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Deplatforming vs Free Speech with Laura Loomer

Peter McCormack

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Deplatforming vs Free Speech with Laura Loomer - WBD422 Peter McCormack

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Location: New York
Date: Friday 29th October
Project: loomered.com

This year’s Bitcoin 2021 conference was the biggest event in Bitcoin’s history, with over 12,000 people coming together in Miami.

I was there to host one of the most hotly anticipated events called ‘Banking the Unbanked’ which saw my friend Alex Gladstein interview Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Jack didn't disappoint when he began by stating “Bitcoin changes everything… I don't think there's anything more important to work on in my lifetime.”

Yet, the session is perhaps best known for the fact that activist Laura Loomer came to the stage and heckled Jack. Laura wanted a conversation with Jack about censorship, in light of the fact she has been banned from Twitter (amongst other platforms and services such as Facebook, Uber and PayPal).

She was encouraged to leave, but before she did I promised to hear her out at a more appropriate time, so here we are.

Whatever you think of Laura, ‘deplatforming’ is one of the most contentious issues in society today. It cuts to the heart of the debate around free speech and American’s first amendment rights. Should we have limits on speech?

Or is ‘hate speech’ misapplied to muzzle acceptable discourse? Who decides on what is acceptable or not? And can private organisations remove voices from their platforms when they have become the world’s town square?

Laura has tested these arguments in the courts by suing Twitter, Apple, Facebook, and Twitter.

In this interview I talk to far-right political activist Laura Loomer. We discuss racism and religious discrimination, debanking and deplatforming, and the limits of free speech.

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00:08:05: Introductions
00:12:38: Free speech vs social media platforms
00:15:59: Section 230
00:22:07: Big Tech vs the Constitution
00:34:39: Defining racism and discrimination
00:38:44: Tommy Robinson
00:47:28: Anti-Muslim prejudice
00:54:39: Laura's mission statement
00:58:24: Uber and Lyft driver vetting
01:03:20: Migrant drownings
01:09:32: Laura's social media ban
01:14:29: Twitter handcuffing stunt
01:15:46: Anti-Muslim or anti-Islam?
01:16:25: Immigration and discrimination
01:26:29: Laura vs Big Tech social media
01:30:30: Project Veritas
01:32:41: Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse
01:38:03: Banking bans
01:42:55: Bringing political cohesion back to the US
01:47:05: The 6 January Capitol rally and BLM
01:55:39: Bitcoin is for everybody
02:03:16: Final comments

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