Increasing worldwide censorship and intimidation from social media giants could cause you to miss news of critically important local happenings, but there is a step you can take today to stay informed.
To safeguard access to news, WHAV, on-air, online, everywhere is asking its social media followers to subscribe to WHAV’s free Wavelengths eNewspaper here.
In the last week, a local news warning about the sinkhole along the southbound lanes of Interstate 495 near Ward Hill was flagged as spam and removed by one social media site. Another blocked WHAV story was news of possible restoration of Haverhill’s 1845-era (gun) powder house. The tech giant behind these removals piles on with intimidation by writing “Repeatedly breaking our rules can cause more account restrictions.”
WHAV is not alone. Bona fide, nonprofit community news outfits around the world are reporting similar censorship.
London-based Press Gazette documented the international assault on information back in June—not long after a major social media site removed a dedicated news tab, saying it wants to “better align our investments.” More recently, the Potomac Local News, serving communities in Northern Virginia, reported one platform removed its “stories about crime and public safety” and a story about the removals itself.
Worse, the Kansas Reflector, which has written extensively about the government’s attempt to censor news, pointed out removals of its news had the downstream effect of eliminating even story shares by average citizens. Similarly, Haverhill Police Department’s share of WHAV’s highway post was removed by the social media site (See below).
Legally speaking, this is not a case about trampling tech companies’ first amendment rights. Instead, for reasons unknown, the U.S. Department of Justice has been unable or unwilling to crack down on crimes—such as giving aid and comfort to the nation’s enemies or antitrust—by some of the tech giants.
Rest assured, local information can be heard hourly every weekday on 97.9 WHAV, read and heard streaming around the clock at WHAV.net or read daily via the emailed Wavelengths eNewspaper.
Haverhill Police Department’s share of WHAV’s highway post was removed by the social media site.
Notice WHAV received about labeling news of a highway sinkhole as spam.