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  • 2021-04-15 (xsd:date)
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  • Did MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell Say His Social Network Would Ban 'Taking God's Name in Vain'? (en)
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  • In April 2021, news reports claimed that MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell had made a somewhat ironic pronouncement about the limitations that would be placed on content in a new social network, called Frank, which he purported to be launching in the coming days. Lindell, an ally and continuing supporter of former U.S. President Donald Trump, was banned from Twitter in early 2021, after persistently promoting the baseless conspiracy theory that President Joe Biden's November 2020 election win resulted from systematic and widespread electoral fraud. He has described his own planned social media site as the voice of free speech and a haven for those who have been shamed, marginalized, and characterized for speaking forth truth. On April 14 and 15, several websites reported, with raised eyebrows, that Lindell had vowed users of Frank would not be allowed to swear or take God's name in vain — restrictions that are not present on major social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. Unlilad.co.uk wrote that: The Washington Times and The Verge published articles which similarly highlighted the degree of irony in those restrictions, on a site that Lindell has championed as a bastion of free speech. Those reports were accurate. In a video that appears to have been posted on April 14, Lindell gave a general, and at times rambling, description of Frank, saying users would get a preview of it on April 16, 2021, but it would be formally launched on the morning of April 19, 2021. Lindell said Frank would be like a YouTube/Twitter combination, you've never seen anything like it, and added: Major platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, which Lindell and others have criticized as policing speech, do not have an outright ban on the words to which Lindell alluded, but do prohibit hate speech and harassment. Those social networks do not prohibit content that could be interpreted as blasphemous, such as taking God's name in vain, as Lindell described. However, both Facebook and Twitter have, controversially, cooperated with government officials in cracking down on blasphemy in specific countries where it is outlawed. (en)
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