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Saturday 3 March 2018

Tommy Robinson Social Media Paranoia

After Twitter decided that it could get along fine for seven days without the input of former EDL main man Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson, the opportunities for The Great Man to communicate with his followers were somewhat limited. But rather than consider why he had been suspended, and look to prevent himself falling foul of the rules again, he had now decided they’re coming for him.
Why this should be, I will leave to others. But it is not the first time that Yaxley Lennon has been taken off Twitter for a week. And although he knows what it was that got him suspended this time, he is adamant that he has posted a fact, not an untruth. No doubt he will be prepared to visit those dissenting for one of his non-threatening little chats.

So what does he do now? Simples. Pretends someone is after him. On this I kid you not: all you need to do is to see his latest video, helpfully Retweeted by his former sidekick Caolan Robertson, titled “I won’t be around for much longer”. This is serious victimhood.

A few days ago, I responded to a Tweet about grooming gangs. I tweeted that 90% of convictions in the UK are Muslim men [wrong]. This is a fact [wrong] … This is a Tweet that got me banned from Twitter for seven days … Twitter started by removing my verification, now they’ve limited my account. This is the build-up. They want to remove me, to silence me, to discredit me. They have tried to stop me [in] every possible way”.

There was more. “From taking my finances, to imprisoning me, to slandering me, to linking me to Darren Osborne, and extremism. Now they want to take away the final thing I have - my voice. I don’t doubt that one day they will wipe me off social media completely … They will take away my right to defend myself when I am slandered in the press. The media will be able to tell you whatever they want about me, and I’ll have no way of responding”.

The dramatic music continued: “If they can do it to me, they can do it to you … One day you won’t be able to reach me on social media at all, or watch my videos on YouTube”. Then he tells anyone not yet asleep that he has big plans to get “The Truth” out to the British public. But “they” are going to try and stop this. Eventually he holds up his phone and laments “One day I will only have this … and my website”.
Alex Jones - facing a YouTube ban

A whole orchestra of nanoviolins could then be heard tuning up. Who was “they”? It was the establishment. They were working with social media to silence “us”, which presumably means Lennon and those of like mind. It was magnificent. But it was not reality.

Lennon knows - or should know - that Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are not something one uses by right. There are terms and conditions. Break those, you are liable to sanction, which can include lifetime bans - ask Milo Yiannopoulos. And given that the establishment - press and politicians - are constantly calling for social media to be regulated, the idea that the two are working together is for the birds.

Stephen Yaxley Lennon is paranoid if he believes that. But he is right about one thing: social media providers are getting keener on stamping out hate speech. That’s why he got suspended from Twitter, and his pal Alex Jones is on his last strike before YouTube bans him - from a site where he has 2.2 million subscribers. Nobody, though, set out to ban either of them - it’s their own fault. And that’s the part they can’t accept.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Robinson" is indeed a fruitcake in serious need of incarceration/counselling.

But this: "...given that the establishment - press and politicians - are constantly calling for social media to be regulated, the idea that the two are working together is for the birds" is a load of bollocks.

Since almost all the press is outright tory, do you REALLY think there's no co-ordination at any level? What do you think all those meetings - secret and otherwise - are about, the latest macrame design? Do you REALLY think Hancock cancelled Leveson 2 all on his l'il ol' lonesome and without at least some input from the usual media creeps? Didn't Morag Livingstone's film and research in Belonging: The Truth Behind The Headlines show conclusively the full depth of government, civil service, police and media conspiracy? And over the years haven't FOIs and 30 year releases shown just how much co-ordinated corruption there was - some it much worse than suspected.

"Robinson" is certainly wrong in his narrow accusation. But don't kid yourself the wider implications aren't still valid. The evidence is there for those - like Livingstone - who want to get off their arses and look......which of course automatically excludes gutless mainstream media journalists. How much more is needed?

Jonathan said...

Twitter would be doing everyone a massive favour by banning Tommy boy for life.