He Just Exposed the Censorship Machine 😳
Mike Benz argues that the 2014 overthrow of Ukraine's Yanukovych government marked the beginning of a global censorship industrial complex. This apparatus, initially created to combat Russian propaganda, was later expanded to control narratives around COVID, elections, and climate issues through government control of tech platforms.
Summary
According to Mike Benz, the censorship industrial complex began in 2014 with the overthrow of Ukraine's Yanukovych government, when powerful censorship tools were first deployed to counter Russian propaganda. Benz argues that once authorities realized they could successfully lie about major events and collaborate to create propaganda versions of reality, they became emboldened to expand these capabilities. The censorship apparatus that was initially established for geopolitical purposes was subsequently applied to domestic issues including COVID-19, election integrity, and climate change discussions. A key component of this system is government control over technology platforms, with examples including the FBI's control over Twitter and the European Union's Digital Services Act, which reportedly forces platforms like X to censor content that NATO wants suppressed. The technical infrastructure relies on natural language processing capabilities that can scan all internet content including tweets, Facebook posts, and YouTube videos, performing sentiment analysis to determine whether users support or oppose particular topics. This system can effectively suppress stories by reducing their visibility. Benz suggests that by 2017, those operating this system recognized they could apply the same techniques domestically in the US, using these tools to create chaos and sow dissent as a pathway to eventual government overthrow.
Key Insights
- Mike Benz argues that the overthrow of Ukraine's Yanukovych government in 2014 marked the beginning of the global censorship industrial complex
- Benz claims that once authorities figured out they could lie about major events and collude to create propaganda versions of reality, they became emboldened to expand these capabilities
- The censorship apparatus initially created for Russian propaganda was later applied to COVID, election disinformation, and climate disinformation
- The EU's Digital Services Act reportedly forces X to censor anything NATO wants censored through its disinformation compliance component
- Natural language processing technology can scan all internet content and perform sentiment analysis to determine user positions, with the ability to suppress story visibility
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] Mike Benz coined this and he was right. He said the overthrow of the Yanukovych government started the censorship industrial complex around the world. >> So, they brought to bear this very powerful censorship apparatus, really starting in 2014, initially to stop Russian propaganda. So, when they figured out they could lie about something that big and they could collude to create a propaganda version of reality, they were emboldened. >> And once that apparatus was put in [music] place, they began to apply it to everything, to COVID, to election [0:30] disinformation, to climate disinformation. >> Part of that is their control [music] over tech. >> The Digital Services Act, which adds a disinformation compliance component, and that…
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