As a reminder to everyone: the constitutional guarantee to freedom of speech means that the _government_ cannot censor any views (outside of certain exceptions for threatening language, and the like). It does not mean that a private entity has to enable speech that they find objectionable.
I think Apple is completely in the right here. They are enforcing a policy and if people don’t like that they don’t have to find podcasts through iTunes.<p>Luckily podcasts are designed to be decentralized, so even if Apple gets too trigger-happy with banning certain podcasts, that won’t affect anyone’s ability to still subscribe to those podcasts.
Although I'm happy seeing this kind of content removed, I'm really afraid of a future where private corporations have such a definitive influence of free speech. They set their own rules, and it's dangerous.
I agree with most of the comments here. Private entities such as Apple should be free to work with whomever they want on their platforms.<p>However, i feel if this was some left-leaning podcast, the same people supporting this removal would be outraged.
Interestingly this only happened after pressure from CNN, after they successfully got Facebook and Youtube to punish Infowars [1]<p>[1] <a href="https://www.salon.com/amp/fox-news-tucker-carlson-runs-to-alex-jones-defense-cnn-is-trying-to-squelch-his-point-of-view" rel="nofollow">https://www.salon.com/amp/fox-news-tucker-carlson-runs-to-al...</a>
I've never listened to it, and in fact I have no idea who that guy is or what he talks about, except that he's supposedly a conspiracy theorist. For those of you who have, what made his show so objectionable (to Apple, anyway)?
Here is a thread on Reddit that explains it more:<p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/94xu2n/apple_is_removing_alex_jones_and_infowars/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/94xu2n/apple_is...</a><p>He's basically lying to sell products when he lied about Sandy Hook being fake the victim's families got doxed by his crazed fans.<p>He also claimed the government was putting chemicals in the water that turns frogs gay, implying that the same chemicals turn people gay, etc.<p>This is really hurting people and it is getting out of control.<p>Apple cannot associate with this podcast for fear that they will be sued for listing it on their podcast lists.<p>For people not in the USA, Alex Jones is a chicken little conspiracy theorist claiming that the sky is falling but it is not. He claims we live on a prison planet that Nazi alien lizards that shapeshift control. Quite a bit crazy like him is also David Icke and others.
I wish Silicon Valley believed in free speech instead of being jackbooted thugs. Let the individual decide if they want to consume media or not. I'm getting sick and tired of the outrage mobs trying to censor everything they personally find objectionable.
He should just put a .torrent up of the video after the show, have his followers upload it to YouTube, and have a form they can report the URL back so he can embed the video.<p>He won't get ad revenue, but he'll still get to his message out.
Probably be down-voted for this, but I find it funny, lots of people here support Apple. No matter how trash the podcast author was, I'd imagine there'd be an outrage if this were a move by Google.<p>I'm not a fan of either, but interesting to observe the polarized reactions depending on the corporate in question.
All the people here supporting Apple's decision with an argument "it's a private company, their rules" are the same people moaning when Apple, Google, Facebook or others do the same thing that affects them.