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Upstart social media platform Bluesky has provided a refuge for leftists who can’t deal with the free speech environment on X but their “safe space” comes with a price.
The mass exodus from X that began after the former Twitter was bought by billionaire Elon Musk, who immediately fired the anti-free speech management team, picked up dramatically in the aftermath of last month’s election with reports of heavy censorship at the platform which is mimicking speech controls like those in Justin Trudeau’s Canada.
And that’s largely because Bluesky’s head of trust and safety is from the now-fascist country to the north who recently admitted that he was inspired by the stifling of the free exchange of ideas and information in his homeland.
In his latest column, constitutional law expert Professor Jonathan Turley writes of the clouds forming over Bluesky where Aaron Rodericks is putting a Canadian form of censorship in place at the platform which has already become an online leftist cry colony as well as a reputed gathering place for perverts and pedophiles.
…Rodericks juxtaposed what he called “free speech absolutism” against the more enlightened Canadian model, adding, “I think it just comes down to philosophies of free speech.” It was a chilling reference since free speech is in a free fall in Canada.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) December 18, 2024
According to Turley, Rodericks espouses the “type of anti-free speech rationalizations” that he addresses in his book “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage,” insisting “that there are alternative views of free speech than the type of “absolutism” supported by figures like myself.”
He writes that the chief Bluesky censor has “juxtaposed what he called ‘free speech absolutism’ against the more enlightened Canadian model,” adding, “I think it just comes down to philosophies of free speech.”
The author uses Rodericks’ own words to paint a dark picture of the chilling of free speech on the increasingly popular platform.
“Being Canadian shapes a lot of my perspective. There’s enough of the American perspective in the world on a day-to-day basis. For example, in the Canadian constitution… you have rights and freedoms, but they’re not unequivocal,” Rodericks said.
“It was a chilling reference for many in the free speech community since free speech is in a free fall in Canada,” Turley wrote. “As we have previously discussed, there has been a steady criminalization of speech, including even jokes and religious speech, in Canada. The country has eviscerated the right to free speech and association.”
“I’m glad that [critics] consider it a safe space and ideally it can be a safe space for them as well. The whole point of Bluesky is for it to be safe and welcoming to all users. I think the issue is some people are defining their identity by opposition to others and how well they can harass others and deny their existence. Bluesky may not be the right place for them,” Rodericks proclaimed.
Turley notes that Rodericks was formerly employed at Twitter Trust and Safety before he was swept out by Musk during the thorough housecleaning he conducted after taking over the company.
Like most of the rest of the so-called “Western democracies,” Canada is ruled by an authoritarian left-wing government that has stomped all over whatever freedoms that citizens once enjoyed, with free speech being increasingly censored if not outright criminalized by regimes that view it as a threat to their power.
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