Big Tech deplatforms anti-deplatforming conference



Under the glaring Las Vegas sun, a conference called RePlatform took place last Friday at the Horseshoe Casino. The conference showcased companies fighting the trend of giant corporations de-banking and deplatforming dissenting views. In an ironic twist, the conference was deplatformed by a Big Tech company.

Stripe, one of America's major payment processors, has withdrawn its services from the freedom economy conference RePlatform Vegas. Despite this setback, the conference proceeded as planned Friday, March 8, to Sunday, March 10, in Las Vegas. The event aimed to connect companies, investors, and consumers within the parallel economy in response to the deplatforming efforts of corporate America.

During the preparations for RePlatform, the organizers encountered multiple attempts at cancellation. The organizers allege that Stripe withheld tens of thousands of dollars essential for the conference's production, thereby jeopardizing the efforts of this new startup.

David Ragsdale, RePlatform's chief executive officer, spoke with Blaze News to recount the conference’s challenges.

“During our heaviest marketing blitz, Stripe sequestered our funds on the basis of one refund request, forcing us to pause sales to switch to GabPay and changing the entire nature of our conference into a B2B networking event. The fact that most of Stripe’s competitors are at RePlatform is interesting,” Ragsdale explained.

“This is why we need the parallel economy to grow faster, proving the point of RePlatform.”

Fortunately, a featured company at the conference was able to step up and handle payment processing. GabPay is an alternative payment service offering online, real-time transactions; credit card merchant processing; and banking services.

GabPay COO Dan Eddy explained why what happened to RePlatform is emblematic of a larger trend in the financial services sector: Companies and individuals can lose access to financial networks at the arbitrary whim of Big Tech.

“Stripe’s growth and technology offering is nothing short of amazing. However, its seemingly arbitrary process closing accounts for community guidelines violations is crushing small businesses,” Eddy told me.

While it was a massive inconvenience for the organizers and attendees, it does highlight why a conference like RePlatform is so essential at this moment, as a culture of censorship is permeating major tech and financial platforms. This trend of canceling voices that speak out on issues as diverse as COVID-19 to the war in Ukraine should be very concerning for anyone who cares about free speech.

It’s bad enough to be removed from social media, but when individuals and organizations are barred from participating in standard banking and financial services, it signals a terrifying new front in the war on free speech. China has used this tactic to great effect to silence domestic political opponents, and sadly, it’s becoming a reality for Americans critical of mainstream opinions.

I spoke with Joe Rodgers, the publisher of Bitcoin magazine, about this trend.

“I was de-banked from Bank of America, so this is not something we're unfamiliar with. Amex quit credit card processing for us because we're a Bitcoin business, so we’re unfortunately familiar with this reality,” Rodgers said. “I think that's why this conference is important.”

Despite the setbacks and the ominous trend of censorship, the attendees I spoke with were excited about the future. Events like RePlatform highlight a movement that cares deeply about freedom of speech and is building the tools needed to fight back.

Stripe did not respond to a request for comment.

Bank CEO ousted following politically-motivated de-banking of Nigel Farage



Coutts bank, part of the NatWest Group, was exposed last week for having de-banked Nigel Farage for political reasons — something both the bank and the liberal British media previously denied.

Despite her apology last week, NatWest CEO Alison Rose has been ousted with the bank — her Tuesday admission to misleading the nation likely having been a factor.

While NatWest chairman Howard Davies indicated it "is a sad moment," Farage appears emboldened, stating on Twitter, "Dame Alison Rose has gone. Others must follow."

What's the background?

Farage, the former English politician who proved instrumental in the 2020 restoration of British sovereignty via Brexit, revealed early this month that he had been de-banked by Coutts and told his funds would be shifted to the lender NatWest.

The Guardian and other left-leaning British publications parroted the bank's suggestion that the rationale behind the shuttering of Farage's account was due to financial issues, specifically his alleged failure to meet wealth criteria.

However, Farage told BBC Radio 4, "I have been with them for a decade and at the moment I have more money sitting on current account than I have had for most of that time."

The Brexiteer appeared convinced that "the establishment" was "trying to force [him] out of the UK" owing to his political views, reported the Financial Times.

He wasn't wrong.

TheBlaze indicated last week that Farage got his hands on documents revealing both that he was right on the money and that the Times, the BBC, the Guardian and other liberal outfits were dead wrong: Coutts had taken issue with his political viewpoints and past public opinions.

Contrary to the bank's earlier suggestion, the 40-page file from Coutts bank obtained via a "subject access request" contained an acknowledgement that Farage was a commercially-viable customer.

The document further highlighted apparently unbecoming remarks made by the former politician, stressing the bank would be best off closing his account and "exiting" him upon the expiry of his mortgage, even though "it is very likely that the client would 'go public.'"

Among Farage's remarks and stances that got under the bankers' skins were were:

  • his 2020 comparison of the destructive and scandal-prone Black Lives Matter movement to the Taliban over their shared iconoclastic tendency to tear down statues;
  • his October 2022 suggestion that British politician Grant Shapps was a "remainer and a globalist";
  • his September 2022 suggestion that vicious tensions between Islamic and Hindu groups in Leicester were resultant of politicians deciding "to go down the road of diversity and multiculturalism";
  • his criticism of climate alarmism and his suggestion that "Net zero is net stupid";
  • his "Endorsements of Donald Trump"; and
  • his appearances on InfoWars.

Farage called the document "abusive," likening it to a "Stasi-style surveillance report."

Suella Braverman, the British home secretary, responded the revelations, writing, "The Coutts scandal exposes the sinister nature of much of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion industry."

— (@)

After Coutts was exposed, NatWest CEO Alison Rose penned an apology to Farage, stating, "I believe very strongly that freedom of expression and access to banking are fundamental to our society and it is absolutely not our policy to exit a customer on the basis of legally held political and personal views. ... To this end, I would like to personally reiterate our offer to you of alternative banking arrangements at NatWest."

The BBC and its reporter Simon Jack, who now faces demands to resign, followed suit, apologizing Monday.

— (@)

Outs at Coutts

Sky News reported that Rose admitted to having been the BBC's source of the false suggestion that Farage's de-banking was executed on the basis of strictly commercial reasons.

Farage noted that this was a breach of client confidentiality and Financial Conduct Authority code.

"The first rule of banking is you have to obey client confidentiality. So they have made a complete and utter mess of this," said Farage.

Rose resigned and further confirmed she was no longer a member of the prime minister's business council on Wednesday.

The bank claimed Rose's departure was "by mutual consent," reported the Associated Press.

Following the news of Rose's resignation, shares in the bank dropped 4%.

Farage said online that he hopes "this serves as a warning to the banking industry. We need both cultural and legal changes to a system that has unfairly shut down many thousands of innocent people."

He said in a statement, "they should all go," referencing the whole of the NatWest board, including its chairman, Davies.

— (@)

Into the breach

Farage vowed Wednesday evening in an article for the Telegraph that his "war on woke banks is about to rapidly expand."

"An emergency root and branch examination of what has happened at NatWest under Rose’s leadership must now take place. In recent years this bank – 39 per cent owned by taxpayers, remember – has morphed into a woke warrior," he wrote. "It has become obsessed with public displays of political correctness rather than focussing on the business of managing and making money. The truth is that in its quest to promote diversity and inclusion, this corporate giant has turned into a divisive and poisonous monster."

"Now is the time to fight back," wrote Farage, adding that he intends to be the voice for "everyday people" and "to campaign for the cultural and legal changes that our banking system needs."

The last time Farage put his mind to populist action, the United Kingdom ended up kicking the EU to the curb.

The Sunday Times recently indicated that NatWest is likely to soon face an avalanche of requests from tens-of-thousands of similarly de-banked customers, all wishing to know why they were canceled.

Banking minister Andrew Griffith convened a meeting of the executives from Britain's biggest banks Wednesday, telling them, "It’s not the job of banks to tell us what to think or what political party we should support."

"In a democracy that relies upon freedom of expression, freedom of thought, that isn’t a legitimate thing for a bank to remove someone’s access to a bank account, a really important building block of society today," added Griffith.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

AOC On Tucker Exit: ‘Deplatforming Works’

New York Democrat Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez celebrated Carlson's network exit Monday night

AOC ridiculed for celebrating Carlson's ousting and saying 'deplatforming works'



Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) took to social media Monday to celebrate Fox News' ousting of Tucker Carlson, just days after she suggested that the government should clamp down on the news network.
Critics online have roundly ridiculed the Democratic lawmaker over her comments, highlighting her apparent affinity for shutting down opposing views, this time by corporate means and possibly with the help of statist pressure.

"Tucker Carlson is out at Fox News," the democratic socialist said gleefully in the video. "Couldn't have happened to a better guy."

Ocasio-Cortez indicated she was "very glad" that Fox News gave Carlson the boot, repeating the claim that he was "arguably responsible" for "driving some of the most, uh, amounts of death threats and violent threats, not just to my office but to plenty of people across the country."

While delighted by this turn of events, Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged that Carlson's days of calling her out are likely far from over.

"Um, I also kind of feel like I'm like waiting for the cut scene at the end of a Marvel movie, after all the credits have rolled, and then you see like the villain's like hand re-emerge out to grip over like the end of a building or something," she said.

The democratic socialist held off on her more controversial statement until the end of the video, where she stated, "Deplatforming works and it is important and um, there you go. Good things can happen."

\u201c.@AOC on @TuckerCarlson: \u201cDeplatforming works and it is important.\u201d\u201d
— Donna, Independent \ud83c\udf3a\ud83d\uddfd\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\u23f3 (@Donna, Independent \ud83c\udf3a\ud83d\uddfd\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\u23f3) 1682381765

Independent journalist Kyle Becker responded to the video, tweeting, "This is the only way the radical left can defeat its political opposition. Terrorism, censorship, guerilla warfare, purging its ideological opposition."

Alex Lorusso, an executive producer at Newsmax, wrote, "The Democratic Party is the Party of Censorship."

One Twitter user branded Ocasio-Cortez "The Bronx Bolshevik."

Another argued, "Deplatforming does work in most cases (it won't in Carlson's case) but it is also the tool of people whose ideas either can't stand scrutiny or debate and/or those with totalitarian impulses."

Whereas Ocasio-Cortez had been more suggestive, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was explicit last week when he called on Fox News CEO Rupert Murdoch to deplatform Carlson:

\u201cJust weeks ago, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called on Rupert Murdoch to take Tucker Carlson off the air.\u201d
— Charlie Kirk (@Charlie Kirk) 1682355857

Like Schumer, this was not the first time Ocasio-Cortez took aim at independent-minded journalists.

The New York Post reported that in 2021, Ocasio-Cortez had mulled over ways to help "rein in" the free press and combat undesirable information.

"It’s one thing to have differentiating opinions, but it’s another thing entirely to just say things that are false," she said. "So that’s something that we’re looking into."

Whereas Ocasio-Cortez is "very glad" to see her critics deplatformed, she has spoken out in the past when those who share her views have lost their jobs at corporate news outlets.

In 2018, Temple Hill professor Marc Lamont Hill got fired from CNN, where he was a contributor, for making statements widely interpreted to be a call for the ruination of Israel.

The National Council of Young Israel said, "With his racist views and unabashed denigration of Israel, Dr. Hill does not deserve to be given any sort of platform that facilitates the dissemination of his bigotry, whether it be on Cable TV or in a classroom," reported The Hill.

In an interview with the New Yorker, Ocasio-Cortez bemoaned Hill's termination by CNN, saying, "There was no discussion about it, no engagement, no thoughtful discourse over it, just pure accusation."

Ocasio-Cortez later attempted to define cancel culture in 2020, noting that "the term 'cancel culture' comes from entitlement - as though the person complaining has the right to a large, captive audience,& one is a victim if people choose to tune them out. Odds are you're not actually cancelled, you're just being challenged, held accountable, or unliked."

According to the Democratic lawmaker, the people who are actually canceled include Palestinian human rights advocates, abolitionists, anti-capitalists, and anti-imperialists, "not spicy 'contrarians' who want to play devils advocate w/ your basic rights."

\u201cMany of the people actually \u201ccancelled\u201d are those long denied a fair hearing of their ideas to begin w/:\n\nPalestinian human rights advocates\nAbolitionists\nAnticapitalists\nAnti-imperialists\n\nNot spicy \u201ccontrarians\u201d who want to play devils advocate w/ your basic rights in the NYT\u201d
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1594341837
While Ocasio-Cortez is evidently sensitive to the possibility that the same tactics she now celebrates could be wielded against her, on Twitter for instance, Elon Musk intimated Monday night that it is a bad road to take.
Musk tweeted, "If we lose freedom of speech, it's never coming back."

The Twitter CEO was responding to a video wherein South African venture capitalist David Sacks discussed an "illiberal agenda" that "involves censorship, and de-platforming, including economic de-platforming, and this collusion between state power and the security state and these tech monopolies and the media. This idea that we have all the right answers. This is fundamentally an illiberal agenda."

\u201c.@DavidSacks: "Well, on @elonmusk criticizing the woke mind virus, what he's really criticizing is this intolerant agenda that involves censorship, and de-platforming, including economic de-platforming, and this collusion between state power and the security state and these tech\u2026\u201d
— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) 1682375681

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Twitter Employees Found Trump Didn’t Violate Policies, Then Banned Him Anyway With Corporate Media’s Help

Even after Twitter’s safety team concluded that Trump’s tweets did not violate any policies, Twitter banned the sitting president on Jan. 8.

7 Times The Babylon Bee Reported History Before It Happened

The joke is on Twitter -- not only is the Big Tech bully showing its ridiculous vendetta and giving the Bee a lot of publicity, it's also helping the Bee's prophesies come true.

How States Can Help Americans Slandered By Reckless Media Get Justice In Court

Overturning Sullivan would be quite difficult, requiring a Supreme Court ruling or constitutional amendment. By contrast, states should repeal their ‘anti-SLAPP’ laws to allow ordinary citizens to fight back against Big Media and tech companies in court.

Twitter Suspended Me For Saying Kyle Rittenhouse Did Nothing Wrong—After His Acquittal

A jury may find Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty, but for leftists that does not mean he is innocent, merely that other avenues must be found to punish his (in their minds) obvious guilt.

Babylon Bee joins Florida in lawsuit to defend crackdown on Big Tech censorship



Christian satire website the Babylon Bee has filed a legal brief in support of a Florida law aimed at combatting Big Tech censorship, CEO Seth Dillon announced Friday.

Interviewed on "Fox & Friends First," Dillon brought up how the Bee has been targeted by fact-checkers and social media content moderators who want the site deplatformed for making the wrong jokes.

"We face some of these censorship problems, we've faced challenges with fact-checks being abused to try and get us deplatformed and knocked off the platform," Dillon said. "There are new policies now that are aimed at curbing and minimizing hate speech but really they're going to affect satire like ours because they consider some of our jokes 'punching down' because we aim at some of their sacred cows.

"So, there is a lot of reasons why it's a deal for us," Dillon he continued. "We've been threatened with deplatforming many times, we are actively being throttled on Facebook, for example, so it's in our best interest to make sure we have an equal right to these platforms, that their content standards that are put into place are applied evenly."

According to Dillon, social media companies are abusing the liability protections they enjoy under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

"I think the end game should be to basically restore the original intended purpose of Section 230, which was to give these platforms a shield from liability and the ability to moderate the content on their platforms. But, the content moderation is supposed to be done in good faith, that's one of the provisions of the statute, and right now we're not seeing good faith implementation of these moderation practices," Dillon said.

"They're not just taking down objectively obscene or lewd content, they're engaging in politically motivated viewpoint discrimination," he asserted.

He compared Section 230 protections to "tax-exempt status," a "legal benefit with qualifying conditions" that companies may enjoy as long as they follow the law. Dillon said tech companies must realize the platforms they've created have become a "public square" that must not favor certain viewpoints over others.

The Florida law, which is currently being challenged in court, allows state residents to sue Big Tech companies if they feel they've been treated unfairly and prohibits those companies from deplatforming political candidates. After trade groups representing Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites sued Florida, a federal judge in June temporarily blocked the law from going into effect, siding with the plaintiffs' argument that the law violated the First Amendment.

Since then, 11 states have joined Florida in an appeal to reverse the court's decision.

"I'm optimistic, I think ultimately, this will be resolved. It will either be resolved because Congress is going to end up revising Section 230 language to make it a little bit more explicit about what needs to happen there, you know good faith is kind of vague," Dillon said.

"I'm optimistic that there is going to be a solution. It may have to go to the Supreme Court."

Glenn Greenwald Moves To Rumble To Combat YouTube’s ‘Increasing Repression’

Greenwald believes that like Substack, Rumble is one of the few places independent thinkers can go to freely speak their minds in the digital realm.