Publishing Platform Medium Suspends ‘Alt-Right’ Accounts
Mike Cernovich, alt-right social media personality and conspiracy theorist, was a contributor to Medium. Image by Medium
The online publishing platform Medium suspended the accounts of multiple high-profile figures associated with the far-right and “alt-right,” including Mike Cernovich and Laura Loomer, as part of an update to its terms and conditions.
Medium’s update, conducted earlier this month, stated that the platform does “not allow posts or accounts that engage in on-platform, off-platform, or cross-platform campaigns of targeting, harassment, hate speech, violence, or disinformation. We may consider off-platform actions in assessing a Medium account, and restrict access or availability to that account.”
Loomer, who was banned from the ridesharing services Uber and Lyft for a series of Islamophobic tweets, and Cernovich, a conspiracy theorist who popularized the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory alleging a Democrat-run pedophile ring in a Washington, D.C. pizzeria, both used Medium as blogging platforms. Their past writings are now unavailable. Links to their accounts and articles now redirect to a “This page is unavailable” screen.
Prior to the February 7 changes, Medium’s rules said, “Medium is a free and open platform for anyone to write their views and opinions. As such we don’t vet or approve posts before our users publish them.”
Contact Haley Cohen at [email protected].
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
