Despite being booted off a number of platforms including YouTube, Spotify, iTunes and Facebook, Alex Jones is still active on Twitter. This is despite widespread outrage from people who don’t think free speech covers spreading debunked rumours that 9/11 was an inside job or the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax, both of which Jones has claimed in the past. The anger only intensified after CEO Jack Dorsey said the alt-right radio personality had not done anything to violate the site’s guidelines, despite banning Milo Yiannopoulos for dodgy behaviour back in 2016.
Still, Twitter users aren’t taking this lying down. In the age of online petitions and hashtag activism, people are putting their accounts where their mouth is and refusing to endorse fake news and hate speech.
Like Facebook and other social networks, Twitter’s survival relies on ad revenue garnered from promoted tweets, sponspored accounts, and subsidized hashtags.
So, in protest users are hitting the micro-blogging company where it hurts – in the advertising department.
Twitter users can control what pops up on their timeline, so if you don’t like someone, you can block or mute their posts. That includes accounts that are shelling out extra for ads.
This clever new protest, dubbed #BlockParty500, is encouraging users to block Twitter advertisers across the board in the hopes it will pressure the site into deleting Jones. There is even a handy blocklist to make the process easier.
The protest is the brain-child of Shannon Coulter, creator of Grab Your Wallet – a similar project that helps customers to avoid companies that profit from the Trump Administration – along with her political writer pal Jeff.
Taking to Twitter to share their cunning plan, Coulter said:
Good morning! To encourage Twitter to drop Alex Jones, I just blocked the Twitter accounts of every Fortune 500 company w/ a Twitter presence. Ready to mass block Twitter’s most lucrative advertisers with me? There are three quick & easy ways. Instructions are in this thread.
— Shannon Coulter (@shannoncoulter) August 12, 2018
The thread includes a number of guides on how to block the platform’s most lucrative advertisers. Shannon also provides a blocking tool that she created herself, which blocks all the accounts in one go, saving you time and effort. If Jones is removed from Twitter, the same tool will also automatically unblock all of these accounts for you.
If you’re thinking that #BlockParty500 is just another well-meaning hashtag to viral without actually making an impact, Shannon assures users that “even if you only blocked the top 25 to 50, that would have an impact.”
Then go to “Settings & Privacy” in your Twitter account. Select “Blocked Accounts” on left. Select “Advanced Options” & “Import a List.” Select “Attach a File to Upload” then choose the CSV file. When Twitter drops Jones, you’ll have to manually unblock the companies one by one.
— Shannon Coulter (@shannoncoulter) August 12, 2018
The hashtag is rapidly gaining traction, with over 20,000 Twitter users now taking part.
At ~ 5pm Pacific today, we passed the 20k mark. That’s 20,230 people who have now told Twitter: either lose Alex Jones or your biggest advertisers will continue to lose access to our time & attention. ? ?? #BlockParty500 #GrabYourWallet
— Shannon Coulter (@shannoncoulter) August 13, 2018
And they’re all thankful to Coulter and Jeff for making standing up to fake news so accessible
#BlockParty500 so easy and so satisfying!
— Diana Doherty (@halahblue) August 12, 2018
That literally took about 5 seconds of effort. Thanks for explaining why one should do it, and for making it easy.
— Athan Alexander (@AthanAlexander) August 12, 2018
Done! Good riddance! Any company that supports the vile work of Alex Jones will never have my patronage
— Edward K Jordan ? (@EK_Jordan_OKC) August 12, 2018
If even YouPorn has banned Jones from their site, it might be time for Twitter to take the hint also.
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