By Rodney Martin
The recent deletion of Press TV’s Google and YouTube accounts clearly demonstrates that Google and American “Big Tech” are or act as agents of the US government, both in terms of internal surveillance of US citizens and in the pursuit of Americans hegemonic policies around the globe.
The fact that American Big Tech derives significant income from US government contracts with the defense and intelligence agencies is ample evidence.
While the American mainstream media give mere lip service to “press freedoms” and to “concerns” expressed by millions of Americans to how their data is stored and used, it is well known Big Tech has provided “back doors” for use by US intelligence agencies to have real time observation on every thought, word and movement of every American and foreign national who uses American-based Big Tech and social media. Yes, this is real and there should be more litigation as has been in the European Union.
Google and American Big Tech act as de facto agents of the US State Department and intelligence agencies (CIA) and (NSA) to further their objectives in attempts to destabilize the Islamic Revolution in Iran, economically, socially, and politically and seek to create yet another chaotic failed state as they have in Libya and as they did in Iraq in the immediate post-invasion period, before Iran provided assistance to Iraq’s new Government. American Big Tech played a major role in the US attempt to overthrow Syria’s democratically elected Bashar al-Assad and has been widely used in coordination with the Israeli Mossad in efforts to spread misinformation, foster criminal activity and attack the traditional cultural traditions in the Arab World. Nowhere has American Big Tech, especially Google and You Tube been more complicit in the spread of international terrorism than in the case of the American and Saudi creation of Daesh (ISIS) which used all forms of American Big Tech and Social Media with impunity to grow and foster terrorism which led the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent peoples, Muslim and Christian.
Google has followed the policy edicts of the neocon and Islamophobic Trump administration which has dusted off and are running with the disgraced PNAC (Project for a New American Century) doctrine and terminated Press TV’s YouTube channel, which contains news and information content superior to that of the American mainstream media. While Google has often terminated Press TV accounts, it has rarely, if never, removed Daesh content, during times when Iran was actively assisting Iraq, Syria, and Russia in defeating Daesh and Press TV was reporting it as well as American and Saudi links to the creation of this terrorist beast. Other American Big Tech and Social Media Platforms have been complicit as well. This begs the question, why? Why did Google, an American company violate the foundational premise of the US Constitution-“Free Speech” vs. Press TV , a legitimate news entity, yet rarely if never, remove content or terminate accounts linked to a known extremist terrorist entity? The answer seems clear, “Big Tech’s masters, the US Government and its intelligence entities wanted its “Frankenstein Monster” (Daesh) unfettered access to the information highway, while it wanted legitimate information from alternative sources such as Press TV and others who reported true events from the region and even dissident voices within the West silenced. Let’s also not forget the US support for the Saudi genocidal war in Yemen, which Press TV has both exposed and reported on and American mainstream media barely touched until the international outrage became too loud to ignore. Again, another reason for the American government’s silence of Press TV and Google carrying out its directives.
Tyrannical systems understand two very important concepts in order to retain control and power, the consolidation, control of information and exclusion of opposing or contradicting information which the US system has accomplished with the collusion of American “Big Tech” and social media and the ability to bamboozle the people into thinking they are not living under Tyranny either by deception or by distraction which the US system has accomplished with the collusion of American “Big Tech” and social media.
The American mainstream media play a role as well.
While the American mainstream media has feigned outrage at the Trump administration’s “attacks” on the media and “press freedoms,” interestingly, this same American mainstream media has been silent regarding the termination(s) of Press TV’s YouTube account. Likewise, the American mainstream media barely covered the murder of Press TV Reporter Serena Shim in 2014 (an American journalist) or the arrest in January of this year of Press TV’s American-born journalist Marzieh Hashemi. Shall we speculate why? This same American mainstream media enjoys unfettered YouTube accounts and social media accounts, so long as their “filtered” information flows. This is the same the American mainstream media which published Julian Assange’s materials (after they were made public) yet have been silent when Mr. Assange was dragged from the Ecuadorian Embassy by British police at the behest of the US government. American whistle-blowers did not trust the American mainstream media with the leaked (embarrassing and incriminating) classified materials that made its way to Mr. Assange. Shall we speculate why?
There is essentially “storytelling” and “news reporting”. The American government in collusion with American Big Tech, Social Media and the American mainstream media want storytelling to be the prevalent narrative, much to the detriment of peoples in American and around the world. News agencies like Press TV are news reporters, the American government view these as dangerous, hostile and subversive to it global military and economic hegemonic agenda, thus the US government deploys its vast arsenal of Big Tech to silence and stifle real news entities such as Press TV.
Peoples of conscience should be outraged and must act. A Bad System will always overcome a good person, the System must be changed.
Rodney Martin is a former US congressional staffer and a retired Judge. He has served on several State and Federal Commissions. He is a 1993 Truman Scholar and a 1993 LBJ Congressional Fellow. Martin resides in Scottsdale, Arizona.
(The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press TV.)