Blogger has blocked user access to Vox Day’s Vox Popoli blog, telling readers it is “under review due to possible Blogger Terms of Service violations.” Blogger is owned by Google.
Vox Day immediately restored availability of Vox Popoli’s posts at a new URL, “milobookclub.com”, and commented on the situation in “Conflict is the air we breathe” [Internet Archive link.] He begins:
As you’ve almost certainly noticed if you’re here, Google has decided to roll the dice and take its chances with the Legal Legion of Evil. As with YouTube, Blogger hasn’t entirely deplatformed the account, but instead elected to block access to the blog while publicly issuing false and defamatory statements about it.
This is not a surprise. This day has been a long time in coming, and we have been prepared for it on every front. You may wish to note that this post was made barely an hour after Google took action. Special thanks to the dev team, who were ready for instant action and whose rapid response time allowed such an easy and seamless transformation….
He does not reveal Blogger’s stated reason for the action. It might be his anti-vaccination posts, or advocacy of racism, or even his anti-corporate posts targeting Marvel – but since these things have been his regular drumbeats for some time, one can only speculate why Blogger took action today.
Comments have not been turned on at the new URL, nor are past comments available there. Vox Day says his SocialGalactic platform is hosting parallel discussions of each post.
[Via Camestros Felapton.]
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Hahahahha! Thoughts and Prayers (to dear Cthulhu)
Okay, no surprise. Or surprising only in that it has taken this long.
Clickitty…
Indeed.
Noted. No comment.
That’s a cryin shame.
Checking Blogger terms of service, it’s clearly in violation of the Blogger content policy.
Harassment, Bullying and Threats – it has periodically belittled victims of violence or tragedy (comments re. false flags for mass shootings, etc.)
Hate Speech – aside from various anti-semitic dogwhistles (e.g., putting Jewish names in parenthesis, a favorite of the alt-right), things like referring to the “the sainted Breivik” (celebrating the mass killer Anders Breivik)
Misleading Content relating to civic and democratic processes” – the site was a lead promoter of just about every trump-won conspiracy theory up the very end
“Misleading Content relating to harmful health practices” – the site has been heavily pushing anti-vax conspiracy material. Given current climate, I’d guess that this is probably the most likely “straw that breaks the camel’s back”
The message on the page appears to have changed – it’s no longer “under review due to possible Blogger Terms of Service violations”. Apparently the review has finished, and It now reads:
My favorite thing about this might be his proclamation that somewhere in a non-existent Google warroom they’ve been girding their loins to tackle him rather than the nigh-certain prospect that this is an automated action due to people complaining.
Guy J: I suspect that VD/TB is the kind of person who thinks he can be judged by the quality of his enemies, and “algorithms based on people reporting my content” aren’t as high quality as the secret google war room.
Guy J. correctly states: My favorite thing about this might be his proclamation that somewhere in a non-existent Google warroom they’ve been girding their loins to tackle him rather than the nigh-certain prospect that this is an automated action due to people complaining.
Yeah, the system is an AI based one that is based on the number of complaints file and keywording what those complaints say. Vox very obviously offended a lot of folks.
To those that are gloating over this, one day it’ll be you. You think it won’t, but it will. And you will deserve it, and nobody will care about your crying and whining. Enjoy!
Zara: Why would we cry and whine? We’ll just tell everyone it was all part of our master plan. Don’t you think that’s working for Vox?
Oh no! If only I, a long time leftist and critic of capitalism, had realised that large multinational corporations might use their wealth and influence for bad as well as good then there is no way that I would cheer on one of the few occasions they use the power they already have to achieve a small but net good!
Zara; The status of my twitter account means it already has. And while I grumbled a couple of times, I haven’t been crying and whining, and I certainly didn’t declare it a part of my master plan.
The sorts of places that host social media are notorious for frequently UNjustly blocking people based on bad faith complaints by trolls. Seeing it happen to someone who almost certainly really was violating the terms of service is a small consolation for the many times it’s been done to people who didn’t. (See Paul Weimer, Chuck Tingle, and a LARGE number of BIPOC and white women who dared to speak up).
To those that are gloating over this, one day it’ll be you. You think it won’t, but it will. And you will deserve it, and nobody will care about your crying and whining. Enjoy!
Well actually no, because I won’t be celebrating mass murderer Anders Breivik, and calling a Black writer an “ignorant half-savage,” and spreading Covid misinformation. So there’s that. 🙄
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Not sure Zara. If I start ranting about all sorts of conspiracies and start being an all around racist and fascist dickhead, I think I’d need an intervention too.
*cough* *cough*set Pretentiousness=11First they came for Yiannopoulos, and I did not speak out, because I was not a bigoted troll.
Then they came for Beale, and I did not speak out, because I was not a racist misogynist conspiracy propagandist demagogue grifter.
Then they came for del Arroz, and I did not speak out, because I was not a serial harasser.
Then they . . .
*record scratch*unset PretentiousnessActually, they left most people alone.
And technically, they didn’t “come for” any of the above, since the above are free and uninjured, and only somewhat inconvenienced at having to find other outlets or platforms to spew their hate and nonsense.
Because freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences of speech.
*drops mic*@Owlmirror Well said!
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