{"id":31968,"date":"2023-10-03T01:36:52","date_gmt":"2023-10-03T05:36:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/russell-brand.png"},"modified":"2023-10-03T01:37:31","modified_gmt":"2023-10-03T05:37:31","slug":"russell-brand","status":"inherit","type":"attachment","link":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2023\/10\/03\/russell-brands-demonetization-is-not-a-bug-of-the-emerging-financial-order-but-a-feature\/russell-brand\/","title":{"rendered":"russell-brand"},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"class_list":["post-31968","attachment","type-attachment","status-inherit","hentry"],"description":{"rendered":"<p class=\"attachment\"><a href='https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/russell-brand.png'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"209\" src=\"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/russell-brand-300x209.png\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/russell-brand-300x209.png 300w, https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/russell-brand-1024x714.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/russell-brand-768x536.png 768w, https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/russell-brand-172x120.png 172w, https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/russell-brand.png 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>YouTube initiated a ban on commentator Russell Brand on last week that prohibits the celebrity from making money on its platform following accusations of sexual assault against the British comedian.<\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIf a creator\u2019s off-platform behavior harms our users, employees or ecosystem, we take action to protect the community,&#8221; YouTube&nbsp;<\/span><a rel=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/o\/iqgqd\/https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2023\/09\/19\/youtube-russell-brand-advertising-sexual-assault%23:~:text=If%20a%20creator's%20off-platform,Brand,%20Axios%20confirmed%20with%20YouTube.\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\">said<\/a><span>&nbsp;in a statement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Mr. Brand, a former self-confessed sex addict, was accused of sexual and emotional abuse that allegedly took place several years ago by four women in an investigation by the <em>Times of London<\/em>, <em>The Sunday Times<\/em>, and Channel 4 &#8220;Dispatches.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The 48-year-old actor denied the charges in a video he shared with his 6.6 million YouTube followers over the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies. And as I&#8217;ve written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous,&#8221; Mr. Brand said. &#8220;Now, during that time of promiscuity, the relationships I had were absolutely always consensual.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A day after the allegations were reported, police in the UK said they had received a report of a sexual assault allegedly involving Mr. Brand in September 2003.<\/p>\n<div id=\"youtube2-Jh_upLIEurk\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;Jh_upLIEurk&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}\" data-component-name=\"Youtube2ToDOM\">\n<div>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/Jh_upLIEurk?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0\" frameborder=\"0\" loading=\"lazy\" gesture=\"media\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowautoplay=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" width=\"728\" height=\"409\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"header-with-anchor-widget\" id=\"link-0\">The Rise of Financial Deplatforming<\/h2>\n<div id=\"\u00a7the-rise-of-financial-deplatforming\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The accusations against Mr. Brand are serious, and could eventually lead to criminal charges, both in the United States and the UK. But at this point, they&#8217;re just that: accusations. This is one of the problems with #MeToo trials in the court of public opinion. The accused are presumed guilty and prematurely punished.<\/p>\n<p><span>Consider another celebrity who famously found himself accused: Johnny Depp. In 2018, the &#8220;Pirates of the Caribbean&#8221; star was <\/span><a rel=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/o\/iqgqd\/https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/films\/news\/johnny-depp-pirates-of-the-caribbean-dropped-disney-reboot-captain-jack-sparrow-release-a8695916.html\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\">summarily dropped by Disney<\/a><span>&nbsp;following accusations of domestic violence made by his ex-wife, Amber Heard. It didn\u2019t matter that Mr. Depp said the allegations were untrue, or that he had served without incident for more than a decade as the lead actor in a franchise that had generated more than $3 billion for Disney.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Though nearly ruined, Mr. Depp would go on to win a defamation suit against Ms. Heard,&nbsp;<\/span><a rel=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/o\/iqgqd\/https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/pop-culture\/pop-culture-news\/johnny-depp-amber-heard-trial-verdict-rcna30926\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\">receiving a multi-million-dollar settlement<\/a><span>. (The actor appears to have taken Disney\u2019s betrayal personally, evidenced by his decision to&nbsp;<\/span><a rel=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/o\/iqgqd\/https:\/\/thedirect.com\/article\/johnny-depp-pirates-of-the-caribbean-return-disney\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\">not return<\/a><span>&nbsp;to the popular &#8220;Pirates of the Caribbean&#8221; franchise.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p>YouTube and Disney, of course, have the right to associate with whomever they choose, but taking actions that destroy people\u2019s livelihoods on mere accusations is a serious business, one that creates a dangerous incentive.<\/p>\n<p><span>In her new book <\/span><em><a rel=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Zypmbv\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\">You Will Own Nothing<\/a><\/em><span>, the bestselling author Carol Roth writes of a new financial world that&#8217;s emerging in which governments and corporations increasingly decide what behaviors are good and what behaviors are bad.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe sandbox=\"allow-popups allow-scripts allow-modals allow-forms allow-same-origin\" style=\"width: 120px; height: 240px;\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=as_ss_li_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=substackmil0f-20&amp;language=en_US&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=0063304937&amp;asins=0063304937&amp;linkId=2f375e45aaf184d0b0a0e73fa765f8d9&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>While the First Amendment prohibits the government from taking criminal actions against people for sharing \u201cbad\u201d opinions, the government can encourage corporations to take direct actions against citizens that inflict serious social and\u2014more importantly\u2014financial harm.<\/p>\n<p><span>YouTube demonetization, which is relatively common, is just one example. Bank account deplatforming, a method that&#8217;s&nbsp;<\/span><a rel=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/o\/iqgqd\/https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/republican-states-accuse-jpmorgan-closing-accounts-religious-political-beliefs-2023-5\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\">increasingly common<\/a><span>&nbsp;in the United States and Canada, is another.<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"clear:both;\">\n<div id=\"om-fqmeg7lcejd7fy5oro5r-holder\">\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"om-lxkcubhhqwmdm0lkjkbp-holder\">\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>\u201cFinancial deplatforming, or banking censorship, will be a common lever governments and companies reach for when it comes to censorship of political opinions,\u201d said Annelise Butler in a 2022 Heritage Foundation&nbsp;<\/span><a rel=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/o\/iqgqd\/https:\/\/www.heritage.org\/progressivism\/commentary\/bank-account-deplatforming-cancel-cultures-new-weapon\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\">article<\/a><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Ms. Butler said companies acquiescing to government requests to demonetize and censor users are \u201cmirroring those of China\u2019s social credit system.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly Ms. Roth makes the same comparison in &#8220;You Will Own Nothing,&#8221; adding that she would have laughed off such a thing 10 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGiven that we are so close to social credit, with the social acceptance of moral judgment outside the legal system and the technical means to collect and analyze information at scale, the Chinese system provides a frightening road map,\u201d Ms. Roth wrote.<\/p>\n<p><span>This is what makes the government\u2019s incestuous relationship with Big Tech and other companies so dangerous. Government officials can lean on companies to coerce them to punish dissent and Wrongthink, something&nbsp;<\/span><a rel=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/o\/iqgqd\/https:\/\/fee.org\/articles\/the-government-s-sprawling-effort-to-censor-true-information-during-the-pandemic\/?utm_source=epochtimes&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=jon-op-ed&amp;utm_content=russel-brand\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\">it has done<\/a><span>&nbsp;with great enthusiasm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>None of this is to say Russell Brand is guilty or innocent of the accusations against him, of course. We don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n<p><span>What we do know is that during the pandemic, Mr. Brand emerged as one of the leading voices against the government\u2019s COVID regime, and he later became one of the most&nbsp;<\/span><a rel=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/o\/iqgqd\/https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zbo5ApHmjiM\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\">outspoken anti-war voices<\/a><span>&nbsp;on YouTube. (We also know the FBI has&nbsp;<\/span><a rel=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/o\/iqgqd\/https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/fbi-director-hoovers-dirty-files-excerpt-from-ronald-kesslers-the-secrets-of-the-fbi\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\">a long history of using sexual indiscretions<\/a><span>&nbsp;to control and silence powerful people.)<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"header-with-anchor-widget\" id=\"link-1\">Protecting Its Own Interests<\/h2>\n<div id=\"\u00a7protecting-its-own-interests\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>There&#8217;s no evidence that Mr. Brand, who managed to survive the 2017 #MeToo movement with his reputation intact despite his promiscuous history, became a target for his outspoken views. But the Twitter Files revealed that both the White House and federal agencies spent considerable effort and resources attempting to influence social media companies to shape public opinion and silence critics of government policies.<\/p>\n<p><span>In some cases, individual influencers were targeted, including independent journalist Alex Berenson, who is suing President Joe Biden and Pfizer executives who, according to his lawsuit (<\/span><a rel=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/o\/iqgqd\/https:\/\/docs.reclaimthenet.org\/berenson-vs-biden-25.pdf\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\">pdf<\/a><span>), \u201cspecifically targeted Mr. Berenson for removal. The conspirators did not simply ask Twitter to remove a specific post Mr. Berenson made. Rather they pushed Twitter to ban him entirely, an unconstitutional prior restraint on his speech.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This shows the great lengths the state will go to to punish those who threaten their agendas, something the economist Murray Rothbard once observed, noting that the state inherently is an institution \u201clargely interested in protecting itself rather than its subjects.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span>All of this is made possible by the state\u2019s expanding influence over Big Tech and&nbsp;<\/span><a rel=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/o\/iqgqd\/https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/derickdavid\/2022\/04\/15\/the-real-problem-with-centralized-banks-and-why-crypto-is-inevitable\/\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\">the centralization<\/a><span>&nbsp;of the global financial system.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Mr. Brand\u2019s case shows that mere accusations are all it takes to leave someone suddenly demonetized.<\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThis is the informal social credit system that I talked about in \u2018You Will Own Nothing\u2019, coming after your sources of income at their discretion,\u201d Ms. Roth&nbsp;<\/span><a rel=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/o\/iqgqd\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/caroljsroth\/status\/1704135622213206112\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\">wrote on X<\/a><span>&nbsp;following Mr. Brand\u2019s demonetization. \u201cYou are not \u2018innocent until proven guilty\u2019 in the big tech sphere or the court of public opinion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>What few seem to realize is that this is likely a feature of the emerging financial order, not a bug.<\/p>\n<div id=\"youtube2-NXyzpMDtpSE\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;NXyzpMDtpSE&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}\" data-component-name=\"Youtube2ToDOM\">\n<div>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/NXyzpMDtpSE?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0\" frameborder=\"0\" loading=\"lazy\" gesture=\"media\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowautoplay=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" width=\"728\" height=\"409\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a rel=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/opinion\/russell-brands-youtube-demonetization-is-a-feature-of-the-emerging-financial-order-not-a-bug-5495797\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\">This article originally appeared in The Epoch Times<\/a><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/fee.org\/media\/29962\/jonmiltimore2.jpg?center=0.43496801705756932,0.47333333333333333&amp;mode=crop&amp;height=100&amp;widthratio=1&amp;rnd=131810530440000000\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" alt=\"Jon Miltimore\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<h5>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/fee.org\/people\/jon-miltimore\/\" class=\"keychainify-checked steem-keychain-checked\"><br \/>\nJon Miltimore<br \/>\n<\/a><br \/>\n<\/h5>\n<p class=\"brief-bio\">\n<p>Jonathan Miltimore is the Editor at Large of FEE.org at the Foundation for Economic Education.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"font-style: italic;\">This article was originally published on FEE.org. Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/articles\/russell-brand-s-demonetization-is-not-a-bug-of-the-emerging-financial-order-but-a-feature\/\">original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/fee.org\/counter\/205467\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" alt=\"\" \/><script src=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/Scripts\/fee-repub.js\" async=\"async\"><\/script>\n"},"caption":{"rendered":"<p>YouTube initiated a ban on commentator Russell Brand on last week that prohibits the celebrity from making money on its platform following accusations of sexual assault against the British comedian. \u201cIf a creator\u2019s off-platform behavior harms our users, employees or ecosystem, we take action to protect the community,&#8221; YouTube&nbsp;said&nbsp;in a statement. Mr. Brand, a former self-confessed sex addict, was accused of sexual and emotional abuse that allegedly took place several years ago by four women in an investigation by the Times of London, The Sunday Times, and Channel 4 &#8220;Dispatches.&#8221; The 48-year-old actor denied the charges in a video he shared with his 6.6 million YouTube followers over the weekend. &#8220;These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies. And as I&#8217;ve written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous,&#8221; Mr. Brand said. &#8220;Now, during that time of promiscuity, the relationships I had were absolutely always consensual.&#8221; A day after the allegations were reported, police in the UK said they had received a report of a sexual assault allegedly involving Mr. Brand in September 2003. The Rise of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n"},"alt_text":"","media_type":"image","mime_type":"image\/png","media_details":{"width":1200,"height":837,"file":"2023\/10\/russell-brand.png","sizes":{"medium":{"file":"russell-brand-300x209.png","width":300,"height":209,"mime_type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/russell-brand-300x209.png"},"large":{"file":"russell-brand-1024x714.png","width":1024,"height":714,"mime_type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/russell-brand-1024x714.png"},"thumbnail":{"file":"russell-brand-150x150.png","width":150,"height":150,"mime_type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/russell-brand-150x150.png"},"medium_large":{"file":"russell-brand-768x536.png","width":768,"height":536,"mime_type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/russell-brand-768x536.png"},"single-post-thumbnail":{"file":"russell-brand-600x200.png","width":600,"height":200,"mime_type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/russell-brand-600x200.png"},"raindrops-logo":{"file":"russell-brand-172x120.png","width":172,"height":120,"mime_type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/russell-brand-172x120.png"},"full":{"file":"russell-brand.png","width":1200,"height":837,"mime_type":"image\/png","source_url":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/russell-brand.png"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]}},"post":31967,"source_url":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/russell-brand.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/attachment"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31968"}]}}