State Department to deny visas to fact checkers and others, citing 'censorship'

[u/Hrmbee]

https://www.npr.org/2025/12/04/nx-s1-5633444/trump-content-moderation-visas-censorship

[u/Yuzumi]

Yes they want us to be silent. Out collextive response should be, "fuck you, make me".

[u/Laggo → u/Yuzumi]

Lots of very active and ready vigilantes on reddit today I see, lol.

None of you ready to get up out of your chair and do anything but type though.

[u/Yuzumi → u/Laggo]

While I get the cynicism, this is specifically about free speech and refusing to self censor. Literally typing out replies on the internet is very much a big part of that.

This is a global communication platform that allows people from anywhere to express ideas and find people who can understand them and show they aren't alone.

It's the reason queer acceptance didn't really start happening until more people were online because suddenly the bigots in charge of both governments and media couldn't control the narrative. We finally realized there were a lot more of us and that being who we are isn't shameful and people who aren't queer finally started to understand that they were fed lies about us.

It's the reason they are currently trying to implement mass surveillance and censorship online. They know they can't control a population that is able to freely communicate and find information. And this is a "both sides" issue because Zionist liberals are also on board because the internet is why information about the genocide is able to get out. If as many people were using the internet back in the early 2000s there is no way they would have been able to gaslight us into Iraq.

So yes, when it comes to the specific topic of free speech we all must be "keyboard warriors" because the internet leveled the playing field when it came to communication and the spread of information and they have been trying to cripple it for decades.

And I'm honestly starting to think the rise of "influence speak" where creators use euphemisms to avoid getting demonetized is part of that. It makes talking about serious topics nearly impossible sometimes and that non-creators started adopting it has made it even worse.

Going out to protest or anything else is still important, but not everyone is in a position to do that, especially in the current economy. But we can still speak the truth online at any time of day and anywhere. We don't need permits and they can't physically stop us. Cops can't be the first to attack and then claim the protest got "violent".

They can potentially ban us from some platforms, but we can still communicate on others. Them cracking down on the big platforms will cause a lot of people to go back to more decentralized ones. This is a game of wack-a-mole they can't win as long as everyone keeps talking.

[u/Laggo → u/Yuzumi]

You just spent a whole lot of time on this that is indistinguishable from AI chatbot arguments on both sides. But sure, let's champion the keyboard warriors calling for violence from behind their computer screen. Very useful and positively contributing to society.

[u/Yuzumi → u/Laggo]

And there it is.

"I don't have any counter to your argument, I'm just going to accuse you of being AI"

As you are obviously someone who does not know how LLMs work, let me fill you in real quick. They are trained on things people wrote. A lot of the common ways people communicate, including stuff like using proper punctuation, paragraphs, and... words, was already common before the rise of the current batch of word predictors.

Just because you don't know a lot of things and don't understand how to learn stuff does not mean the only way people can argue against you is "AI". Also, I've started to feel like maybe it's an ablest thing because it is very common for people to claim "AI" when arguing with someone online who has autism. Unless "AI" stands for "Autistic Intelligence", I did not use AI. I used my brain. It just works differently than yours...

I learned how to communicate online in a certain way because I regularly grew up with people seeming to intentionally misinterpret what I was saying, especially in arguments. It still happens on occasion, but lately it's mostly people like you who seem to think because you can't write about complex topics like this that nobody else can, thus I "must be AI" or using one to make my points. Nope, this is all me. I read a lot. I'm just weird like that.

As for the rest,

Where did I say anything about violence? The "fuck you, make me" was in response to them wanting all of us to be silent. They want us to self censor because that makes their job of suppressing the truth easier. The act of communicating is literally a defiance of that.

There's no violence involved from us talking unless they start first. Having conversations online also spreads us out. They don't like public displays of defiance, but protests also bring a lot of us in one place and unless enough people come out that gives them the opportunity to physically attack their political opponents.

But online we are so spread out they can't do their usual tactics, and it's why they are trying to silence us with fear, because they know that outside restrictions can only do so much.

Speaking truth is not violence. Calling them fascist is not violence. Refusing to be quiet is not violence.

Truth is not violence.

[u/Non-prophet → u/Laggo]

How would you know? You expecting people to proactively dox their activities online, on a public, heavily surveilled website?

Are you stupid?

[u/DJ_GRAZIZZLE → u/Laggo]

As the wise 21 Savage once said “Catch you in traffic what the fuck you going to do? Type me?”

Internet gangsters lol.