Ree81
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https://www.npr.org/2025/12/04/nx-s1-5633444/trump-content-moderation-visas-censorship
This is your signal. Free speech in America is under attack, and they're coming for anyone who dares question the "Republican truth". This act is just the start, soon enough nobody's going to be able to criticize the government without ending up in prison.
You've been warned. /European
Sqeezytzatziki
Wait till fifa soccer and the Olympics . Going to be interesting, seeing we've blocked 30 COUNTRIES from coming here. It's one way we will win. No competition.
EllerySmellery
This is about Visa applications
Yes he sucks and yes free speech is under attack but keep the facts straight
newsguycraigevans
Are you saying the current presidential administration may determine what constitutional rights apply and to whom?
JohnWickdidnothingwrong
They aren't even going to leave a skeleton to rebuild off of. We need to start planning for what kind of a country we're going to make once this has burned all the way down.
JackingMeHoff
I other words if you are not a white South African do not apply for a Visa.
gronzilla
Wow. Newspeak for "censorship" much. It's 100% upside down.
TheWombatStrikesAgain
No, you see, it's actually our freedom of speech in Europe that's under threat, because we have all those mean and oppressive laws against hate spee- I mean against totally normal conservative viewpoints. Trump said so himself, and Musk agreed. And they always say they love free speech, so it must be true. /s
Ree81
That said, it is subjective what should be included in free speech or not.
I have.... like two 'controversial' opinions, mainly about how abortions affect the men who want to keep the pregnancy going. I usually get called 'bigot' because I don't follow status quo.
Eh, not like I think it's all that important, at least compared to the WORLD ENDING problems we have, like climate change.
madjo
In Trump's America facts are illegal.
Poopoopeepeevagina
But what about alternative facts? You know, the ones you completely make up on the spot?
cousteau
They've repeatedly made it clear they are anti-science, anti-facts, and have turned truth into a brand name.
hfctom
"I was told there wouldn't be any fact checking"
ilovebigmutts
I've been banned from reddit. Best thing thats happened to me in years.
Ree81
You've been banned from a subsection of reddit. I've probably been banned from Worldnews 5-6 times now lol.
Reddit has a problem with shitty mods taking over hundreds of subreddits, and never getting any consequences. It's said Ghilaine Maxwell was a mod and deleted Epstein type posts constantly. Again, with no repercussions because reddit admins don't have a system for that (and don't give a shit).
ilovebigmutts
Nah man. Right the fuck out. My bipolar and bpd have me saying some nasty shit. It's better now but I still get twisted.
Ree81
Sucks. For what it's worth, I'm for all sorts of freedom of speech. The only ones that should be able to "ban" you are the police. And then only for literal harassment, not "saying wrong thing".
ilovebigmutts
Its really for the best. Trying to be good here, its hard to be "good" all the time.
Goatfer
astronomygeek7
Wow, I’m seeing a lot of people letting themselves get steamrolled instead of wanting to stand up and join a grassroots organization to prevent this from happening. Words are just words, don’t let them take away your right to free speech. We’re going to have to save ourselves. Don’t give in to their rhetoric and keep standing strong. Don’t doom and gloom before it’s over or you’re just giving him a win.
EroticZombiePants
I've been saying for a while now at some point places like Imgur will be blocked from all USA based IPs if they don't outright raid Imgur and shut it down completely while confiscating everything as "evidence" to use to root out dissidents.
TheNotGreatDane
The American something or other is saying that Europe will be unrecognizable in 20 years... well, at least you're ahead of us in SOMETHING.
Ree81
The economy's kinda doing ok in Europe rn. The US is that weird distant cousing that does nitro and tries to fuck his sister. You just sort of avoid them and hope for the best.
Hotsauceman
To all of the assholes at the US government allowing this..
DeadyBearr
Oh man... I had a dvd signed by the creators back when I was 17.
It's long gone now.
MastrBetty
I guess Dr. Tran isn't coming to save us...
gesel
To all the asshole voters who were such fucking idiots as to protest not vote for Harris. You shitstains destroyed our country, destroyed Ukraine, sentenced Taiwan to war, Gaza to destruction, and murdered at least 12 million of the world's poor.
This is on you because you should have known better and you claim this isn't what you wanted.
JustSomePersonThere
Hey man, you feel that righteous anger in your heart? It is good that you have it. I have it too. However, it’s aimed at the wrong target. That contempt should be held against the supposed opposition party that went OUT OF ITS WAY to not oppose any of the horrible shit that maga wants.
Even now, they throw their hands up and say “we can’t fight this”. Except for when a candidate flanks them on the left, then holy shit, suddenly they find their strength and will move mountains to stop them.
gesel
bullshit. Either you're a fascist troll or a useful idiot, either way you're a liability and the blood of millions is on your hands.
Fuckwits like you were critical to Trump's victory.
There are decent people who wish the democratic party, and the country that votes for them was more progressive, some of them even help make it so. Then there are insidious, corrosive pieces of shit like you that weaken our will to resist the fascists by dividing us.
JustSomePersonThere
My guy, you think I’m advocating for not voting for trump. I am not. I’m saying the blame for trump getting elected lies squarely at the feet of the Democratic Party, not the party who were given not even a shred to vote for.
gesel
so you're advocating for voting for trump and victim blaming?
Nice.
Ree81
It's all sunk cost fallacy and tribalism with these people.
Yesterday an article said that *just now* did a majority of MAGA voters not want a 3rd term......... which would of course be anti-democratic.
gesel
If you could explain how it is a sunk cost fallacy in 500 words or a link, I'd be very grateful.
Ree81
Just look up the definition, or better yet, look at a compilation video of fallacies/biases.
But basically: They keep getting so many L's that they can't back down. "A win is just around the corner" they say, as their freedoms are taken away one by one.
gesel
I do understand the concept as applied to many situations, I'm just being dense in this case.
BarnegatLight
spez was vehemently defending hosting The_Donald until two weeks before Trump left office. He's absolutely fine letting Nazis hang around, and will cheerfully award Trump the inaugural Reddit Peace Prize to keep reddit going.
Ree81
Yeah, and the current leadership doesn't seem too interested in fighting fascism or propaganda either.
That said, there's still tons of subreddits with good mods that keep the place tidy.
Mountons
Still waiting for the freedom loving gun nuts to get involved here.... Oh wait, were they completely full of shit all along? Cowards?
Ree81
Tribalism. It's not a problem if it's coming from inside the house. It's especially bad in America for some reason.
areyouelonmusk
Do they not understand what censorship is, or is this intentional?
EatPieLander
Ree81
I honestly just picture Trump going "You can't criticize me or I'll get super duper angry!"
EatPieLander
" ... and I won the greatest state with 'west' in its name, Western Virginia, by over 47 million votes in a landslide of a win. Always a winner, the best winner. Can't beat winning almost any state by 57 million boats. That's a lot of boats, for a lot of river."
Thisisnotreallymyname
But Europe is censoring free speech. I sincerely hope the EU hurries up with reducing our dependency on the US, so we can witness its downfall without getting dragged along with it
Ree81
UK maybe. And they're famous, but don't confuse fame for representativity.
AgentKujan
Oh no! Now it will be a waste of time to apply for a visa to a country I will not go to in the first place as long as the current regime is in power.
I guess I just have to spend that time continuing research on which US products not to buy
RyanH42
They were warned CONSTANTLY during the lead-up to the election, and they didn't listen or care.
Foxcross
So they in fact, checked about free speech and found up that they don't get it... Thanks government for proving you're an asshole
Ree81
I've been thinking about reddit lately, about how it's basically the last bastion of free speech in the west, as weird as it feels to compliment reddit like that.
All of the other large platforms are right-wing, and have algorithms that feed you right-wing content, grifts, and propaganda. Facebook, X, Instagram, Tiktok, and likely other ones too, as algorithms just... suck.
Sure, you can make another one, but if reddit is taken out somehow, the replacements aren't going to be as heavy hitting.
NickNoltesDrinkingShack
It's not tho. Everywhere is hyper vigilant and locked down so if you say anything someone doesn't like, they phantom fuck you. Stupid cunts hopped up on their fake internet power banning people they don't agree with because that's the pussy ass world we live in now. These people woklda sucked off a shotgun if they had to deal with online gaming in the early 2000s. Yet somehow all the assholes are still finding ways to be there while anyone who isn't a troll is pretty rare.
K1n6D0n6
I wouldn't go that far on Reddit as a free speech bastion.
It's full of micro nations with inconsistent rulings and moderation and has become overrun with bots. The fact that its being used to train AI has also caused more heavy handed moderation.
Digg is on the way back so hopefully that will offer an alternative in the meantime.
EroticZombiePants
Reddit is simply too big and all-encompassing to be able to be pushed into either wing. There are tons of left-wing content, there are tons of right-wing content, and there are tons of completely apolitical content of a wide variety of types. Plus, since everything is broken up into their own subgroups, people ultimately get far greater freedom of content than the other sites you mentioned.
FreedAcademical
Lemmy has been a good alternative to Reddit
Ree81
Never even heard of it, which was my point.
SamuthNBS
Bear in mind the American overlords have already denied access to reddit images to people in the UK...
lightfoot2
Worst case we roll back to Usenet. But yeah, the large "content" platforms are every bit as centralized and boot licking as AT&T's "Connect" concept was in the 1980's.
As Rick Sanchez would say "God Damnit, why is this shit the default?"
Dracology
I didn't even think Usenet was a thing anymore. I remember a decade or so ago everything I used to access it stopped working.
lastmanonearthbutidroppedmyglasses
It is. Did you stop paying your news server?
lastmanonearthbutidroppedmyglasses
Usenet is great, I should set my newsreader up again.
lightfoot2
Yep, and I might start firing up UUCICO. Any good nodes to peer with?
mardukkur
Bluesky has no algorithmic feed (unless you choose to follow one) and also right winger trolls generally don't post there because they get nuclear blocks and no engagement.
EroticZombiePants
Discord's decentralization will ultimately keep it from going alt right overall, but it's basically like a modernized MIRC when it comes to navigation.
Ree81
Yeah I've been trying. It's not a great site to navigate honestly.
mardukkur
Not sure what you mean, it works just like twitter used to minus the nazis. You see what you choose to follow.
lastmanonearthbutidroppedmyglasses
Well Twitter sucks, so…
Ree81
I don't really "see" anything unless I actively seek out stuff. It's different.
TheWombatStrikesAgain
I keep hearing Reddit is turning to shit, but I'm only active in a few highly specialised communities, so I don't see much of it.
filurilurl
Yeah, a lot of places on reddit are pretty chill. I'm mostly in subreddits related to games I play and the odd humour subreddit like GrimDank and had like one bad experience in 10+ years.
I distinctly remember someone here on imgur making a really angry post a year or two back about being banned from reddit and how much reddit sucked etc., and then in the comments they straight up admitted to having been in flame wars on r/politics and like... yeah, dude, you made that bed yourself.
Ree81
Still, it *always* sucks when you get banned or just punished for being yourself. We humans are designed to hurt from that.
Really wish the internet was more evolved by now, but it seems like a distant dream.
filurilurl
Eh, in that particular case I don't have much sympathy, not that I dispute that a lot of *parts* of reddit have shit culture / community / moderation. But like any platform that provides space for people to make their own communities, I feel like it's more worth highlighting the places that do good than the ones that do bad, because shitty humans will always exist.
And yup, I do feel your last statement. Feels like society is busy enacting everything sci-fi has warned us not to do for >50yrs.
LaffertyDanie1
Facts are simple and facts are straight
Facts are lazy and facts are late
Facts all come with points of view
Facts don't do what I want them to
Facts just twist the truth around
Facts are living turned inside out
Facts are getting the best of them
Facts are nothing on the face of things
alienstomper
No, the signal was the entire first presidency, this is the fire reaching our door
Ree81
Remember, if gestapo (ICE) arrives at your door, you're not guaranteed to ever return home, or even to America.
dizzyturtle
I know Imgur and Blue Sky are like 99% Leftist but isn't Reddit more neutral or maybe lean-left? I don't use Reddit so I have no clue.
Ree81
Very left. It seems literally all the places that deal with bots, trolls and literally illegal stuff have all lefties. *shrug*
DorkJedi
Any place that does not cater to lies and misinformation leans away from the right.
Nalianna
Reality leans left.
Ac1dBurn72
I read that ICE wants to go after "dissenters."
What qualifies as dissent? Without a definition, it's open for the moving goalpost, where everyone eventually fits the bill.
Every time the court rules something, and it isn't enforced, we lose an option to peacefully move away from fascism.
Peaceful protest is the preamble to violence. It's us saying "Hey. We really don't like this thing. Fix it." To having to say "you didn't fix it, now we will." I've called this since 2008. It was coming.
EroticZombiePants
Raid the Imgur servers. Browse for everyone that has said anything bad about Trump this year. DISSENTERS.
Ree81
Was a video of a very white, very American looking teen/young adult getting ICE'd today or yesterday.
They're purposefully doing these "accidental" arrests in order to push the boundaries, to see if they get away with literal kidnapping of anyone leftist. Eventually they'll go after people of influence, like journalists, or just social media stars.
And if we let them, eventually it's you.
Ac1dBurn72
Yeah. I've unfortunately become the type of guy who is like "I need more guns..." Because I'm VERY vocal about hating that orange shit stain. And I don't plan to back down.
If it's death in my home versus the gulag, I'm promise that it'll make national news. Hahaha.
Ree81
Ac1dBurn72
Yeah man. I'm straight up not having a good time.
I'm a large straight white male (SWM). And I have people in my life, including my partner and daughter, who I don't want to lose their voice to these christofascists.
I grew up in church. I KNOW the Bible. But, this isn't that. It's clearly them using the name of God to further their own agenda. And that's the 3rd commandment.
It never had ANYTHING to do with saying jesus christ. It's always been about using religion to persecute others.
Ree81
True christians and atheists, together in the fight against fascism lol
Grimlinnan
2A cowards you aren't protecting America.
cousteau
If America ever recovers from this shit, I hope they revert 2A given that it didn't fulfill its purpose.
judyblue
Because that was never its actual purpose. The whole "to fight back against a tyrannical government" thing is right-wing propaganda. The 2A was about the South being able to preserve slavery (the "tyranny" they feared was abolition). Most 2A enthusiasts today claim they need guns to kill hypothetical burglars, not to rise up against the government. The tyranny angle is just a standard GOP stump speech line whenever they need to stoke the base's rage against liberals.
graehall
The 2As were always on the side of fascism
HamburgerTelephone
Too busy working for ICE
EroticZombiePants
Most 2A freaks are hardcore righties who can't wait for the moment they are allowed to use their gun collection to kill all the people they don't like. Those Michigan militia people planned to kidnap and kill Whitmer, a Democratic governor, instead of any Republican for a reason.
Ree81
2A's gonna let America slide into fascism. Then into poverty. Then into civil war or some sort of skirmish to get rid of the fascists.
But.... if the fascists win it's literally going to be "from my cold dead hands" if they ever do decide to rise up. The fascists would have control over the military. That's "Off with his head because he looked funny at me" territory.
Ranb40
This is going to sound strange, but many of the GOP and MAGA are no longer interested in promoting the right to keep and bear arms. When Trump opposes the 2A, it is the right thing to do in their minds.
Having a pro-gun agenda that includes criticizing Trump's gun grab and his push to confiscate guns without due process is considered, by some MAGA, to be a form of TDS now. That's why the MAGA will not use their arms to protect us from Trump tyranny.
EroticZombiePants
An armed public is detrimental to a fascist regime.
savagesong
They gonna find out real fast who is MAGA and who is a red neck.
eathotdog
Hes their big golden calf
unluckyandbored
The 2A folk are on the side of the fascists.