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Google, Twitter, Facebook, Apple slapped with class-action lawsuit over conservative censorship
Fox Business ^ | September 04, 2018 | Julia Limitone

Posted on 09/05/2018 5:27:13 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum

Social Media and search giants are being hit with a class-action lawsuit from a pro-Trump group who claims that they conspired against Conservatives.

Freedom Watch, which promotes right to privacy among other causes, claims that Facebook, Google, Twitter and Apple violated antitrust laws.

“Our YouTube account on Google never gets above 49 thousand,” said Larry Klayman, the group’s founder, during an interview on FOX Business’ “Varney & Co.” on Tuesday. “It goes up, it goes down. That’s been going on for about six months,” he claimed while adding that other conservative groups and interests are also experiencing the same issues.

Klayman, a former antitrust lawyer who helped break up AT&T’s telephone monopoly during the Regan administration, also alleged the tech companies collaborated to restrain trade.

“There’s also a concept of conscious parallelism,” he said. “When companies move in tandem in parallel fashion that do the same thing that can be restraint of trade. So we believe there’s an actual agreement between these leftist owned media giants like Google, Twitter, YouTube etc.,” he explained.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxbusiness.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: antitrust; apple; censorship; dnctalkingpoint; dnctalkingpoints; facebook; freedomwatch; google; internet; larryklayman; lawsuit; liberalfascism; mediawingofthednc; newmedia; partisanmediashills; presstitutes; smearmachine; socialmedia; twitter; youtube
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1 posted on 09/05/2018 5:27:13 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Klayman will lose again.


2 posted on 09/05/2018 5:28:06 AM PDT by nwrep
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I think as individual businesses they would have been within their right to set whatever rules they wanted.

However, when they conspired together it is no different then when the Oil or transportation barons of the late 1800 conspired to put others out of business.

We are in new territory but I believe they are going to regret the decision to become political and not remain a neutral in the cultural war.


3 posted on 09/05/2018 5:35:13 AM PDT by CIB-173RDABN (I am not an expert in anything, and my opinion is just that, an opinion. I may be wrong.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Not defending Apple here, but they don’t seem to occupy the same space tech-wise that Google, Twitter, and Facebook do.

It seems like three oranges and an Apple. It didn’t say in the article what Apple has done to be in that group...any idea?


4 posted on 09/05/2018 5:35:19 AM PDT by rlmorel (Leftists: They believe in the "Invisible Hand" only when it is guided by government.)
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To: nwrep

I don’t know what you’ve been smoking but Judicial Watch has been the most effective conservative activist organization in history.

Their exposure of deep state as well as a host of other governmental corruption through FOIA etc. is legendary.


5 posted on 09/05/2018 5:36:22 AM PDT by traderrob6
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
Klayman is far smarter than I am but hopefully there will be some deep pocket soul that will buy a share of stock in each and then file a complaint and/or a class action claiming the companies aren't operating as they claim.

Fraud in a public company is pretty serious.

6 posted on 09/05/2018 5:43:25 AM PDT by Proud_texan (McCarthy was right)
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To: rlmorel
It seems like three oranges and an Apple. It didn’t say in the article what Apple has done to be in that group...any idea?

Specifically, Apple removed certain InfoWars podcasts from iTunes for "hate speech" violations.

7 posted on 09/05/2018 5:43:27 AM PDT by Drew68
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To: Drew68

Ah. Thanks. Now I see the drift of it.


8 posted on 09/05/2018 5:46:20 AM PDT by rlmorel (Leftists: They believe in the "Invisible Hand" only when it is guided by government.)
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To: rlmorel

They’re all members of the World Wide Web consortium which is like the internet maffia... you either sell to them or you die on the vine because they will restrict access to their user bases...


9 posted on 09/05/2018 5:47:08 AM PDT by willyd (I for one welcome our NSA overlords)
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To: willyd

Yes...I had completely overlooked their iTunes censorship. I get it now.


10 posted on 09/05/2018 5:48:08 AM PDT by rlmorel (Leftists: They believe in the "Invisible Hand" only when it is guided by government.)
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To: traderrob6

“I don’t know what you’ve been smoking but Judicial Watch has been the most effective conservative activist organization in history”

True now, less so when Klayman was there.

THIS IS FREEDOM WATCH. Not the same group.


11 posted on 09/05/2018 5:48:10 AM PDT by DAC21
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Yay!!!!

It’s. About. Time.


12 posted on 09/05/2018 5:48:57 AM PDT by Basket_of_Deplorables (Sessions IS "The Insurance Policy.")
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Good... This is what needed to happen and every individual who has been wronged by these companies needs to add their name to the plaintiff list.


13 posted on 09/05/2018 5:49:36 AM PDT by Openurmind
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To: nwrep

“Klayman will lose again.”

Rains a lot at your place, huh?


14 posted on 09/05/2018 5:49:50 AM PDT by Basket_of_Deplorables (Sessions IS "The Insurance Policy.")
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Collusion - secret or illegal cooperation or conspiracy, especially in order to cheat or deceive others.


15 posted on 09/05/2018 5:54:13 AM PDT by KosmicKitty (Opportunities multiply as they are seized.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
"So we believe there’s an actual agreement between these leftist owned media giants like Google, Twitter, YouTube etc.,”


16 posted on 09/05/2018 5:55:20 AM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
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To: traderrob6

I’ve been watching them for years. For a long time it seemed no one was paying attention to them treating them like a small, of no consequence news agency.

I’m so glad to see them getting respect and attention.


17 posted on 09/05/2018 5:58:23 AM PDT by Beowulf9
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

From the Freedom Watch site...

https://www.freedomwatchusa.org/freedom-watch-files-class-action-complaint-against-google-f


18 posted on 09/05/2018 6:01:09 AM PDT by Openurmind
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To: CIB-173RDABN

I think as individual businesses they would have been within their right to set whatever rules they wanted.

~~~

First of all, that is a sentiment, not legal grounds. If google set whatever rules they wanted that negatively affected public safety, such as favoring results that promoted the use of opioids and methamphetamines, I would guess they’d be in a lot of hot water.

Secondly, this seems to be based on anti-trust concerns. Not an easy type of case to win, at all! However, I believe it has merits. If you have one (or a very small number) who are gatekeepers to what equates to a public utility, you’ve got big problems.
The big leap here, for a lot of people, is equating influence on the flow of information with a public utility. If you don’t see it that way, you’re not alone. In fact, you’re probably like most people. However, most people just want to turn things on when they need them, and don’t much care about how they work, as long as they do, and just because they are getting search results back from google, it doesn’t mean they are being served in their own best interests, because they have no possible way to determine how they wouldn’t be.

The reason I believe anti-trust approach will fail is because, if we shut down Google today, people would still be able to search the internet. If we shut down Twitter and Facebook, the vast majority of people who use them would still be able to find a way to set up new communication with the people they formerly used those service for.

The real problem here, in my opinion, is transparency. Google can hide their algorithms based on Trade Secret laws. Twitter and Facebook can bury in bureaucracy their methods for taking exact control over their content away from users, and nobody is doing anything to stop it.


19 posted on 09/05/2018 6:01:57 AM PDT by z3n
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To: rlmorel
Ah. Thanks. Now I see the drift of it.

Additionally, Google and Apple have removed the app for Gab.ai from their stores. Gab is viewed as a less-restrictive version of Twitter and it's where many people who have gotten kicked off Twitter for their one-sided TOS enforcements go to post.

This is noteworthy because there's a popular argument here that if people don't like Twitter, they should just go to Gab without seemingly understanding that the same internet giants who are trying to silence conservative voices from the popular sites are also working to make the less popular sites inaccessible as well.

20 posted on 09/05/2018 6:02:22 AM PDT by Drew68
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