deplatforming

 deplatforming  or  no platform  is a form of banning in which a person or organization is denied the use of a platform (physical or increasingly virtual) on which to speak.

In addition to the banning of those with socially unacceptable viewpoints, there has been a long history of marginalized voices (particularly trans, LGBTQ, sex workers, etc.) being deplatformed in systematic ways.

The banning can be from any of a variety of spaces ranging from physical meeting spaces or lectures, journalistic coverage in newspapers or television to domain name registration, web hosting, and even from specific social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter. Some have used these terms as narrowly as in relation to having their Twitter "verified" status removed.

“We need to puncture this myth that [deplatforming]'s only affecting far-right people. Trans rights activists, Black Lives Matter organizers, LGBTQI people have been demonetized or deranked. The reason we’re talking about far-right people is that they have coverage on Fox News and representatives in Congress holding hearings. They already have political power.” &mdash; [https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/bjbp9d/do-social-media-bans-work Deplatforming Works: Alex Jones says getting banned by YouTube and Facebook will only make him stronger. The research says that's not true.] in Motherboard 2018-08-10

Glenn Beck
Glenn Beck parted ways with Fox News in what some consider to have been a network deplatforming. He ultimately moved to his own platform consisting of his own website.

Reddit Communities
Reddit has previously banned several communities on its platform. Many of the individual users decamped to Voat, which like Gab could potentially face its own subsequent deplatforming.

Milo Yiannopoulos
Milo Yiannopoulos, the former Breitbart personality, was permanently banned from Twitter in 2016 for inciting targeted harassment campaigns against actress Leslie Jones. He resigned from Breitbart over comments he made about pedophilia on a podcast. These also resulted in the termination of a book deal with Simon & Schuster as well as the cancellation of multiple speaking engagements at Universities.

The Daily Stormer
Neo-Nazi site The Daily Stormer was deplatformed by Cloudflare in the wake of 2017’s “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville. Following criticism, Matthew Prince, Cloudflare CEO, announced that he was ending the Daily Stormer’s relationship with Cloudflare, which provides services for protecting sites against distributed denial-of service (DDoS) attacks and maintaining their stability.

Alex Jones/Infowars
Alex Jones and his Infowars were deplatformed by Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and Facebook in late summer 2018 for his Network's false claims about the Newtown shooting.
 * Deplatforming Works in Motherboard

Gab
Gab.ai was deplatformed from PayPal, Stripe, Medium &dagger;, Apple, and Google as a result of their providing a platform for alt-right and racist groups as well as the shooter in the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in October 2018 Gab.com is under attack. We have been systematically no-platformed by App Stores, multiple hosting providers, and several payment processors. We have been smeared by the mainstream media for defending free expression and individual liberty for all people and for working with law enforcement to ensure that justice is served for the horrible atrocity committed in Pittsburgh. Gab will continue to fight for the fundamental human right to speak freely.

As we transition to a new hosting provider Gab will be inaccessible for a period of time. We are working around the clock to get Gab.com back online. Thank you and remember to speak freely. &mdash;from the Gab.ai homepage on 2018-10-29
 * Gab, the Social Media Site for the Alt-Right, Gets Deplatformed
 * Microsoft threatened to stop hosting the alt-right’s favorite social network in Quartz 2018-08-10

History

 * Face the Racist Nation from On The Media | WNYC Studios on 2018-08-31 includes a segment about deplatforming racist groups from news coverage in the early 1900's.
 * ‘By Whatever Means Necessary': The Origins of the 'No Platform Policy' on Hatful of History on 2015-11-03

Articles

 * Deplatforming Works: Alex Jones says getting banned by YouTube and Facebook will only make him stronger. The research says that's not true. in Motherboard 2018-08-10
 * Study finds Reddit’s controversial ban of its most toxic subreddits actually worked TechCrunch on 2017-09-11
 * The case for quarantining extremist ideas by Joan Donovan and Danah Boyd in The Guardian on 2018-06/01

Research

 * You Can’t Stay Here: The Efficacy of Reddit’s 2015 Ban Examined Through Hate Speech Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact., Vol. 1, No. 2, Article 31. Publication date: November 2017.