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Top podcaster Joe Rogan has all but capitulated to media establishment bullies with an uncharacteristic apology, after claiming leftist activists were starting wildfires. He can expect a lot more apologizing and no absolution.

Rogan issued a groveling apology via Instagram last week for claiming during a conversation with British conservative commentator Douglas Murray that left-wing people had been arrested for lighting forest fires in Portland. Amplifying the rumor already circulating among conservative outlets was definitely a mistake and very irresponsible, a downcast Rogan stated.

I will take this into consideration, certainly, when I say things in the future, the podcast host intoned as he delivered his stilted-sounding apology and retraction.

It wasnt enough, of course such apologies never are. Calls for his cancellation have continued, and the hostage-video tone of the Instagram post didnt escape notice. Several Rogan fans expressed their displeasure over his decision to walk back the claim left-wing activists were setting wildfires, opining hed only done it because they [told] you to.

Dont apologize to these LIBTARDS, one Instagram commenter pleaded.

The mea culpa did nothing to pacify the coterie of Spotify employees whose demands for direct editorial oversight of Rogans content were recently made public, either. The company has reportedly held more than 10 internal meetings to complain about his alleged transphobia since paying a rumored $100 million for an exclusive deal with the popular podcaster.

Rogans unapologetic opposition to male-born athletes competing in womens sports is well known and reliably comes under attack from crusading social justice warriors every time his name surfaces in the news most recently for his offer to host a marathon debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden. But the recent apology was limited to the wildfire comment not transgender issues.

For the media establishment to excoriate Rogan for rumormongering about leftist arsonists makes even less sense, given the freewheeling tone of his podcasts. As fans pointed out, he has repeatedly warned his show is not a news source. One or both participants is frequently drinking or smoking something, and the three-hour conversations often veer into fanciful musings on extraterrestrial life, conspiracy theories, and the realms of the imagination. Hammering him for not fact-checking an offhand comment echoing a rumor already circulating all over the conservative infosphere belies a severe misunderstanding of his content.

Adding insult to injury, many of the outlets that pounced on Rogan for pinning the wildfires on rampaging lefties regularly amplify unfounded claims themselves. The entire Russiagate phenomenon, for example, wouldnt exist without the media signal-boosting evidence-free, frequently anonymous claims that everything wrong with America can be traced back to the Kremlin.

Unfortunately for Rogan, showing weakness in front of ideological bullies only encourages them. Apologizing for an offhand comment about the supposed political affiliation of the arsonists caught setting fires in Oregon and Washington while under attack for unrelated wrongthink is like going swimming in shark-infested waters while bleeding from a dozen paper cuts.

Worse, Rogans new masters at Spotify seem intent on refashioning the wildly popular podcast to suit their own aims. Dozens of episodes featuring conservative figures had already disappeared when his new channel appeared on the platform earlier this month, including conversations with often-censored figures such as right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos and Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes. One of the missing episodes, featuring fringe pundit Alex Jones, was the second-most popular podcast of Rogans career. The host hasnt publicly commented on the missing episodes.

Ironically, an earlier conversation between Rogan and Murray began with the pair expressing shock that a YouTube user had been given a community-guidelines strike for hate speech just for adding a podcast featuring Murray to his YouTube playlist. At the time, Rogan lamented how squirrelly things have gotten lately, with the way people interpret conversations about ideas. His uncharacteristic silence and apologies in 2020 suggest the $100 million paycheck he reportedly received to move to Spotify has convinced him to embrace his inner squirrel.

As censorship across social media platforms ramps up to levels that would have been considered absurd even six months ago, with YouTube vowing to ban content it believes stems from hacking and Facebook essentially hinting it will go dark if Novembers election result is uncertain, the popularity of comparatively open-minded podcasts such as Rogans is understandable. But even the most forgiving of audiences wont stick around if he continues to sand off the rough edges that got him to the top in the first place. If Spotify gets its victory, itll be left with a worthless investment.

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The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

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Spotify employees flexing muscles to CENSOR Joe Rogan are getting their revenge, even if it means killing their cash cow - RT

TikTok has admitted to censoring LGBTQ hashtags in some countries as part of its efforts to localize content moderation.

Following a report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, which highlighted a list of hashtags shadow-banned in Bosnia, Jordan, and Russia, TikTok has insisted it was merely complying with local laws and not actively targeting the LGBTQ community.

The Australian think-tank said restricted terms included:

While TikTok blameslimiting the exposure of LGBTQ content on local laws, it also added that it blocked some terms because they were used to discover pornographic content. It further claimed some English phrases and some compound phrases in Arabic were wrongly moderated, but the company says it has since fixed that.

TheBBC notesTikTok has also dismissed some of the supposedly blocked hashtags laid out by the Australian think-tank, arguing content didnt show up for them since no creator on the platform had ever used them.

We believe that accountability and transparency are essential to facilitating trust with our community, TikTok said in a statement, addressing the criticism. As part of this, weve committed to making our moderation policies, algorithm, and data security practices available to experts, which no other company in our space has been willing to do.

The report is the latest in a long line of censorship claims levied against TikTok. Earlier this year, the Guardian reported the company supposedly outlawed content mentioning Trump, Christianity, or LGBTQ issues in some countries. The company was also accused of suppressing content from people with disabilities and those it deemed ugly, poor, or fat.

The company continues to insist its committed to diversity and inclusion (TikTok did donate $3 million to LGBTQ-friendly causesearlier this year), but its checkered censorship record makes it tough to take its words seriously.

On the other hand, TikTok is just another technology giant that has willingly buckled to local laws in order to expand its global presence. A few years back, Google (which has its own history of suppressing content across the political spectrum)built a whole new version of YouTube just so it can seduce the government of Pakistan into letting it operate within the country.

That doesnt make TikToks actions any less reprehensible, but it does underline the only principle tech giants are guided by: growth at all costs. Diversity and inclusion? Thats just a hot publicity stunt tactic for most corporates.

Read next: Stop giving your co-workers vapid compliments

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TikTok says its committed to diversity its history of censorship says otherwise - The Next Web

Actor Shweta Tripathi has always chosen to tread the path that many otherwise would not choose to venture into. Be it her breakout film Masaan in 2015 or the experimental film Haraamkhor in 2017, Tripathis choices have been lauded by the audiences and the critics. Moreover, the actor is an active participant in the citys theatre circuit and her last production Timeloss, directed by Akarsh Khurana had a digital premier, too. More than the medium, what is really important to me is the story - what were saying and who the character is, she explains forms the crux of her choices.

The actor adds that thanks to her initial films, she understood the parameters with which one should choose his/her scripts. In my opinion, pushing the envelope means trying out something new. Showing the audience something they havent seen before. It doesnt need to be complex, it could be anything from emotions to using environmentally friendly props and sets, says the actor.

Moreover, Tripathi, who has dabbled with all three major formats of performing arts films, OTT and theatre, says the varying censorship guidelines should make one understand the importance of responsibilities. Art reflects society and vice versa. So it is important to be responsible for the art youre creating, and the things its saying but the story is most important, she says.

She adds that censorship in any form is challenging. I think censorship shouldnt be decided by an external body but we, as artists, should take the responsibility on ourselves. The audience learns a lot from what they see in the entertainment world. The freedom to tell our stories is always great, but we should also understand the responsibility that comes with it, she concludes.

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I think censorship shouldnt be decided by an external body: Shweta - Hindustan Times

President Trump took to Twitter Tuesday to slam the social media platform and others in biased Big Tech for using Section 230 to leave up disparaging content against conservatives, while censoring conservative speech.

Why does Twitter leave phony pictures like this up, but take down Republican/Conservative pictures and statements that are true? the commander-in-chief tweeted Tuesday morning.

The tweet included a picture of the viral Moscow Mitch meme, which took the internet by storm in mid-2019 when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) blocked an election security bill.

McConnell, known for his sense of humor about political attacks and nicknames, was particularly incensed at the Moscow Mitch moniker, given his congressional history of being a Russia hawk.

Mitch must fight back and repeal Section 230, immediately. Stop biased Big Tech before they stop you! Trump continued in his tweet, referencing the majority leader.

Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act provides tech companies with liability protections against illegal content posted by third-party users.

In May, the Justice Department released a 25-page proposal on its website in which it recommended curbing protections that tech platforms have enjoyed for the last two dozen years.

That proposal came amid criticism, including from Trump, that large social media companies censor conservative voices while letting other controversial material, including some criminal content, run amok.

That same month, the president signed an executive order curtailing Section 230 that mostly focused on how platforms moderate content as some companies faced accusations of censorship.

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube wield immense, if not unprecedented, power to shape the interpretation of public events; to censor, delete, or disappear information; and to control what people see or do not see, the commander-in-chiefs order stated.

We must seek transparency and accountability from online platforms, and encourage standards and tools to protect and preserve the integrity and openness of American discourse and freedom of expression.

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Trump slams Twitter for using Section 230 to censor conservatives - New York Post

White House officials are advising Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert, to promote messages that prioritize political positions over scientific findings, an attempt to bolster Donald Trumps misleading claims about the coronavirus. The pressure is apparently coming from Paul Alexander, a Trump appointee at the Department of Health and Human Services who, in emails reported by Politico, has repeatedly tried to edit Faucis planned responses to outlets including Bloomberg News, BuzzFeed, HuffPost, and the science journal Cell. Just this week, Alexander reportedly sent a message to Faucis press team urging him not to promote mask-wearing by children in an MSNBC interview.

Can you ensure Dr. Fauci indicates masks are for the teachers in schools. Not for children, Alexander wrote. There is no data, none, zero, across the entire world, that shows children especially young children, spread this virus to other children, or to adults or to their teachers. None. And if it did occur, the risk is essentially zero, he said, addingwithout evidencethat children take influenza home but do not take COVID home. The advice prompted long email threads between Alexander and some of Faucis aides pushing back against the misleading claims. Alexander is a senior adviser to Michael Caputo, an ally of the president who currently oversees HHSs media strategy and who said in a statement that he hired Dr. Alexander for his expertise and not to simply resonate others opinions.

While Alexanders messages are couched as scientific arguments, Politico notes, they often contradict mainstream science while amplifying controversial positions the president has taken on topics such as school reopening and the risk coronavirus poses to children. On August 27, Alexander objected to a press-office summary of what Fauci was expected to tell a Bloomberg reporter. I continue to have an issue with kids getting tested and repeatedly and even university students in a widespread mannerand I disagree with Dr. Fauci on this. Vehemently, Alexander wrote in an email.

Fauci told Politico he had not seen the emails, nor had his staff advised him to minimize the risk coronavirus poses to kids or the need for mask-wearing. No one tells me what I can say and cannot say, Fauci said. I speak on scientific evidence, a point he reiterated in a pair of interviews on Friday. Asked by CNNs Wolf Blitzer whether the public should listen to Fauci or Trumpwho on Thursday claimed were rounding the corner of the pandemicFauci remarked, You dont have to listen to any individual if you look at the data. The data speak for themselves, he said. Were still getting up to 40,000 new infections a day and 1,000 deaths. That is what you look at. Look at the science, the evidence and the data and you can make a pretty easy conclusion."

Fauci also cited the data to MSNBCs Andrea Mitchell when she asked about the administrations contradictory messages, with Fauci telling Americans to hunker down and get through this fall and winterwhen the pandemic is likely to worsen againthe same day that Trump suggested the worst is past. Im sorry, but I have to disagree with that, Fauci said of the presidents comments, noting the disturbing statistics and increased test positivity in some parts of the country that come as people begin to move indoors due to colder weather.

That's not good for a respiratory-borne virus. You dont want to start off already with a baseline thats so high, Fauci said. The country needs to get the levels down, he warned, so that when you go into a more precarious situation, like the fall and the winter, you wont have a situation where you really are at a disadvantage right from the very beginning.

We are still in the middle of this, he told Blitzer.

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Trump Health Officials Reportedly Tried to Censor Faucis COVID Messaging - Vanity Fair