{"id":2217337,"date":"2024-04-10T11:55:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-10T15:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/corporate-media-hate-anonymous-online-posts-because-they-hate-free-speech\/"},"modified":"2024-04-10T11:58:20","modified_gmt":"2024-04-10T15:58:20","slug":"corporate-media-hate-anonymous-online-posts-because-they-hate-free-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/corporate-media-hate-anonymous-online-posts-because-they-hate-free-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Corporate media dislike anonymous online posts because they oppose free speech"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcorporate-media-hate-anonymous-online-posts-because-they-hate-free-speech%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2217337&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses how legacy media\u2064 outlets discourage anonymous \u2064online posts\u200b to ensure accountability. The Associated Press highlighted a viral tweet that \u200dmisinterpreted data but raised \u2064valid concerns about illegal immigrant voter \u2063registration. Experts warn about the spread of misinformation \u2062by anonymous accounts, questioning their motives and impact on democracy. The AP and others criticize such accounts for spreading\u200d misleading\u2064 content.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>Legacy media outlets don\u2019t want social media users to post online anonymously because they want them to face retribution for what they post \u2014 even if it\u2019s true. <\/p>\n<p>The Associated Press (AP) <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/misinformation-anonymous-accounts-social-media-2024-election-8a6b0f8d727734200902d96a59b84bf7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">published<\/a> an article regarding a <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/04\/10\/what-a-viral-voting-claim-got-wrong-and-why-americans-are-still-right-to-be-concerned\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">viral tweet<\/a> posted by the X account \u201cEnd Wokeness\u201d that misinterpreted Social Security Administration data to suggest a spike in voter registrations submitted without an ID in key states that also permit illegal immigrants to get Social Security numbers. While the data was incorrect, the concerns raised about illegal immigrants voting are still valid. <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-1494032424\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-d3f93f7b6ca0aacbc64cc2741e12ec52 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-d3f93f7b6ca0aacbc64cc2741e12ec52\"><\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe incident sheds light on how social media accounts that shield the identities of the people or groups behind them through clever slogans and cartoon avatars have come to dominate right-wing political discussion online even as they spread false information,\u201d the AP writes. \u201cMany such internet personalities identify as patriotic citizen journalists uncovering real corruption. Yet their demonstrated ability to spread misinformation unchecked while disguising their true motives worries experts with the United States in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kamala-who-has-not-ruled-out-packing-supreme-court-tells-conference-an-independent-judiciary-is-critical-to-a-healthy-democracy\/\" title=\"Kamala, Who Has Not Ruled Out Packing Supreme Court, Tells Conference: \u2018An Independent Judiciary Is Critical To A Healthy Democracy\u2019\">presidential election year<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The AP cites \u201cexpert\u201d Samuel Woolley, director of the Propaganda Research Lab at the University of Texas at Austin, who said these accounts are \u201cantithetical to democracy.\u201d Woolley\u2019s work has been <a href=\"https:\/\/mediaengagement.org\/team\/samuel-c-woolley\/\">funded<\/a> by Open Society Foundations, which was founded by George Soros and gives grants to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-hollows-out-trump-era-covid-protections-at-the-border\/\" title=\"Biden Hollows Out Trump-Era COVID Protections at the Border\">left-wing advocacy groups<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>The AP then cites Kara Alaimo, a communications professor at Farleigh Dickinson University who claims countries like \u201cChina and Russia are actively creating social media accounts designed to sow domestic discord because they think weakening our social fabric gives their countries a competitive advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The outlet goes on to lambaste anonymous accounts for spreading what it deems \u201cmisinformation\u201d and \u201cotherwise misleading content\u201d including \u201cnarratives such as alleged voter fraud, the \u2018woke agenda\u2019 or Democrats supposedly encouraging a surge of people through illegal immigration to steal elections or replace whites.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-355a335d73b0fa553bc09fb0da5a94d8 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-355a335d73b0fa553bc09fb0da5a94d8\"><\/div>\n<p><strong>[READNEXT:[READNEXT:<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/04\/04\/disinfo-guru-to-voters-trust-corporate-media-instead-of-doing-your-own-research\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>\u2018Disinfo\u2019 Guru To Voters: Trust Corporate Media Instead Of \u2018Doing Your Own Research\u2019<\/strong><\/a><strong>]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In other words, the AP is worried that users have access to information, posted by both anonymous and identified accounts, that does not receive a stamp of approval from corporate media and the Democrat politicians whose narratives they serve.<\/p>\n<p>The AP is welcome to read The Federalist\u2019s coverage of <em>actual <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/04\/09\/voters-and-one-alleged-signature-gatherer-say-their-names-were-forged-for-arizona-candidate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">voter<\/a> fraud, how illegal immigrants <em>do <\/em>affect elections, and the serious consequences of the \u201cwoke agenda\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/03\/26\/connecticut-elections-chief-reports-suspicious-activity-in-do-over-race-after-judge-overturned-primary\/\">here<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/02\/28\/how-illegal-aliens-flooding-our-border-skew-elections-for-democrats-without-ever-casting-a-vote\/\">here<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/03\/25\/irish-voters-defeat-leftist-referendum-to-remove-mother-from-constitution\/\">here<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>But the AP is not the only voice expressing disapproval of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nikki-haley-accused-of-flip-flop-after-backlash-on-internet-censorship-policy\/\" title=\"Nikki Haley faces 'flip-flop' accusation over internet censorship stance.\">anonymous social media accounts<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-c13813e550dbfd8336ae3bfae4a4df39 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-c13813e550dbfd8336ae3bfae4a4df39\"><\/div>\n<p>Then-Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley suggested last year that Big Tech companies should dox anonymous accounts, claiming it would help control \u201cbots.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cRussia, Iran and China, North Korea too, know that the cheapest form of warfare is to spread misinformation,\u201d Haley said on CNBC\u2019s \u201cSquawk Box,\u201d adding:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>I want freedom of speech for Americans. I don\u2019t want freedom of speech for Russia and Hamas, and that\u2019s what\u2019s happening right now. So the way you fix that is we need our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ga-poll-watcher-it-expert-non-trump-supporter-affidavit-sudden-surge-of-20000-mail-in-votes-for-biden-in-early-hours-on-nov\/\" title=\"GA Poll Watcher, IT Expert, Non-Trump Supporter Affidavit: Sudden Surge of 20,000 Mail-In-Votes For Biden In Early Hours On Nov\">social media companies<\/a> to verify everybody. \u2026 I don\u2019t mind anonymous American people having free speech. What I don\u2019t like is anonymous Russians and Chinese and Iranians having free speech.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>But justifying the doxxing of assumed \u201canonymous Russians\u201d or other foreign actors who, according to Alaimo, want to \u201csow discord\u201d pretty much guarantees those tools will be used to target American citizens. We\u2019re all familiar with the security state.<\/p>\n<p>And it\u2019s worth noting that Democrats are known for lying about accounts having originated from America\u2019s foreign adversaries, as the \u201cTwitter Files\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/twitter-files-top-democrats-peddled-false-russian-bots-narrative-about-nunes-memo-despite-twitter-warnings\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">showed<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Take, for example, the Hamilton 68 dashboard that claimed it was tracking \u201cRussian influence activities\u201d on Twitter when it was actually accusing hundreds of real right-leaning users of being Russian bots. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/mtaibbi\/status\/1619029780179075073\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Matt Taibbi<\/a>, Yoel Roth, who was Twitter\u2019s head of trust and safety, told colleagues in 2018 that \u201cthe Hamilton dashboard \u2018falsely accuses a bunch of legitimate right-leaning accounts of being Russian bots.&#8217;\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Back in 2018, The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/technology\/indictment-shows-how-russians-conspired-to-disrupt-us-politics--but-not-how-to-stop-them-next-time\/2018\/02\/16\/b56b08a2-1355-11e8-8ea1-c1d91fcec3fe_story.html\">Washington Post<\/a> published an article discussing how anonymous Twitter users \u2014 said to be Russian bots by Hamilton 68 \u2014 implored the government to release a memo highlighting the FBI\u2019s surveillance of the Trump campaign. The Post, convinced that Americans don\u2019t care to know when bureaucratic agencies are spying on citizens, said the push to \u201c#ReleaseTheMemo\u201d was driven by \u201cRussian disinformation.\u201d Twitter allows users to register anonymously and use \u201cautomation tools to post a pace hard for humans alone to match,\u201d the Post said.<\/p>\n<p>Woolley, the so-called \u201cexpert\u201d cited by AP, swallowed the Hamilton 68 propaganda hook, line, and sinker. In a quote in The Washington Post\u2019s 2018 article, Woolley called \u201cthe research really unequivocal,\u201d adding that the aforementioned features are used to \u201cdivide\u201d the country. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s time for the social media companies to design for democracy,\u201d  Woolley added \u2014 \u201cdemocracy\u201d being a code word for \u201chiding information about government malfeasance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/mtaibbi\/status\/1619029815709016064\">Taibbi<\/a> reported, media outlets also cited Hamilton 68 constantly to claim that Russian bots were amplifying hashtags related to Trump, Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham, and elections, among other things. <\/p>\n<p>But Roth, with the help of other executives, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/mtaibbi\/status\/1619029782980890624\">found<\/a> in February 2018 that \u201cthese accounts are neither strongly Russian nor strongly bots; they\u2019re just generally right-leaning users. Virtually any conclusion drawn from it will take conversations in conservative circles on Twitter and accuse them of being Russian.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Just because corporate media and \u201cexperts\u201d like Woolley bought into the hoax about Russian bots doesn\u2019t mean the average American should pay the price and lose their fundamental right to free speech \u2014 anonymous or otherwise.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-af14d1b11748e3cdeb12614679b5d8af fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-af14d1b11748e3cdeb12614679b5d8af\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Traditional media discourages anonymous online content to ensure accountability for posts, even if accurate. The Associated Press highlighted a viral tweet by the account &#8220;End Wokeness,&#8221; which misrepresented Social Security Administration data<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":2217338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/pexels-brett-jordan-8829445-e1712758780317.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2217337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/pexels-brett-jordan-8829445-e1712758780317.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2217337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2217337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2217337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2217338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2217337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2217337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2217337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}