Digg investigates claims of conservative 'censorship'

[Joanne98]

Group of users known as 'Digg Patriots' said to have been systematically downgrading 'liberal' stories on link-sharing site.

The popular link-sharing website Digg is investigating claims that a group of the site's "influential conservative" members are systematically downgrading thousands of stories deemed to be "liberal".


Online magazine AlterNet claimed to have uncovered a group of Digg members – dubbed "Digg Patriots" – who have "censored hundreds of users, dozens of websites, and thousands of stories" from the site. Alternet alleged that the Digg Patriots, thought to number nearly 100 members, are "able to bury over 90% of articles by certain users and websites submitted within 1-3 hours".


Kevin Rose, founder of Digg, said via Twitter: "We're looking into this."


The six-year-old social bookmarking website ranks submitted web content by the number of times they are ranked up or down. Popular items, those receiving the most "Diggs" and least attempts to "Bury", are voted onto the Digg homepage, and can generate significant amounts of traffic for external websites. Digg had 7.6 million unique visitors in June this year, according to figures from analytics firm Compete.


AlterNet claimed the group of Digg Patriots, whose political affiliations are described as "conservative", work to "censor" the prominence of articles "even slightly critical of the GOP/Tea Party/FoxNews/corporations".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/aug/06/digg-investigates-claims-conservative-censorship

[flyarm]

1. HMMM I read this yesterday and it made me sick! This is the worst form of censorship!

see this in the article..

" Not every member listed has admitted to violating the Digg Terms of Service in public either, although most are guilty of some abuse or another. This group is the heart of a complicated web on various networks, including Twitter, Propeller, StumbleUpon, YouTube, and Facebook, all dedicated to ramming an extreme right wing viewpoint down the throats of those communities and censoring opposing viewpoints. This includes such means as cyber stalking, bullying, and terror, as exposed on YouTube yesterday (something not one of the DP group condemned). Not surprisingly, there is also a heavy contingent active on the ultraconservative FreeRepublic.
"

I wonder if there is any attempt to see if any of these people have infiltrated DU?

I don't know if it is me or not, but in the past year I have been very concerned about Censorship I have seen going on here at DU! And a form of group think.

The attacks on Articles we post that have been a lifeblood here now are attacked, as are writers most of us have followed and held up with high regard are now slammed and slimed and certain slime words are attached to them in a very recurring way.
It is why so many of us Created the UNDER THE BUS SCENARIO.

As Long as I have been on DU I had never seen this kind of behavior as much as I have seen over this past year.

It has been very disturbing to me, and made me back off alot posting here at DU.

this is also in the article..snip:

"The DP group searches Digg for any articles from websites they want to drown out, sites such as Salon, News Junkie Post, Talking Points Memo, FreakOutNation, Five Thirty Eight, ThePublicRecord, Rawstory, The Nation, Media Matters for America, PoliticusUSA, Alternet, Fire Dog Lake, Political Carnival, TruthOut, DailyKos, The Joshua Blog, The Brad Blog, Huffington Post, Science Blogs, Smirking Chimp, Down With Tyranny, Crooks and Liars, MarioPiperni, Buzzflash, Bob Cesca’s REALLY AWESOME Blog, and The New York Times."


I know for certain there are names on that list that DU'ers have only in the past year been attacking and sliming..and that has made me upset and angry. And has been a force of Censorship here.

I hope the Administrators read this article and take it seriously, and Take into account , many of us at DU, long timers, and not, have seen these tactics here, and many DU'ers have pulled away from DU because of these very same tactics.

Both Liberals and Progressives have been being hurt by these tactics, many times followed around the board and I have seen the words TAG TEAMED coming up frequently in many respected DU'ers posts..in fact, many times in recent months. When I see that posted , I know I am not alone in feeling as I have in the past year. It makes me more than sad.

Although I know it is not possible to live in a vacuum and get rid of these kinds of abuses completely, but It is more than Obvious there have been drastic changes around DU in the Past year.

I used to feel as if I could post my opinion here with free will and free thought. I no longer feel that way.
I feel like I have to censor everything I write myself, or face the granite stone. Many times now, I write a post and then delete it myself, because I no longer feel the freedom to post my opinion or thoughts at DU without being attacked...or Tag Teamed as some call it...with Deletes.