Twitter has entered a new phase in their war against free expression. The same place that once claimed to represent the “free speech wing of the free speech party” has now decided to wipe out numerous alt-right accounts at the behest of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a group which claims expertise when it comes to so-called hate speech (when in reality they’re just a far-left advocacy group). I’ve long loved Twitter, and somehow I’ve escaped the death squads so far, but things don’t look very good for the future.

I don’t understand how they think this is going to help the service. Instead of finding ways to keep new users involved with Twitter, or teaching them how it works, they’ve decided to cull power users at the behest of the SPLC. It would be different if they decided to crack down on the left as well, although I would still be against it. I long for the days of old, where you could say almost anything on Twitter. Those days are long gone, though, replaced by Jack Dorsey following orders like a lapdog.

From USA Today…

Twitter suspended a number of accounts associated with the alt-right movement, the same day the social media service said it would crack down on hate speech.

Among those suspended was Richard Spencer, who runs an alt-right think tank and had a verified account on Twitter.

The alt-right, a loosely organized group that espouses white nationalism, emerged as a counterpoint to mainstream conservatism and has flourished online. Spencer has said he wants blacks, Asians, Hispanics and Jews removed from the U.S.

Twitter on Tuesday removed Spencer’s verified account, @RichardBSpencer, that of his think tank, the National Policy Institute @npiamerica, and his online magazine @radixjournal.

“This is corporate Stalinism,” Spencer told The Daily Caller News Foundation. In a YouTube video, entitled Knight of the Long Knives, an apparent reference to the purge of Nazi leaders in 1934 to consolidate Adolf Hitler’s power, Spencer said Twitter had engaged in a coordinated effort to wipe out alt-right Twitter.

“I am alive physically but digitally speaking there has been execution squads across the alt right,” he said. “There is a great purge going on and they are purging people based on their views.”

Twitter declined to comment on the suspensions, which included the accounts of Paul Town, Pax Dickinson, Ricky Vaughn and John Rivers…

Heidi Beirich, spokeswoman for the Southern Poverty Law Center, told USA TODAY that the center had asked Twitter to remove more than 100 accounts of white supremacists who violated Twitter’s terms of service.

I still don’t understand what the reasoning was behind Richard Spencer’s ban. I don’t think the others should have been killed off either, but at least you could possibly justify it. As Mike Cernovich said, Spencer had been nothing but respectful. I guess wrongthink is now officially enough to lose your account if the SPLC gives the word.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiADHzBOqZ0

How long will I keep my account? When will Cernovich get “got?” How about Paul Joseph Watson? I would say that our days are probably numbered. Twitter helps me spread my articles, but luckily I’ll still have this site if they ever kill me off. Their next frontier will be trying to ban sites like mine, but they’ll probably have their hands full with social media for awhile before they get that far.

It’s a real shame that respect for free speech is at such a low.