—
One of the most disturbing legacies that Trump’s anti-government rhetoric has left us — is this quick to anger mindset, that is quick to threaten violence to get their way. Any pretense of civil society and appeal to ”comity“ is rapidly falling by the wayside of, what will Trump say about this — if I try to get along with my “friends on the other side of the aisle.”
When one unstable man holds that much power over his cowering supporters/captives — can the out-right acceptance of mob rule be that far behind?
If Jan 6th taught us anything — it’s that Trump knows how to rile up his angry followers, while at the same time punishing those who dare not fall in line. We are witnessing the weaponizing of baseless lies — from the Deep State to Fake News to Rigged Elections — BS has become King in Trumpworld.
And those Trump Bullshit Lies serve as the fuel to “radicalize Anger into Violence” ...
[...]
"When you're dealing with American citizens who can't be connected to a foreign terrorist organization, that already limits the reach and the ability for law enforcement to go deeper on those individuals because they're protected by the Constitution," he said.
[...]
Additionally, experts said that law enforcement now has to act almost instantaneously when alerted to a threat.
"There is often a brief period of time between radicalization and mobilization to violence that law enforcement has an opportunity to interdict that individual. And that brief moment is such a small window," said Harvin. "We've seen where people go from radicalization to mobilization of violence very, very quickly."
[...]
Katz, who has monitored terrorist threats since before 9/11, said she would like to see more focus on the technology companies that facilitate alt-social media platforms where the most violent rhetoric is commonplace. Specifically, she said companies that provide hosting, website security and domain registration should be pressured into dropping clients whose services incite violence.
"Otherwise, it's just going to continue to grow," she said.
—
Free Speech is an American birthright; Inciting violence against our fellow Americans is not.
If the soap-box that inciters are standing on, gets too heated, it should be the social responsibility of those providing the forum to step in and “dial down the temperature.” Boot the violent offenders off their site, if need be, so that those who still want “civil discourse” do not get derailed.
That’s one approach to the violent threats problem anyways — and here are some of those potential points of “alt-social” moderation:
The Far-Right Is Flocking To These Alternate Social Media Apps — Not All Of Them Are Thrilled
Forbes Staff — April 14, 2022
• Traffic has surged on Gab, a right-wing alternative to Twitter, mostly from new members who are Trump supporters, believers of the QAnon conspiracy theory and other right-wing extremists.
[...]
• Downloads of the app for Rumble, a conservative alternative to YouTube that’s supported by pundits and Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), doubled in the last week, according to Axios.
[...]
• While MeWe [an alternative to Facebook without targeted ads], seems happy about the influx of new users, its CEO Mark Weinstein told Fortune that the platform will be "more vigilant" in moderating content and does not want to become an "anything goes" app.
• Downloads of messaging app Telegram — already popular is Russia, Eastern Europe and parts of Asia — spiked last week and it has risen to No. 2 in the list of most downloaded free apps on Apple's App Store since Monday.
• The messaging app, which recently surpassed 500 million active users, has cracked down on public channels belonging to QAnon supporters and right-wing militias threatening further violence in Washington, D.C.
Hopefully Lawmaker will get beyond the “strongly worded letters” phase of moderation — and actually pass some “strongly worded” Laws.
Lawmakers press Meta, TikTok, Truth Social over threats to FBI after Mar-a-Lago search
USA Today — Aug 19, 2022
Lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee are demanding answers from social media platforms on their responses to a spike in online threats against federal law enforcement after the search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate last week.
Letters were sent to nine social media platforms Friday, including mainstream sites like Meta, Twitter and TikTok and right-wing platforms like Gab, GETTR and Trump's Truth Social.
In the letters, the lawmakers asked the platforms to explain how they are identifying and responding to threats and to produce any advertisements “shown alongside posts” reported to law enforcement or removed from the platform for making threats against law enforcement.
"The Committee strongly supports the First Amendment rights of all Americans to speak out about the actions of their government and law enforcement matters, including on social media platforms," said the letter, penned Friday by Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., who chairs the committee, and Stephen Lynch, D-Mass. "However, threats and incitements of deadly violence are unacceptable and against the law."
[...]
One possible approach is to tax the hell out the worse platforms that allow these civil war waging wildfire to go unchecked. Another approach is to make such Platform providers liable for any Violence and Harm, that their nod-and-wink enables — ala the Alex Jones template.
And perhaps they can start with one of the biggest offenders out there. A MAGA-sponsored platform that says they will boot violent content — yet they turn a blind eye to the some of more practical methods their hate-followers use ...
Rolling Stone — Aug 15, 2022
Former President Donald Trump claims that he “will do whatever” he can to bring down “the temperature” following last week’s FBI’s raid of his Florida home and club, Mar-a-Lago. But even a glimpse of Truth Social — Trump’s social media company — shows that the MAGA website has been a haven for private, doxxed information not only about authorities involved in the federal raid, but also of their families.
A review of Truth Social postings by Rolling Stone shows Trump supporters have spent the past week doxxing both Judge Bruce Reinhart, the magistrate judge who approved the Mar-a-Lago warrant, and an FBI agent involved in preparing the request, as well as their families. The information includes their purported home addresses, phone numbers, places of worship, private offices, and similar information about the men’s families and junior employees.
[...]
Former Trump White House aide Garrett Ziegler posted the name of an FBI agent involved in the preparation of the warrant on Truth Social, as well as the names of his wife and child, their social media accounts, and the school the child attends. Truth Social removed the post by Ziegeler but the verbatim text of the post, complete with contact information for the agent and his family, have spread across Trump’s social media in a series of posts with no apparent attempts at moderation by the company.
[...]
Doxing is horrific — it should have no place way in civil society.
Yet the BS King himself, lets the practical effects of the Doxing spread like wildfire, on his violence-condoning forum. When you delete the 1st Doxing Post — but you let all the COPIES of those Doxing details circulate unhindered — you are doing the EXACT OPPOSITE of "turning-down the temperature" against the DOJ and the FBI. Despite your crocodile tears to the contrary.
You are in fact, inciting more violence. In hopes of chilling any further investigations into your many, inexcusable crimes.
These unabated wildfires of violent threats must not stand — if we are to remain a “civil society” … whose members agree to disagree, with those on the other side of the political aisle.
— —