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Opinion By Editorial Board | Sunday, February 5

Last Wednesday, a fiery pother erupted on the University of California, Berkeleys campus in response to the planned appearance of the inflammatory conservative editor Milo Yiannopoulos. Angry that Yiannopoulos had been allowed on campus, masked agitators infiltrated a protest against his speech and turned it violent, throwing rocks at police and breaking windows in what was deemed by the Berkeley College Republicansthe group that invited Yiannopoulosas the killing of free speech. The ordeal was shameful for all parties involved, but especially for liberals trying to regain respect after devastating electoral losses last November.

Contrary to the expressed feelings of some, it is not a crazy idea that the Berkeley Republicans would have sought to bring Yiannopoulos to campus. Although he is widely viewed as a far-right bomb thrower, his movementthe so-called alt-righthas been legitimized as a force in politics through the rise of President Donald Trump. Representing the alt-right through speakers on campuses is, perhaps, an educational necessity.

To be sure though, Yiannopoulos is a strange character to choose for a group looking to show off the positive sides of the alt-right movement. A blatant racist and sexist, he has espoused views that are despicable to most college students. In his mind, the number of female STEM students ought to be capped, gay people ought to get back in the closet and Muslims ought to be banned from the west. And although all of that is hugely objectionable, it doesn't justify banning him from campus. What does make Yiannopoulos worth banning (and the general test that those who utter hate speech should be held against) is that he has repeatedly instigated his cultish followers to target people he does not agree with. Time after time, hes shown that he is willing to single out individual victims to be the focus of his vitriol, knowing fully well that doing so could cause them serious harm. In December 2015, he persuaded his Twitter followers to harass actress Leslie Jones, ultimately leading to her deleting her account. A year later, he singled out a transgender student on the University of Wisconsins campus and urged a crowd to mock her appearance. Both instances cross the line of free speech and make it clear that Yiannopoulos is not simply a race-baiting provocateur, but is someone who purposefully harms others and thus isnot worthy of the honor of speaking on a campus. If the Berkeley College Republicans truly wanted to bring in a speaker from the alt-right, they ought to have opted for a standard-bearer like Tomi Lahren or Stephen Millerboth equally alt-righty, but neither threatening to the safety of others.

It would, of course, be ridiculous to blame Yiannopoulos and the Berkeley Republicans for the entire brouhaha. The reactions of agitated protesters cannot be condoned. Their decision to fight fire with fire only legitimized claims that the left is terrified of free speech and is hypocritical in its calls for rule of law in the country. This was a cut-and-dry case where violence was clearly not the answer, and bygiving into their emotions and abusing them, protesters failed their cause.

Although we strongly hold that Berkeley student protesters were just in the cause of their protest against vile racist and sexist beliefs, we equally strongly condemn the masked marauders who infiltrated their protest and turned it violent. Nothing is ever built on fire, whether the flames are of the burning, hateful rhetoric of Milo Yiannopoulos or the literal conflagrations set by protesters.

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No alt treatment for the alt-right - Duke Chronicle

Christina Gregg, AOL.com

Feb 6th 2017 7:22AM

Richard Spencer raised eyebrows on Sunday night, as he congratulated Tom Brady and the New England Patriots on their fifth franchise Super Bowl win and linked their victory to white nationalism.

"For the white race, it's never over," he wrote with a gif of Brady locking lips with his wife, Gisele Bundchen.

The president of the National Policy Institute and co-editor of AltRight.com is known for his white nationalist beliefs, and made headlines last month when he was punched on the street at President Trump's inauguration.

RELATED: Trump family and team watches Super Bowl LI

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Trump family and team watches Super Bowl LI

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U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania watch the Super Bowl LI between New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons, accompanied by White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus (L) at Trump International Golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., February 5, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump greet a marching band as they arrive at Trump International Golf club to watch the Super Bowl LI between New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., February 5, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

US President Donald Trump chats with First Lady Melania Trump while watching the Super Bowl at Trump International Golf Club Palm Beach in West Palm Beach, Florida on February 5, 2017. / AFP / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

US President Donald Trump watches the Super Bowl with First Lady Melania Trump (R) and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus (L) at Trump International Golf Club Palm Beach in West Palm Beach, Florida on February 5, 2017. / AFP / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump watch the Palm Beach Central High School marching band perform as it greets them upon arrival to watch the Super Bowl at Trump International Golf Club Palm Beach in West Palm Beach, Florida on February 5, 2017. / AFP / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

US President Donald Trump chats with White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus while watching Super Bowl LI at Trump International Golf Club Palm Beach in West Palm Beach, Florida on February 5, 2017. / AFP / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

US President Donald Trump watches the Super Bowl with First Lady Melania Trump (R) and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus (L) at Trump International Golf Club Palm Beach in West Palm Beach, Florida on February 5, 2017. / AFP / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump watch the Palm Beach Central High School marching band perform as it greets them upon arrival to watch the Super Bowl at Trump International Golf Club Palm Beach in West Palm Beach, Florida on February 5, 2017. / AFP / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

US President Donald Trump applauds as he is greeted by the Palm Beach Central High School marching band upon arrival to watch the Super Bowl at Trump International Golf Club Palm Beach in West Palm Beach, Florida on February 5, 2017. / AFP / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

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Spencer noted his fan status for the Patriots, saying, "I was born in Boston, Mass. I'm proud of the NFL's Whitest team."

He shared more excitement around the New England squad's historic come back in a storm of tweets with the theme of linking #PatsNation to Trump's 2016 election slogan to #MakeAmericaGreatAgain. He even named Patriots star quarterback Tom Brady as an "Aryan Avatar."

Spencer continued gloating throughout the evening, and was clearly ecstatic when the Patriots came back from a 25 point to deficit in what will be viewed as the greatest football -- and potential sports game -- come back of all time.

RELATED: Big moments from Super Bowl LI

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Big moments from Super Bowl LI

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New England Patriots' head coach Bill Belichick (R) is interviewed by broadcaster Terry Bradshaw next to the Vince Lombardi trophy after the Patriots defeated the Atlanta Falcons to win Super Bowl LI in Houston, Texas, U.S., February 5, 2017. REUTERS/Adrees Latif

New England Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady celebrates with his children after his team defeated the Atlanta Falcons at Super Bowl LI in Houston, Texas, U.S., February 5, 2017. REUTERS/Adrees Latif

New England Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady smiles after his team defeated the Atlanta Falcons at Super Bowl LI in Houston, Texas, U.S., February 5, 2017. REUTERS/Adrees Latif

Feb 5, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; Gisele Bundchen and her daughter Vivian Brady celebrate after the game between the Atlanta Falcons and the New England Patriots during Super Bowl LI at NRG Stadium. The Patriots won 34-28. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Feb 5, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; Gisele B?ndchen with her husband New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) and their daughter after Super Bowl LI at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

New England Patriots' owner Robert Kraft holds the Vince Lombardi trophy after his team defeated the Atlanta Falcons to win Super Bowl LI in Houston, Texas, U.S., February 5, 2017. REUTERS/Adrees Latif

Feb 5, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; Gisele Bundchen and her daughter Vivian Brady celebrate after the game between the Atlanta Falcons and the New England Patriots during Super Bowl LI at NRG Stadium. The Patriots won 34-28. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Feb 5, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady (12) celebrate after beating the Atlanta Falcons during Super Bowl LI at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Feb 5, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) celebrates after beating the Atlanta Falcons during Super Bowl LI at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Feb 5, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; New England Patriots running back James White (28) scores the winning touchdown past Atlanta Falcons free safety Ricardo Allen (37) and Robert Alford (23) in overtime during Super Bowl LI at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Atlanta Falcons' Grady Jarrett (R) sacks New England Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady during the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LI in Houston, Texas, U.S., February 5, 2017. REUTERS/Richard Carson

Feb 5, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; New England Patriots wide receiver Danny Amendola (80) makes a catch for a long gain in overtime as Atlanta Falcons cornerback Brian Poole (34) defends during Super Bowl LI at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Country Singer Luke Bryan waves before performing the U.S. National Anthem prior to the the start of Super Bowl LI between the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons in Houston, Texas, U.S., February 5, 2017. REUTERS/Adrees Latif

Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush participates in the coin toss ahead of the start of Super Bowl LI between the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons as former first lady Barbara Bush looks on in Houston , Texas, U.S., February 5, 2017. REUTERS/Adrees Latif TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

HOUSTON, TX - FEBRUARY 05: Philip Wheeler #41 of the Atlanta Falcons reacts after a fumble by the New England Patriots in the second quarter during Super Bowl 51 at NRG Stadium on February 5, 2017 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Feb 5, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; Atlanta Falcons cornerback Jalen Collins (32) tackles New England Patriots wide receiver Chris Hogan (15) during the first quarter during Super Bowl LI at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dan Powers-USA TODAY Sports

Atlanta Falcons' Deion Jones celebrates after New England Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady was sacked during the first quarter of Super Bowl LI in Houston, Texas, U.S., February 5, 2017. REUTERS/Adrees Latif

Feb 5, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan (2) runs the ball against New England Patriots defensive end Alan Branch (97) during the first quarter during Super Bowl LI at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

HOUSTON, TX - FEBRUARY 05: Devonta Freeman #24 of the Atlanta Falcons scores a touchdown on a 5 yard run agaisnt the New England Patriots in the second quarter during Super Bowl 51 at NRG Stadium on February 5, 2017 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

HOUSTON, TX - FEBRUARY 05: Tom Brady #12 of the New England Patriots walks off the field with teammates after a fumble in the second quarter against the Atlanta Falcons during Super Bowl 51 at NRG Stadium on February 5, 2017 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Feb 5, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; Atlanta Falcons running back Devonta Freeman (24) scores a touchdown during the second quarter against the New England Patriots during Super Bowl LI at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Feb 5, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; Atlanta Falcons cornerback Robert Alford (23) celebrates with the ball during the second quarter against the New England Patriots during Super Bowl LI at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Feb 5, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones (11) makes a first quarter catch with New England Patriots cornerback Eric Rowe (25) defending during Super Bowl LI at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

HOUSTON, TX - FEBRUARY 05: Robert Alford #23 of the Atlanta Falcons scores an 82 yard touchdown after an interception against the New England Patriots during Super Bowl 51 at NRG Stadium on February 5, 2017 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Feb 5, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; Lady Gaga performs during the halftime show during Super Bowl LI at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Seals-USA TODAY Sports

Feb 5, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; Lady Gaga performs during the halftime show during Super Bowl LI at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Feb 5, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman (11) catches a tipped pass just off the turf against the Atlanta Falcons in the fourth quarter during Super Bowl LI at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

Atlanta Falcons' Tevin Coleman (L) celebrates with teammate Justin Hardy after scoring agains the New England Patriots during the third quarter of Super Bowl LI in Houston, Texas, U.S., February 5, 2017. REUTERS/Adrees Latif

Feb 5, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Mohamed Sanu (12) is tackled by New England Patriots cornerback Logan Ryan (26) in the fourth quarter during Super Bowl LI at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Seals-USA TODAY Sports

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Alt-right Richard Spencer deems Tom Brady's Super Bowl LI victory a win for 'white race' - AOL News

The Mayor of the Internet has spoken. And he is deeply unhappy with President Trumpnamely, with the commander-in-chiefs recent executive order banning immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries, a controversial decision that has sparked protests at airports around the country, and led to the unprincipled detainment of the elderly, infirm, and even children.

On Feb. 1st, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, who sits on the board of the aggregation and discussion site boasting approximately 280 million users, posted an open letter to the Reddit community about Trumps immigration ban.

President Trumps recent executive order is not only potentially unconstitutional, but deeply un-American, the letter read. As many of you know, I am the son of an undocumented immigrant from Germany and the great grandson of refugees who fled the Armenian GenocideWithout them, theres no me, and theres no Reddit. We are Americans. Lets not forget that weve thrived as a nation because weve been a beacon for the courageousthe tired, the poor, the tempest-tossed. Right now, Lady Libertys lamp is dimming, which is why its more important than ever that we speak out and show up to support all those for whom it shinespast, present, and future.

Ohanians post soon went viral, attracting over 1 million unique visitors and 1 million votes, making it one of the highest-scoring Reddit blog posts ever. The 33-year-old wrote the letter after returning from witnessing his fiance, sports legend Serena Williams, win the Australian Open. And then, after generating headlines for his letter and dedicated performance as sideline cheerleader, the popular site created plenty more when it chose to ban three alt-right forums for violating their content policy. Though the site calls itself the front page of the internet and is home to many positive forums (or subreddits), it has also served as a breeding ground for the so-called alt-right: a community of lonely-boy shitposters turned white nationalists.

The Daily Beast spoke to Ohanian about these recent developments.

What inspired you to share your story and speak out against President Trumps executive order on immigration?

I was out of the country for the last two weeks [at the Australian Open] so I missed the inauguration, and I missed the first couple of weeks of the presidency. I felt pretty disconnected. Id been talking to friends, family, and consuming social media, but it was when I was lying back that I really thought about the country I was going back to. And with all the news around the immigration ban, I just felt like I would be such a hypocrite if I did not say something. On my fathers side Im descended from immigrants, one of whom was a Syrian refugee from the Armenian genocide, and my mother was an immigrant from Germany whose visa had expired and, for a year and change, was undocumented here in the U.S. Im grateful that she was not deported, and Im grateful that this country opened its doors to my family, and its the reason Im here, and its the reason Reddit can be here. I knew that, and I knew that I wouldnt be okay with myself if I didnt say something.

When I landedthis was one of those international flights where you get excited because theres Wi-Fi, but the Wi-Fi is so bad that you cant actually use itand started catching up on emails, the executive team at Reddit was talking about a post on Monday (this was now Sunday), and I suggested that perhaps mine could work in addition to an official Reddit statement. Everyone seemed pretty excited about that. I suppose I could have published it other places, but Reddit is the home of conversation online. There was a suggestion by one of our other execs that posting it and making a call to action for other stories would generate a ton of people telling their own story or their familys story, and sure enough thousands of people came through and delivered on this. It was really heartwarming. And those stories from the comments have been shared, and reposted, and talked about. There are stories that are far more inspirational, moving, and even funnier than mine, and they are American stories.

They truly are. This is a country of immigrants, founded by immigrants.

It is the story of this country: people who came here for some reason, and were able to make the country as great as it is. Tech, as an industry, has obviously benefitted from so many immigrants over the years, and so many amazing companies have been founded by immigrantsor the children of immigrantsso we know how important this is, as an industry. In the face of what seems like a daily dose of something new that catches us off-guard, its been really heartening to see. All of us now, just a couple of weeks in, are still very curious to see where this goes, because it really doesnt seem like theres a precedent for this. Thats why its going to be so important for people to talk about these things. If this election taught us anything, its that we need more discussionand not within echo chambers, but in communities where we dont normally venture.

Weve learned some things about this executive order. The Trump administration has tried to talk around it, but as Rudy Giuliani confirmed, this does seem to be a Muslim ban, and theres been quite a bit of disinformation concerning it. The administration initially said it only affected 109 people, but now weve learned that anywhere between 60,000 and 100,000 visas were affected. How troubling is that, for you? The deluge of misinformation coming out of the administration thus far?

It all seems very frenetic, and I think thats where its going to be more important for us to use technology, as we have it, and obviously the media has a really important role to play hereto make sure that were finding out and getting to the bottom of what is happening. This has become such a polarizing time in our country, and I want to believeI really, really want to believethat this experiment will continue to improve and continue to evolve (this experiment being our country). And even when there are times that I feel like we are making steps backwards, I do feel that the trend overall is forwards. I think we have to be vigilant right now, and I think that technology can really help us. All of us who are here are trying to figure out how we can keep this trending in the right direction, and it just comes down to more discussion, more understanding, and hopefully more empathy.

What are your thoughts on the #DeleteUber campaign in the wake of Trumps executive order on immigration that resulted in Uber CEO Travis Kalanick quitting Trumps advisory council, as well as an estimated 200,000 people deleting the app?

Every company is going to be taking a different approach to these issues. Overall, Im really proud of how the tech industry has been aligned in defending the very people who have built this industry, and one of the benefits of the age we live in now is your usersyour customershave a platform to help them let you know in real time how they feel. I know what our priorities are with Reddit, and as I said in my letter to the community, Reddit would not exist without immigrants. Apple, Intel, Tesla, etc. as well. As a nation its been our unfair advantage, and I hope that it continues to be.

OK but Uber did break a taxi strike. What do you actually think about Ubers actions in the wake of the executive order? They turned off surge pricing about midway through the strike, but did not honor the strike.

You know, I missed a lot of that as it was happening in real time, but I have seen Travis [Kalanick] resign, and that right there, like I said, is a reflection of audience, or is a reflection of a community and a user base whose voice was clearly heard by it in response to everything that [Uber] was doing.

Lets discuss the shutting down of three alt-right forums on Reddit. I enjoy browsing Reddit, but I recognize that at the same time, this is a place where the alt-right organized. Why did you choose to delete the forums, and how do you feel about the presence of what many would consider a hate group in the alt-right on Reddit?

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One of the first things that Steve [Huffman, co-founder] and I did when we came back a couple of years ago was update the content policy. This provides rules of the road for the whole site. There are hundreds of thousands of communities, those communities are managed by volunteer moderators, and then once we had the rules of the road, we created a trust and safety team of Reddit employees who would then enforce them. So when moderators or users run astray, we have a whole policy that decides how we would temporarily ban them, or if we outright ban them theres a whole set of procedures that are in place. And at what point would we eventually shut down a community for violating the policy? What happened last week is an example of that all working. This is our trust and safety team enforcing a violation of our content policy regarding personal informationdoxxing is the shorthand for itbut basically, these communities continue to violate our policy, and we shut them down.

Now, there are communities among the hundreds of thousands that I find awful, that I disagree with. Were having monthly policy reviews to make sure that were continuing to trend in the right direction overall with the policies we have, and how to enforce them. Theres never been a platform of 280 million people all sharing hundreds of thousands of communities, and many, many discussions and conversations. So we are constantly looking to make sure to be the way we want to be. The best metric that we have right now is, any piece of content on Reddit can be reported by another user for being a violation, an infraction, harassment, etc., and that is every message, every comment, every post. That user base of 280 million, 99.98% of the time, has no reports by another user. Were constantly trying to push that 0.02% of reports down to zero, but thats one of our strongest barometers to see the temperature of the content across the platform.

Wheres the line between free speech and hate speech? There are many positive groups on Reddit, of course, but theres also r/Nazi, r/altright, and other subreddits that primarily deal in hate speech. So where do you draw the line?

Well, our goal here is for Reddit to be a global home of conversation. What makes Reddit special is that people feel free to express themselves. Where we want to draw the line is where that feeling of being able to express oneself freely starts to infringe on someone feeling like they can express themselves. This is not a bright and clear line; this is something were continuing to look at, and continuing to discuss internally, because at the end of the day, our goal is to be worldwide. Our goal is to have anyone on this planet feel like they can find their homes on Reddit for whatever their passions, hobbies, or loves are, and to find people with whom they share common groundand then hopefully learn a few things about people with whom they dont. Thats what guides us.

One of the more bizarreand fascinatingcharacters in the Trump administration is Peter Thiel. Have you had any interactions with this guy, and what do you think of his role within the administration?

Im probably the worst Silicon Valley insider ever. I dont hang out with Silicon Valley people. Im in a long-distance relationship [with Serena Williams], so I usually spend my weekends wherever my fiance is. I dont run in Peter Thiels circles, and I have shockingly little insight into his role within the administration. Everything I know is just based on what I read on Reddit.

Another figure is Steve Bannon. Im sure youre familiar with Breitbart. Its concerning to many that Bannon, who ran a site like Breitbart, which hes called a platform for the alt-right, is the presidents right-hand man. And then you have Infowars, which the presidents appeared onand has repeated several of its unfounded conspiracy theories. These bogus sites seem to be gaining legitimacy because of Trump, and now people dont know where to turn for real or fake news.

Well, I grew up walking by checkout lanes and seeing racks and racks and racks of what people would consider fake newsabout UFOs abducting werewolvesand I think the difference now is, in a digital age, any resource, whether its some random bloggers musings and clickbait-y headline or a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, they all are on essentially a level playing field in a sense that anyone can access them in an open internet as equally as any other. I think this is an overall positive thingthat information can be accessed equallybecause there are many people for whom knowledge used to be a giant barrier where people who had it kept it away. The challenge now is providing those tools and those resources for people to make the best decision possible. I do genuinely believe that, when given and presented with all the information and all the actual facts, the vast majority of people will make the right choice. Thats why right now its really, really important for us to be pushing on those facts. So far, the administration seems to be playing it fast and loose with a lot of things. The hope is that all the folks who voted the president into officeand all the folks who didntall equally appreciate truth. I think thats a pretty reasonable assumption. And for the folks who want to muddy that, thats where we have to shine our lights of truth even brighter.

Are you worried, given how corporate this administration is and how much of a fan of censorship it appears to be, about the freedom of the internetnet neutralityunder the Trump administration?

Yeah. You know, the new FCC head definitely has my eyebrows raised. But you know what? This is just now one part of a lot of things that we have to be paying attention to. Even back when we defeated SOPA and PIPA, and even back when we got that victory for Title II, we knew this was a consistent, ongoing thing. A lot of it, frankly, is education. A lot of it is the fact that there are digital natives and digital non-nativesnot the best word for it, admittedlyand we have a lot of people in office who are not digital natives, and historically our industry has not done the best job of educating about technology. I think thats our opportunity. We have a lot of people who are very well-intentioned, and Ive seen it firsthand: when you sit down with them and take time to explain to them why an open and free internet is good for American society and American business, once they see that presented to them, and were doing it as people who just genuinely want to help explain the situation, things ended up going pretty well. With the new administration, no matter whos going to be taking over, there was going to have to be a new dialogue, and a new discussion. And this is the new one.

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Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian on Trump's 'Muslim Ban,' Deleting the Alt-Right, and the Internet's Future - Daily Beast

Image: r/altright banned.

Earlier today Reddit banned r/altright, the primary community on the site for the so-called alt-right. And for a variety of reasons, thats about all we know.

The subreddit had always courted controversy and pushed the bounds of Reddits relatively lax policies on speech. Users from r/altright often made inflammatory remarks about a variety of marginalized groups and many espoused views in the white supremacist/national socialist spectrum. Two of the subreddits moderators also appear to have been terminated, though its unclear if thats related to the subreddits ban.

Because moderators had artificially inflated r/altrights subscriber count, theres no telling how large the community was. Like other banned abusive subreddits (r/fatpeoplehate and r/pizzagate to name a few), r/alright have made a new home for themselves on Reddit knockoff Voat. That community presently displays 314 subscribers.

Gizmodo reached out to one of Reddits powermods who told us via email that he heard they were encouraging users to go to some kind of bounty site, where users collaborate to attempt to gather personal information on targets. If true, that description matches Chuck Johnsons WeSearchr, which was recently banned from Twitter. This moderator also suggested the ban might have been planned well in advance, pointing us to a comment left by CEO Steve Huffman on his most recent announcements postthough it could of course be coincidental.

Similar far-right communitiesr/the_donald in particularseemed concerned theyd be next on the chopping block. Considering the subreddits penchant for targeted harassment and vote manipulation, they ought to be.

Theories regarding the ban are swirling within a thread in r/subredditdrama. Though nothing concrete has been uncovered just yet, the tenor of posts seems to be that removing r/altright was a good decision for the overall health and sanity of the sites users.

Weve reached out to Reddit and former mods of r/altright for details and will update if we hear back.

Update 2/1/17 10:46pm EST: Im honestly not sure of the details yet. We anticipated Reddit would terminate the sub soon because they typically dont allow these types of right-wing groups to get much bigger than 20,000 subscribers, and /r/AltRight was rapidly nearing that point, Throwahoymatie, a former mod of r/altright told Gizmodo over Reddit Private Message.

We have no way of confirming that the subreddit was that popular. Likewise, the first wave of purges instituted against harassing subreddits under the leadership of Ellen Paowhen r/fatpeoplehate was bannedincluded several communities considerably smaller than 20,000 subscribers. Likewise, r/the_donald, r/hillaryforprison, and r/kotakuinaction all have well over that number. Throwahoymatie claims the new Voat hub for the alt-right is, counter-intuitively, v/Identitarian, which currently has 893 subscribers.

A former subscriber of r/altright, JohnnyTruthSeed, similarly told Gizmodo the communitys growth was a key reason for its banning, adding that the administrators of Reddit are cucks [and] we were exposing the truth about Zionism. Go figure.

Reddit have not yet responded to our questions, but tomorrow is another day.

Update 2/2/17 12:10pm EST: Reddit sent us a vague boilerplate statement regarding their reasons for banning r/altright. A spokesperson told Gizmodo that posting of personal information can get users banned from Reddit and we ask our communities not to post content that harasses or invites harassment. We have banned r/altright due to repeated violations of the terms of our content policy.

It was well-known among Reddit users that r/altright had been engaged in harassment since its creation, so this statement does little to clear up why the ban took place now, or if any specific incident was considered beyond the pale.

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Reddit Says Goodnight to 'Alt-Right' Community [Updates] - Gizmodo - Gizmodo

Inside Higher Ed

Mill, Mao and Socrates Inside Higher Ed The alt-right is characterized as a movement of white resentment. It is usually seen by liberals as drawing from the ranks of the white working class, left behind by an increasingly globalized economy. And yet within the highest echelons of academe ...

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Mill, Mao and Socrates - Inside Higher Ed