Following up on Wendesday's #CNNBlackmail scandal, where CNN appeared to threaten a Reddit user for creating an Internet meme that President Trump tweeted out on July 2nd (shown above), by "tracking" him down, then threatening to reveal his name should his "bad behavior on social media" continue, we see that rather than the uproar dwindling, it has been kicked into high gear. (More on the orginal threat and reaction here)
THE FALLOUT - MEME WAR, CAMPAIGN AGAINST ADVERTISERS, ETC....
In Wednesday's article ANP described how users of 4chan, in solidarity with the Reddit user that was threatened had declared a "Meme War" against CNN as well as compiling a list of their advertisers with contact information and Twitter handles, for users to start a campaign against CNN by hitting their wallet.
Infowars has published volume one of some of those "memes" that have been a viral sensation on social media since this scandal first broke.
Now the the head moderator of /r/The_Donald subreddit, where the clip that triggered the #CNNBlackmail scandal was originally posted was interviewed by RT, saying "CNN has all of the Internet against them right now, and when organizations attack freedom of speech, it never ends up well for them," continuing on to encourage the same type of campaign against those that still advertise on CNN. (RT interview clip below the article)
"This is an attack on the Internet and CNN has informally declared war upon it. In return we need to hit CNN where it hurts, and tell the advertise companies... that you do not approve of them by running ads at the network or endorsing CNN by running adds."
While CNN says it respects the privacy of the man behind the viral meme, the network said that it "reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change," which is understood as "complete threat," 'PrinceCamelton' said in the interview. This message was received by the whole community, the moderator said, referring to the threat.
CNN has no right to make "blanket threats... telling you to stop doing what you want to do on the Internet" the moderator stated, adding that people should "stick to their guns and do what they think is right."
Reddit has also compiled a list of advertisers with their contact information, encouraging their users to "contact them to let them know we will not be buying their products, or using their services, while they advertise with CNN." The also remind Twitter users to "Remember to use #CNNBlackmail when contacting them via twitter!"
As an example of how this issue is still dominating social media, I left the Twitter hashtag page #CNNBlackmail up overnight, from when I went offline to listen to Steve Quayle on the Hagmann show (Listen to it here, great show!) and despite Twitter removing it from their "trending" sidebar list, it had more than 10,000 more tweets by 6:30am ET this morning, with messages to the advertisers on the lists, newly created memes, articles written by political pundits on boths sides of the aisle, all shredding CNN for using their resources to hunt down a private citizen that created a GIF image, then basically threatening to reveal his identity if he conducts himself in a manner CNN deems inappropriate on social media in the future.
THE FALLOUT CONTINUES - IN THE NEWS
While it is expected that Trump supporters or conservative outlets would speak out against CNN for this latest unethical behavior on their part, what was pleasantly surprising is even progressively liberal sites and those stationed more to the middle of the aisle are also calling CNN out.
CNN is not publishing "HanA**holeSolo's" name because he is a private citizen who has issued an extensive statement of apology, showed his remorse by saying he has taken down all his offending posts, and because he said he is not going to repeat this ugly behavior on social media again. In addition, he said his statement could serve as an example to others not to do the same.
CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change.
Then Lopez details the problem they originally saw in CNN's behavior as a news organization:
The two paragraphs, as multiplejournalists (including myself) pointed out, read a lot like CNN essentially threatening to dox someone — meaning reveal a person’s private identity — if that person didn’t behave as CNN demanded. The apparent threat quickly took off on social media under the hashtag #CNNBlackmail, with mostly conservatives and Trump supporters calling out CNN for what would be seriously unethical behavior for a major media organization.
The two journalists Lopez linked to in his article we both also from liberal outlets, one from NY Mag, who wrote "If the framing of the decision to maintain HanA**holeSolo’s anonymity seems odd to you, you’re not alone. CNN wants to keep his identity secret? Fine — but the moralistic, parental tone of the reasoning, combined with the oddly extortionate line about publishing his identity, makes the article sound less like news and more like an odd bit of internet vigilantism. If you don’t keep your nose clean, CNN could dox anytime they like, HanA**holeSolo, and don’t you forget it!"
The other was a tweet by an LA Times writer, Matt Pierce, who tweeted "that second graf is basically "don't be a racist, or we'll dox you." Dox'ing refers to publishing private information on the internet.
Lopez then offers a statement given to him from CNN as they attempting damage control over their ill-thought out decision to threaten the reddit user, to which doesn't pass the smell test in his opinion as he writes the following:
A plain reading of CNN’s article, however, contradicts what the network and Kaczynski are saying. If CNN really intended to withhold HanAssholeSolo’s information regardless of what he did, then why didn’t the news organization say it was withholding his private information simply because he’s a private citizen? Why did it go on to add all the conditions about his behavior? And why did it say it could release the private information with an explicit condition tied to his behavior?
Lopez has more to say including an explanation of why doxing people is dangerous, but the point here is that even liberal sites are calling out CNN.
Glenn Greenwald over at the Intercept, someone who has taken positions on both sides of the political aisle in the past, captures the overall disdain and disgust across the Internet (except by those that care nothing for free speech as long as the speech being censored is a conservatives) when he writes "There is something self-evidently creepy, bullying, and heavy-handed about a large news organization publicly announcing that it will expose someone’s identity if he ever again publishes content on the internet that the network deems inappropriate or objectionable. Whether it was CNN’s intent or not, the article makes it appear as if CNN will be monitoring this citizen’s online writing, and will punish him with exposure if he writes something the network dislikes.
There is also something untoward about the fact that CNN — the subject of the original video — was the news outlet that uncovered his identity. That fact creates the appearance of vengeance: If you, even as a random and anonymous internet user, post content critical of CNN, then it will use its vast corporate resources to investigate you, uncover your identity, and threaten to expose you if you ever do so again."
DID CNN BREAK THE LAW? JUDGE JEANINE AND LAWYERS WEIGH IN
On Wednesday, Senator Ted Cruz, who worked as an attorney before becoming a U.S. Senator, weighed in on this issue in a series of tweets highlighting NY state law (the CNN writer is based in NY) as well as GA law, that CNN may have violated.
Cruz is not the only legal expert weighing in on CNN's violation of certain laws as Judge Jeanine Pirro, while filling in as host for the Hannity Show, Fox News anchor and attorney Gregg Jarrett joins Judge Jeanine to discuss the multiple state laws CNN violated in their apparent threat against and blackmail attempt of a private citizen, with Jarrett also highlighting what he sees as a violation of federal law as well.
Aside from the ethical issues CNN is now facing, on top of multiple "fake news" stories resulting in the retractions, corrections and deletion of articles, and multiple recent forced resignations of those connected to those stories, as well as the continuing release of undercover videos by Project Veritas of CNN employees admitted the whole "Russia" narrative was BS and a "nothingburger," CNN committed another massive critical error.
Rather than just attacking the President, which had the full support of liberals across the Internet, no matter if those attacks were false and fake, this is being seen as an "attack on the Internet," as the Reddit moderator tells RT below, and users across the world wide web are punching back.
