating items to place trusted news sites at the top.

“We’re explicitly avoiding the term ‘fake news,’ because we think it is too vague,” said senior Google engineer, Paul Haahr, who works on search quality. “Demonstrably inaccurate information, however, we want to target.”

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However, like Facebook, or Twitter, or YouTube, what Google fails to mention about pushing ‘low quality’ sites to the bottom rung, is the punishing effect it takes on the flow of the free press — and the potential to snuff silent a growing body of independent media reporting largely unbiased, legitimate news items.

In fact, InfoWars might be the perfect example of why selective, subjective suppression allows the State and private companies to censor information painting the U.S. in an unfavorable light — or, worse, dissenting opinion, entirely.

This isn’t to say false reports, disinformation, and so-called ‘click bait’ contribute anything of value to the world of 24/7 news — indeed, Alex Jones’ InfoWars has a reputation for publishing items of highly questionable accuracy.

In one example, InfoWars responded to then-candidate Donald Trump’s call in 2015 for banning all Muslims from entering the United States, but failed miserably reporting the facts. As The Free Thought Project’s Matt Agorist reported,

“Jones’ assertion that upwards of 25% of Muslims have gone on record and said they want to ‘conduct violent attacks’ against the US and Europe is supported by zero evidence. In fact, Infowars published an article Wednesday, linking to the actual data which proves them wrong.

“In a blatant attempt to strike fear into the hearts of their xenophobic reader base, (who used to be antiwar and pro freedom of religion) Jones shills once again for Trump by pointing out that 21% of Syrians polled have favorable views ISIS. What Infowars conveniently left out, however, is the fact that the country with the highest levels of support for Isis outside Syria showed only 14 percent of people having a favorable view of the group.

“None of the data showed that any of these supposed ISIS supporters ‘want to conduct violent attacks in Europe and the United States.’ Nevertheless, Jones, Trump, and the rest of the fascist Muslim-fearing cowards have been pushing this narrative and stoking dangerous levels of hate, because they are buying into the ISIS propaganda.”

InfoWars certainly lurched hard right in time for Trump’s presidential campaign — and has published false reports like the aforementioned — but the website has not completely forsaken truth for entertainment.

After all, it was the InfoWars writer, Cernovich, whose reporting hit headlines around the world recently, Business Insider notes,

“Cernovich reported on Medium that former national-security adviser Susan Rice requested the names of Trump associates whose communications were incidentally collected, a report later verified by Bloomberg View columnist Eli Lake.”

Although propagating demonstrably false information should undoubtedly give pause about the quality of a website calling itself a reporter of real news, every news organization in existence has likely published and retracted articles later proven to be inaccurate — and those who don’t face loss in readership and revenue.

Notably, a number of weaponized fake reports most often aligning with the U.S. Government’s agendas — published by the Washington Post, New York Times, and many others — have not garnered those once-illustrious news hawks the same suppression as InfoWars and other outlets not in lock step with the mainstream narrative.

Google claims the quality search training document listing InfoWars as unreliable was a mistake — yet the ridiculously thin effort to slay dissent under the cover of combating so-called fake news has thus far focused on independent media, which, for example, might criticize the need for war.

No matter from which sources you prefer to glean the news, that preference must remain your option if there is to be any legitimate semblance of freedom in this nation — after all, it is the free press who are supposed to serve as government watchdogs to rein in any uncontrolled usurpation of power.